The atmosphere of this installation captures something that struck me on my first visit to the Gazzaley Lab: the still formality of the building houses intensely lively, active discovery or “unpacking.” I was also inspired by the subtleties of the language that neuroscientists use. Reading Wais’s papers, I discovered that the different words we use to talk about “memory” could reflect the activity of different neural networks in the brain. [continues below]
About Unpacking the Brain
Unpacking the Brain (2014), installation with video, dimensions variable
Seven artists, including J.D. Beltran & Scott Minneman, Naomie Kremer, Nick Lally, Nora Raggio, Tiffany Schlain, and me, were paired with six neuroscience labs. I partnered with the Gazzaley Lab in the Sandler Neuroscience Building at the University of California, San Francisco, and after several exploratory conversations focused on the work of Dr. Peter Wais.
Over the course of several visits, as Wais and his research assistants studied human memory, I observed them. After responding to their work with this installation, I returned to the lab with videographer Rick English. Dr. Wais and I used my work as a prompt to discuss his work and our art/science exchange; the video of our conversation became the final element of the installation.
Exhibition
Unpacking the Brain was part of Mind Matters: Mapping the Human Mind through Neuroscience, curated by Esther Mallouh for the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, directed by Tamra Elul, Ph.D.