HEALTHLooking within: The brain as artA retrospective exhibit explores the evolving visualization of the brain.By Stephanie Stapleton, amednews staff. May 7, 2001. In 1991, the Institute of Medicine report, "Mapping the Brain and Its Functions: Integrating Enabling Technologies into Neuroscience Research," declared that "neuroscience is an inherently visual science." This theme is demonstrated by a current National Academy of Sciences' exhibit tracking 500 years of work illustrating the evolution of knowledge about the brain's form and function. With more than 60 images, The Art of Neuroscience: Image and Understanding 1518-2000, explores how this discipline is marked by an intersection of advances in artistic technique and scientific technology -- from 16th century woodcuts to advanced PET scans. "The idea of the exhibition is that the visual form is at least as powerful a way to communicate scientific knowledge as are words," said Janis Tomlinson, PhD, curator and director of the Arts in the Academy program at the NAS. "But going back in [time], each attempt to illustrate anatomy, the brain, creates a footprint forward," said Dr. Tomlinson. "When you try to record something in an image, it forces you to look harder to define what isn't that definite. The act of imaging forces you to see more." The juxtapositions are striking. One illustration, a 1627 woodcut from the anatomical text, On the Structure of the Human Body, is hung near a 1994 Annie Leibowitz photograph, "Portrait of Laurie Anderson, MRI." Together, these examples are interesting for a couple of reasons, according to Dr. Tomlinson. The early images are depersonalized. In contrast, Leibowitz' 20th-century photo shows a series of MRI images of one person, so specialized that it creates an unusual portrait, "a unique identifier of an individual," Dr. Tomlinson said.
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Copyright 2001 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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