What is the brain: control centre, supercomputer, locus of the self? One thing is certain: it is one of the last great mysteries of the human body. Brain research is constantly delivering new insights, but it also continues to face a great many unresolved questions. Not least because of this, the human brain inspires a wealth of speculation and hypotheses – not only on the part of scientists but also among artists. Uncharted territory offers space for fictions and fantasies as well as for bold theories.
Screenshots from the virtual exhibition (›Web3D‹)
Exhibition in the Bundeskunsthalle
The exhibition ›The Brain. In Art & Science‹ (28 January – 26 June 2022) comprises about 300 artworks and objects from cultural history and science. Among them are precious objects from the history of science, such as René Descartes’ skull and Korbinian Brodmann’s groundbreaking anatomical drawings on mapping the brain.
The exhibition brings together some 300 exhibits from the realms of art, cultural history and science. Among them are important objects from the history of science such as René Descartes’ skull or Korbinian Brodmann’s brain map drawings. From the realms of art history and contemporary art, there are works by Willi Baumeister, Mariechen Danz, Birgit Dieker, Max Ernst, Jan Fabre, Isa Genzken, Douglas Gordon, Asta Gröting, Jessica Harrison, Norbert W. Hinterberger, Olaf Holzapfel, Carsten Höller, Frances Kearney, Paco Knöller, Joseph Kosuth, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, André Masson, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer, Odilon Redon, Dieter Roth, Michael Sailstorfer, Oskar Schlemmer, Jeremy Shaw, Kiki Smith, Fiona Tan, Rosemarie Trockel, Lu Yang and Thomas Zipp et al.
‣Virtual Exhibition in Web3D
(access here via the red slider to the right)
An independent Web3D virtual exhibition (desktop version) for the browser (ideally visited with Google Chrome), made possible through a grant from the NEUSTART KULTUR program of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, has been developed parallel to the ›analogue‹ exhibition in the Bundeskunsthalle, and is connected with the ›live‹ exhibition via augmented-reality content.
The digital exhibition, freely accessible in virtual space, artistically reinterprets the five thematic spaces of the live exhibition.
[T]hese are just first steps, but it seems that we are now unravelling more and more mysteries about the way in which the brain enables the unique capabilities of the human mind.
John-Dylan Haynes
Gameplay of the virtual exhibition
An exploration of the five major topics of the live exhibition will take place in five uniquely designed virtual spaces. The interactive, walk-in interpretation is furnished with playful elements, which enable different functions in each of the spaces. Various info-bites that release additional information and deal with aspects of each specific space can be discovered and collected as virtual exhibits.
- What is in my head?
- How do I envision the processes of the brain?
- Are my body and I the same thing?
- What do I make of the world?
- Should I optimise my brain?
Spatial acoustics
For a spatial-acoustic sound experience, musical compositions have been conceived and programmed specific to each space (Robert Schwarz).
Marker (QR-code) for the augmented-reality content: the generative graphic ›E-Maze‹ triggers the packed content (tool programmed by Bernhard Poppe / dform.at)
Augmented-reality in the exhibition
28. Januar – 26. Juni in the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
Leading through the exhibition is an inclusive guidance system with added augmented-reality functions that can be downloaded on visitors’ smartphones or iPads.
Publication
An extensive catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition. The augmented-reality content can also be accessed via the markers (QR-codes) printed in the publication:
Das Gehirn
In Kunst & Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von der Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Konzept und Redaktion
Ariel Hauptmeier mit Johanna Adam, John-Dylan Haynes, Henriette Pleiger
Autor*innen
Johanna Adam, Lucia Feldmann, Sascha Benjamin Fink, Ariel Hauptmeier, John-Dylan Haynes, Martin Hoffmann, Maria Keil, Andrea Kühn, Kai Müller, Michael Pauen, Henriette Pleiger, Gerhard Roth, Katja Schmidt