take a look at “the ways that we visualize the
brain,” such as EEG, fMRI, computational networks, and other neuroscience tools and techniques. And then there are her pieces which
address the history and practice of neuroscience
as a discipline.
Lastly though, she looks at the ‘theories’ of
neuroscience, in which the artwork explores
Images courtesy of artist Julia Buntaine.
ideas and hypotheses about the brain that have
not yet been solidified and proven as true or
false. For example, in her work Raw Feels, she
What may be the most compelling segment of addresses the idea of qualia, or the subjective
neuroscience-based art, however, are the pieces aspect of consciousness. (What is the feeling of
from the artists who visualize the brain and
the color red?) Part of the larger discussion on
neural networks as a way of tackling questions
consciousness, the existence and mechanism of
in neuroscience directly—in ways that cannot
qualia remains hotly debated.
be done within the lab or a clinical setting.
“I have noticed that the way I make my work
As a student at Hampshire College, New York is a lot more like the scientific process than the
City artist (and, full disclosure, SciArt In America sterotypical artistic process,” says Buntaine. It’s
editor-in-chief) Julia Buntaine walked into her
not the chaotic experimental process that is so
first neuroscience class and found that “somepopularized in the cultural glimpses of the art
thing clicked. Studying the biology of the brain world. Instead, Buntaine “figures out the queswas refreshing for me—to really thinking about tion or topic, and then figures out how to investhe brain and the self in a concrete, objective
tigate and visuzalize it,” applying a controlled
way.” As she began to debate whether she want- step-by-step path that shares a lot with the
ed to concentrate on art or neuroscience, she
scientific method. “I think that has to do with
realized that “neuroscience as a subject for my
how close I was in the science while I was in
art was the perfect solution.”
academia. Having actually carried out scientific
studies and written papers during my undergrad
Buntaine works in all mediums, building out
has affected how I might approach neurosciof the concept first. When it comes to her
ence questions in my own art.” The luxury of
‘biological’ work, she usually starts with a physi- being an artist, however, means that Buntaine
cal form, such as a br ain, or a motor neuron, or can, as she puts it, “explore those questions in
protein. There are also her ‘data’ works, which
my own weird, artistically motivated way.”
10
SciArt in America April 2015