The brain is the most important and amazing part of the
human body. The internal functions of the brain are very complicated. Our
sight, auditory sense and tactile sense cannot operate without the control of
the neuron. It also has close connection with the art, since we use it to perceive
the art and outside world as well as altering and modifying the visual
performances.
One of the most impressive pictures to me in the
lecture is Suzanne Anker’s Butterfly in Brain. By combining the image of
butterfly with the MRI scan of the brain, she presents us dialogue
of signs within the symmetrical structures of chromosomes, the butterfly and
the brain, all of which possess an axis copy. Through pictorial substitution,
demarcation, and relocation Anker creates a body of work out of science-based
data. Another attempt tries up understand the brain structure is the Brainbow.
By simultaneously illuminating the neurons in brain with distinct colors, we
can easily see the groups of neurons and connections between them.
Butterfly in Brain
different colors in Brainbow
Another interesting topic of the neuroscience is
definitely the dreams. Why we have dreams, what determines the content of our
dream, what is the boundary between dream and reality… There are many questions
haunting around all people. We have to admit we only know little about dreams.
Sigmund Freud is the pioneer in analyzing dreams. Freud was
the founding father of psychoanalysis, a
method for treating mental illness and also
a theory that explains human behavior. He argues that we are not entirely aware of
what we even think, and often act for reasons that have nothing to do with our
conscious thoughts. Dreams provided the best examples of our unconscious life,
and in The Interpretation of Dreams Freud both developed the argument that the
unconscious exists, and a method for gaining access to it. Many artists create
works to help us visualize this process.
In a word, there are still many mysteries in neuroscience,
both scientists and artists have their own way of exploring them. According to
their work, we can have a better understanding of our cognitive consciousness who
we are.
Sources:
The Neurocritic. "The Butterfly in the Brain". The Neurocritic. 8 Jun, 2008. Web. 12 May, 2016. http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2008/06/butterfly-in-brain.html
Weissman, Tamily A., Sanes, Joshua R., Lichtman, Jeff W., Livet, Jean. "Generating and imaging multicolor Brainbow Mice." Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. 2011. Web. 12 May, 2016.
http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/content/2011/7/pdb.top114.full
EphemeraAndMore. "ANATOMICAL HEAD art print Subconsious Human Mind Brain Dream neurology psychology medical science upcycled vintage dictionary.” Photograph. Etsy. 2015. Web. 12 May, 2016. https://www.etsy.com/listing/230924021/anatomical-head-art-print-subconsious?ref=unav_listing-same
Reid, Caroline. "Google's AI Can Dream, and Here's What it Looks Like." IFLScience. 22 Jun, 2015. Web. 13 May, 2016. http://www.iflscience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence-dreams
Big Think Editors. "This is Your Brain on Dreams, with Michio Kaku." bigthink. 2015. Web. 11 May, 2015. http://bigthink.com/think-tank/this-is-your-brain-on-dreams-with-michio-kaku
Christopher deCharms. "A Look inside the Brain in Real Times" Online video clip. TED. TED. Feb, 2008. Web. 13 May, 2016. http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time?language=en
I agree that Susanne Anker’s Butterfly in Brain art pieces were truly amazing. Up until Professor Vesna said that the butterfly remained the same, I had thought each new art piece involved a new butterfly. I especially enjoyed the Brainbow and its images. I would not have known they were images from scientific projects before this week but rather art. I also like how you brought up the boundary between dream and reality. With regard to Freud, do you think that there was actual merit in his psychoanalytic technique?
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