The Brain

The Brain is an exhibition of moving image works and a sculptural structure that creates a conceptual diagram of the human brain. Developed in partnership with CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand, the exhibition crosess over many disciplines, borrowing from philosophy, neuroscience, fiction and spatial design. Inspired in part by a series found on YouTube, artist and curator Christina Read is interested in the broad underlying questions that studying the brain provokes. She asks, “Are we our brains? What exactly is a thought? Who or what is really in control?”

The Brain features a selection of video works, selected by Read, that map questions about the brain that are both academic and amateur in nature. The sixteen single-channel works will explore a number of themes, including: landscapes of perception and cognition, tangible thoughts, altered states, phantom limbs, TV brains, dream archives, memory files, and the mind-body connection.

The majority of works in The Brain sit within a construction designed by sculptor Paul Cullen. The design is made from a combination of scaffolding, steel rods, semi-transparent plastic sheets and projection walls. Works are positioned and grouped intuitively and logically to represent different aspects of the brain.

The Brain is commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aoteoroa New Zealand in partnership with Te Uru with the assistance of Creative New Zealand. It is presented in conjunction with Circuit’s Festival and Symposium 2015.

Artists: Paul Cullen, Megan Dunn, Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Ronnie Van Hout, Laresa Kosloff, Owen Kydd, Sonya Lacey, Colie Leung, Richard Maloy, Michael Nicholson, Kim Pieters, Rachel Shearer, Daniel Von Sturmer, Rainer Weston and Layne Waerea.

Image: Daniel von Sturmer: Small World (Chalk Drawing) (2012) 1’ 34’’ Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery.

14 August - 15 November 2015

Find the exhibition map, including artwork details here.
View more images on our Facebook page here.