Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

Samuels, Fionna M. D., and Liz Tormes. “See the Top Entries in the Art of Neuroscience Competition.” Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-top-entries-in-the-art-of-neuroscience-competition1/.

When thinking of the brain, art and neuroscience go hand-in-hand, especially considering that much of the “art” produced, in all different formats, stems directly from the brain. I am fascinated by the idea of individuality, and how every brain reflects all individuals as unique. Professor Victoria Vesna’s lecture on neuroscience, particularly LSD and the effects it has on the brain, allowed me to understand just how much our brain plays a role in our perception of the world. During the lecture, professor Vesna highlights Dr. Albert Hofmann’s experience with the drug, even describing how Hofmann is known as the father of LSD, and how he hallucinated negative things such as neighbors as witches, his furniture taunting him, and color distortions while under the drug’s influence. I wondered what his perception of the world looked like, since it was unique to him. Michelle Santiago Cortés describes how drugs like LSD can actually influence art through microdosing, as it can enhance “brain function and creativity.”

[Left Image] Hunt, Katie. “A Woman Took 550 Times the Usual Dose of LSD, with Surprisingly Positive Consequences.” CNN, Cable NewsNetwork, 1 Mar. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/lsd-overdoses-case-studies-wellness/index.html.

[Right Image] “Claude Monet: Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 Jan. 1899, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437127.

I started to think more about individual perception of the world, and how artists use their brains to create different art. Robert Pepperell makes a great point about perception, specifically through the artist Claude Monet, who he says tried to “faithfully depict the appearance of the world, in other words what he saw rather than what he knew.” It is interesting how one’s perception differs, whether under the influence of drugs or not, and how this correlates with the brain in its function to produce or see art. While Hofmann was not producing art like Monet, he experienced it through his visuals and the distortion.

Sommer, Valerie. “‘Octopus Brainstorming.’” UCLA, UCLA, 14 Nov. 2017, newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/octopus-brainstorming.

When thinking about the brain, as an organ, you come to realize how unique it actually is. Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker, in their article “Neuroculture,” explain that “being” rather than “having” a brain makes us human. When looking through this lens, the brain is irreplaceable as it gives us our humanity and our “personhood” as Farzzetto and Anker describe. It is interesting how we can not truly see how others perceive the world as we do. Which is why Victoria Vesna’s “Octopus Brainstorming” sheds light on the ability for humans to try and visualize the “experience of other sentient beings.” It is through experiences of visuals, experiments, or even drugs that help us understand the experiences of the self and others, in relation to neuroscience and art.

Works Cited

Albu, Cristina. “Planetary Re-Enchantment: Human-Animal Entanglements in Victoria Vesna’s Octopus   

Brainstorming.” CMA Journal - Simon Fraser University, www.sfu.ca/cmajournal/issues/issue-ten--enchantment--disenchantment--reenchantment/cristina-albu.html?fbclid=IwAR1twyrqbeKqNrJSUXSihLVGvX_D9ARndxDv3USnw2pTENE_iXHJtIo8v54https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artsy.net%2Farticle%2Fartsy-editorial-psychedelics-offer-artists-creative-boost. Accessed 14 May 2024.

Cortés, Michelle Santiago. “Psychedelics May Offer Artists a Creative Boost.” Artsy, 21 December 2018.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-psychedelics-offer-artists-creative-boost Accessed 14 May 2024

Frazzetto, Giovanni and Anker, Suzanne. “Neuroculture.” Macmillan Publishers Limited. November 2009.

Accessed 14 May 2024

Pepperell, Robert. “Connecting Art and The Brain: An Artist’s Perspective on Visual Indeterminacy.”

Frontiers, Frontiers, 17 Aug. 2011, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00084/full. Accessed 14 May 2024.

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience PT3.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=E5EX75xoBJ0&t=208s. Accessed 14 May 2024.