The Brain in Art & Science

Attention museum fans: The Bundeskunsthalle Bonn is presenting the exhibition "The Brain in Art & Science" from January 28 to June 28, 2022. In this exhibition, art, cultural history and science converge to create an intriguingly multifaceted panorama. In addition to brain research and neurology, philosophy, religion, the history of medicine and psychology have their say. The interdisciplinary dialogue constitutes a deliberate experiment with the aim of approaching the brain from different directions.

The DZNE is involved in the exhibition as a cooperation partner. Among other things, the DZNE's research is presented with a listening station on Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA): Speech in particular is impaired in this rare form of dementia, while other cognitive abilities remain intact for a long time. The listening station will be part of the exhibition as of February 11. 

Background

The brain is one of the last great mysteries of the human body. What is it that we have inside our heads, and how do we envision mental processes? Is ourself something other than our body, and how do we make sense of the world around us? What will the brain of the future look like? Will we become computer-aided cyborgs? It takes the cooperation of many disciplines to tackle these questions.
Brain research is constantly delivering new insights, but it also continues to face many unresolved questions. Art can give us the freedom and the detachment to consider thinking and feeling, consciousness and perception, memory and dream. In this exhibition, associatively linked works from the realms of art and cultural history are presented side by side with cutting-edge scientific research in order to explore and better understand the unknown territory that is the human brain.
An inclusive guidance system takes visitors through the exhibition. In addition, an accompanying virtual exhibition was developed to run on the internet parallel to the ‘analogue’ exhibition in the Bundeskunsthalle. The two exhibitions are linked through several augmented reality experiences in the Bundeskunsthalle. The virtual exhibition was made possible by the NEUSTART KULTUR programme of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.