Jun 15, 2023 | Berlin
Special Exhibition: The Brain in Science and Art
Fostering interest in neuroscience and raising awareness for neurological diseases
Explaining science and medical topics to a broad audience is an important challenge for public engagement. Connection with other aspects, such as fine arts or history, can help in translating scientific questions and can expand the view of neuroscience. For the reopening of the Berlin Medical History Museum of the Charité, this was addressed in the special exhibition “The Brain in Science and Art”. Adapted from a grand exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn “The Brain in Art and Science” (2022), the Berlin exhibition puts an emphasis on the most recent advances in neuroscience in Berlin. CRC TRR295 members Prof. Dr. Andrea A. Kühn, Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes and Dr. Lucia Feldmann held the scientific curatorship. The exhibition focuses on central questions such as “What is inside my head?”, “How do I envision the processes of the brain?”, “Are my body and I the same thing?”, “What do I make of the world?”, and “What understanding of neural networks is currently being developed in medicine?”
CRC TRR295 research is featured in different parts of the exhibition. Innovative scientific methods like neuroimaging techniques (Prof. Haynes) or neuropixel recordings (Dr. Peng/Prof. Geiger) are presented. Clinical techniques, such as neurosurgical awake surgeries (Dr. Faust, Dr. Schneider), neuromodulation techniques such as deep brain stimulation and the connected electrophysiological research results (Prof. Kühn) are explained, as well as the patient-centered art and public outreach project “printed by parkinson’s” (Prof. Kühn). The exhibition opening ceremony took place at the Charité on June 15 2023 with speakers like the Spanish Ambassador, R. Martínez Vázquez, as one of the exhibition’s neurological historical highlights are the original drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Additionally, Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn, Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes and Prof. Dr. Thomas Schnalke, director of the museum, introduced the exhibition. The aim of the exhibition is to foster interest in neuroscience and raise awareness for neurological diseases, both through innovative research, clinical spotlights and the widening beyond natural science with philosophical and artistic perspectives.
A guided tour through the exhibition was part of the N8 aka LNDW 2023 aka Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften.
© Image: Charité l Artur Krutsch
