A-me and BrainCloud: Art-Science Interrogations of Localization in Neuroscience

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience has become a major player in shaping ideas about the self and about human capacities and behavior. For this reason, it is crucial that neuroscience should be open to a broad range of perspectives and voices that actively engage in defining research questions and interpretive frameworks. This article reports on two projects that venture across the art-science boundaries, and that experiment with ways of integrating science, technology and society through artistic intervention. Both projects, A-me: Augmented Memories and BrainCloud, explore the central role of localization in neuroscience, or more precisely, the elusive links between cognitive information and brain anatomy.

Art for public engagement on emerging and controversial technologies: A literature review

“…To what extent did the studies include wider perspectives and more generally broadened technological trajectories through art? A few studies explicitly aimed to broaden the range of perspectives and consequently widen the scope of issues concerned (Bhowmik et al, 2013; Cox et al, 2009; Puig et al, 2018; Roeser et al, 2018). Puig et al (2018), for example, wanted to involve a “broad range of perspectives” in the development of brain scan technologies, because these technologies were considered to play an important role in “ideas about self and about human capacities and behavior” (2018: 111).…”

“…Some studies mentioned exaggeration as a tool to highlight specific elements (Auger, 2013; Roeser et al, 2018; Toonders et al, 2016; Wieringa et al, 2011)—even though caricatures and stereotypes were also found to oversimplify and polarize the conversation (Toonders et al, 2016; Wieringa et al, 2011). Other studies focused the attention of the viewer by combining familiarity with strangeness (Amoore and Hall, 2010; Auger, 2013, 2014; Koski and Holst, 2017; Puig et al, 2018; Smith and Zeller, 2017). Puig et al (2018) for example created an installation that looked like a medical brain scan (familiar), but actually asked users to store their personal memories at a specific location within the brain (strange).…”

“…Next to forms of individual reflection, 14 studies aimed to instigate dialogue , deliberation, or public debate (Altamirano-Allende and Selin, 2016; Amoore and Hall, 2010; Bhowmik et al, 2013; Carvalho and Nunes, 2013; Cox et al, 2009; Elam, 2005; Harmon, 2015; Holmer et al, 2015; Kilker, 2017; Koski and Holst, 2017; Kupper, 2017; McMullen and Winkler, 2018; Puig et al, 2018; Roeser et al, 2018; Yaneva et al, 2009). Kupper (2017) considered dialogue important in addition to individual reflection, because he thought individual viewpoints were always constructed in relation to a wider community.…”

“…Nevertheless, the technologies in the included studies did sometimes feature both as an object as well as a means of engagement. In one case, for example, the authors aimed to engage reflection on brain scan technologies, and to that end repurposed existing brain scan technology as an art installation to facilitate interaction with the public (Puig et al, 2018).…”

Transformation of Buddhist Mandalas into a Virtual Reality Installation

“…There are clear examples of this two-way engagement model [8] in recent collaborations between artists and scientists. A-Me adapted AR neurosurgical tools to communicate the relevance of localization in the brain in the context of memory [9]. The installation Mental Work probed the question of separation of man and machine by using extracted signals from electroencephalograms (EEG) to control geared machines inspired by the Victorian era [10].…”