I find there to be a natural and obvious connection and overlap between scientists and artists in the Neuroscience + Art information. To me, art & science dovetail quite easily and necessarily when it comes to the brain and exploration of human thoughts & emotions. I think this question of ‘What is consciousness?’ is at the heart & soul of many many artists' life searching and the crux of their work.
One of the most beautiful examples from this week’s reading was the ‘Brainbow’ project, which allowed more than 100 neurons to be mapped at ones by the addition of different florescent colors. Created in spring 2007 by Jeff Lichen and Joshua Sanges, professors at Harvard, the resulting images are absolutely beautiful, and actually remind me of an abstract watercolor I just saw. Also, a lot of the artwork shown in the lectures to illustrate the stories of the pioneers in LSD and cocaine work were psychadelic and striking themselves, and often reminiscent of the imagery from 'Brainbow' as well. 
Most resonant to me from this week’s reading was the work of Carl Jung, which I had been wanting to explore more of for quite some time now and which I’m compelled to study further when I have more time after this class. I related to his idea of global consciousness (and found the Global Consciousness Project to be an especially interesting pursuit) as something that intrigues me as well from a few of my own personal revalations throughout life. For example, in 2004 I was working in a remote location in Canada and became ill with blood poisoning that was caught only about 24 hours before it would have killed me. In the resulting dreamlike state, I felt pourous, at peace, and hardly separate from the people around me. Ever since then I have a belief in a global unconscious and a basic human interconnectedness that we haven’t yet explained. Therefore Jung's conception of universal consciousness was quite profound and interesting to me, and I'd like to learn more about it. 
Jung’s archetypes -- The Self The Shadow The Anima The Animus The Persona -- gave me more clarity on a character I played over a decade ago in college. As a freshman, I played a character named ‘Animula’ in a play called The Trap, about the life of Franz Kafka. I was to represent the soul of Kafka as a 9 year old child in a white dress, who opens the play with a 4 page monologue primarily in German (I believe this part really represents sort of an unconscious dream state), and then spends the remainder of the play on stage, unspeaking in various places off to the side doing things like playing jacks and jumping rope. Now I’m looking at this from a psychological viewpoint -- Kafka’s Jungian ‘Anima’ is always present, the softer feminine side of him hidden from everyone else’s view but visible to the viewers of history as you glimpse his vulnerability in relation to all the horror he experienced in his life.
Another quick favorite from the reading, this one made me laugh out loud: "In 2003, with the aim of achieving immortality, conceptual artist Jonathon Keats put his brain, as well as its original thoughts, up for sale. To comply with the conventional rules of commercial markets, he registered his brain as a sculpture created by himself through the act of thinking. He then facilitated the sale by producing an exhibition and catalogue at the San Francisco Modernism Gallery. The artwork consists of MRI images of his brain activity as he thought about art, beauty, love and death.” I find that so delightful.
I’m also reminded of the Tony winning musical ‘Next To Normal,' which deals with Bipolar 2 Disorder and its effects on a grieving family. I saw Alice Ripley in a production at the Ahmanson about 4 years ago. I don’t love the musical, but approaching it from a scientific standpoint and now from my own experience with postpartum, I appreciate it much more. I particularly love this song, which deals with a daughter’s feelings of invisibility in her family after the death of her brother, the ‘golden boy’ of the story, who torments his still alive mother with songs of what could have been and temptation into believing he’s still alive.
Sources
Brainbow | Center for Brain Science
Artwork: Inspired Motherhood by Melanie Biehle
Video clip from Next to Normal
Review of Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Neuroscience + Art: Lecture II
No comments:
Post a Comment