What happens when a world-leading neuroscientist joins forces with an art collective? The answer is the entrancing and illuminating State of Mind audiovisual experience unveiled at Manchester Science Festival, which runs until the end of the week.
Art and science are opposite poles of the cultural spectrum and previous attempts to blend them have not always been straightforward: many ‘SciArt’ and ‘ArtSci’ efforts involve artists taking scientific research as an inspiration but, though intriguing and appealing, the end result can sometimes be obscure, and rest on that old saw that art ‘poses questions’ when scientists want answers.
Manchester Science Festival is showcasing an example of a more collaborative effort between Liam Birtles and his colleagues from the art collective Squidsoup and Professor Adrian Owen of Western University, who has unveiled the intriguing results of a ‘Brain and Body’ experiment at the festival, where his colleagues also conducted follow-up experiments.
The resulting State of Mind walk-through experience is a development of an earlier Squidsoup installation, called Submergence, which consists of a dazzling array of many thousands of computer-controlled lights that hang on wires.
Loosely inspired by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, Liam explains how it explores the concept of abstraction when it comes to the perception of objects:
‘Art has always been an exploration of the act of perception, an attempt to classify, structure and impose order on our experiences. I love playing with perceptual mechanisms, teasing the eyes and ears.
‘When I initially read around the neuroscience I found that even definitions of the mind and the idea of mental states are contentious but Adrian’s easy manner and openness meant what might be perceived as provocative questions were assured of a considered and thoughtful response.’
For the past two decades, Adrian has also played guitar and sung in bands made up of fellow musicians and scientists at concerts in Britain and Canada and ‘knowing he was a performer really put me at ease,’ adds Liam.
The original idea behind State of Mind was that Adrian would provide a commentary to Submergence but, after being blown away by his narrative, Liam decided to structure the artwork’s rhythmic washes of colour and shifting soundscape to fit his words, using each statement to subtly explore and illustrate some aspect of human experience, notably our perception of colour, our sense of space, the synchronisation of light and sound.
During the experience, Adrian explains what he means by “state of mind”, which he describes as ‘the particular mood or mental condition we’re in at any given moment, shaped by our current emotions, thoughts, and external circumstances’.
As the light and soundscape morphs and changes, from white to a spectrum of colours, and from cicadas to the pitter patter of rain, Adrian explains that ‘understanding the mind and its states helps us explore what it means to be conscious, to feel, to be human.’
One of the fascinating themes explored in the installation is the creative tension between order and chaos. When it comes to cognition, Adrian explains that it is ‘the balance between structured, logical thinking and more spontaneous, unpredictable thoughts.
‘An “ordered” state of mind allows us to focus, plan and solve problems efficiently, while a more “chaotic” state can foster creativity, imagination and new ideas by breaking free from rigid patterns. Both order and chaos are essential in cognition and highlight the dynamic nature of our mental experiences.’
This balance between order and chaos is the subject of much of the work done by Squidsoup too, and the programming and computer technologies that the collective developed for Submergence ‘allow us to explore the way in which we recognise and bring form and structure to the world we inhabit,’ says Liam.
Another theme of State of Mind is synchronisation, not just of the lights and sounds but how our brains make sense of our surroundings and its regularities, from the music and the drumbeats in the soundscape, to the waxing and waning of the sun. ‘Arguably, industrialization, with its constant demands and artificial schedules, has disrupted many of these natural rhythms, straining our cognitive resources as we try to make sense of an increasingly chaotic world,’ says Adrian.
This is captured in the installation when, ‘with each statement by Adrian, the lights and sound respond, sound and light bounce around the space, and star-like explosions drift in and around this beautiful space in the museum’s 1830 Warehouse,’ adds Liam.
When our brains are out of synchronisation with the predictable patterns of the world, notably sunrise and sunset, the end result is the disruption of sleep patterns, emotional rhythms and more. This dissonance can lead to feelings of stress, fatigue, and confusion as our bodies and minds struggle to adapt.
The comfort found in simplicity or complexity depends, Adrian adds, ‘on the interplay between our cognitive mechanisms, state of mind, and the technological world we navigate’.
The way that Squidsoup’s experience flows around Adrian’s neuroscientific commentary is indeed striking: as I joked when Adrian and I discussed the installation at a festival event, the end result is less an expression of “state of mind” than, with that surrealist film starring John Malkovich in mind, “Being Adrian Owen”.
