NEURON LANDSCAPES

An experience between science and art

When scientists observe the world, they seek to separate the essence from the nuance, the information from the noise. It is a question of understanding, in which to understand is to find the common amongst the diverse, the minimum expression of the maximum shared. Every observation is, in reality, a question asked about nature, and all questions are formulated using the appropriate conceptual frame and the appropriate technology. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the father of modern neuroscience, is a good example of this.

The microscope is an instrument giving us entry into a world that would otherwise be invisible. In this microscopic world, lighting and the staining and magnifying system end up selecting certain materials, certain shapes, certain forms… according to what we seek to understand. Then, photography, drawing or whatever other technique used to represent what we have seen continues to form very special questions to understanding. On the other hand, what intuitions drive the artist, whether a poet, a painter, a sculptor, or a musician? In principle, everything given to them by perception, images projected into the brain by a complex sensorium. Why not extend these stimuli to embrace those generated by scientific research? Those who study the brain (the brain, without doubt the most complex object in the cosmos) obtain an extraordinary diversity of images according to their particular scientific interests. Why not make these images available to artists?

Here is an idea for a new experience in truly common ground between scientists and artists. The images are generated by the desire to understand the material support of intelligence, fifty selected from more than six hundred representing the vanguard of research into this subject. To start with, we have asked various artists for little more than a short phrase. Here is the result of the first encounter…

Jorge Wagensberg
Director of the Environment and Science Division at Fundacia "la Caixa"

The exhibits sections:

Looking and Drawing

Looking and Photographing

The exhibition was closed in April 2010

Concept:
Javier DeFelipe (Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
Henry Markram (Brain Mind Institute, Lausanne, Switerland)
Jorge Wagensberg (Science and Environment Department, “la Caixa” Foundation, Barcelona, Spain)

Management and Production:
Social Work of "la Caixa" Foundation.

Web illustrations and Graphic Production:
Idit Angmar Friedmann
Construction and Production:
Staff of the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem