Event 1

On May 14th, I visited the student exhibition at CNSI center. There were a few interesting works that motivated me a lot. The works are the expression of the combination of Art and Science that we've discussed throughout the quarter. Among the pieces, there were an brain made of postage attracted me.

This creation by Christina Kong is called, "The Brain-Book." Post-its and a pen is used for this work. Since her childhood, she has loved animations -- Disney movies, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli. What she has found unbelievable amazing is the brain's ability to take all of the still images that make up an animation and transform them into motion. She wanted to combine this function of the brain with another childhood favorite of mine-- flip books. Just as the brain is able to create the illusion of movement, she wished to created a flip book of the brain that would both illustrate this organ's different functions and highlight the viewer's visual perception. Each color represents a different part of the brain and its corresponding function. 

Her perception is highly related to what we've been discussed in the lecture. In lecture 7, professor Vesna, tells the brain's ability and many utilization in art. She introduced Franz Joseph Gall who is an inventor of Phrenology. He argued that mental's functions are localized in specific region of the brain that human behavior is dependent upon those functions. Her art is created in that sense. The brain described above is divided into several sections, which might be determined by its function in the brain. Each color of the flip book resembles different parts of the brain which manage different types of functions throughout the whole body and each flip book contains an animation show the example of the function. If we go flip the book, as the yellow part you see from the photo, each different page of the post-it contains various drawing meaning different things. It is the one related to art. And the pink postages you see contains the scientific capacity of brain. Different contents means separated neural functions and capacity of the brain. She combined all the meanings and functions into a piece of work so that people could see and understand its function as soon as they see. Her artistic expression of scientific knowledge was great. 

Citation:

Brain Anatomy and Functions. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2015. <https://youtu.be/HVGlfcP3ATI>.