Art
neurophilosophy | October 16, 2007
These pictures illustrate macrosomatognosia, the condition in which abnormal activity in the somatosensory regions of the brain causes one to perceive the body, or parts of it, to be abnormally large.
Both pictures are representations of partial macrosomatognosia, in which specific parts of the body are affected. They were drawn by artists who experience migraines, and were submitted as entries to the Migraine Art Competition.
The picture on the left shows the migraine sufferer lying on a bed, with elongated hand, arms and neck, and an enlarged head that appears to be floating up towards…
neurophilosophy | October 12, 2007
This is an installation by New York-based artist Janice Caswell, called Competitive Races: The View from the Netroots.
My drawings and installations represent mental maps, an investigation of the mind's peculiar ways of organizing memories. I attempt to trace the edges of recalled experience, plotting the movement of bodies and consciousness through time and space.
This work arises out of a desire to capture experience, an impulse to locate, arrange and secure the past. I use a pared-down, coded language through which points, lines and fields of color define spaces and retell narratives…
neurophilosophy | October 11, 2007
This wall painting was discovered by a team of French archaeologists working at Djade al-Mughara, a Neolithic site in Northern Syria.
The red, black and white painting measures 2 square meters, and has been dated to around 9,000 BC (making it the oldest known wall painting). Team leader Eric Coqueugniot says, "It looks like a modernist painting. Some of those who saw it have likened it to work by (Paul) Klee."
zooillogix | October 8, 2007The Maman sculpture inspired some American Mountain Dew drinkers to share their motorized spider vehicle with us. Well our Belgian friend, LonelyFatGuy, has answered in typically understated Flemish fashion and politely pointed us towards Theo Jansen, a remarkable Dutch artist who creates incredible mobile, wind-powered, animal-inspired sculptures. The first video gives you a taste of Jansen's work (remember this is wind power) but we definitely suggest sitting through the much longer second video...
Second video below the fold...
neurophilosophy | October 6, 2007
Left lateral view of the whole horse skeleton, from the Handbook of Animal Anatomy for Artists (1898, 1911-25), by Wilhelm Ellenberger, Hermann Baum and Hermann Dittrich. From the Veterinary Anatomical Illustrations at the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections (via BibliOdyssey).
I've just submitted this fantastic post about the evolution of the horse, by Brian Switek, for inclusion in Open Lab 2007, the anthology of the best science blogging of the year that will be published in January.
omnibrain | October 5, 2007We got an exciting new banner today from Len the creator of Monster-by-Mail! Head over to his website for some absolutely phenomenal pieces of monster art! (Ohh... and make sure you buy stuff or order your own monster.
Len's banner is now going to randomly rotate with our wonderful old banner done by my cousin Erin (click refresh a couple time to see them both up top).
Here they are :)
The Marauding Omni Brain was created by Erin Higgins who can be reached @ higgsmax2000 -at- hotmail -dot- com
And this wonderful banner (as well as the image above) was created by Len over at Monster by Mail…
omnibrain | October 5, 2007Have you ever wanted a pre-frontal lobotomy?! I know I have!
Just think, by severing connections to your pre-frontal cortex (or just destroying the whole darn thing instead) you can have drastic personality changes! You could even skip that and go straight to mental retardation! Of course we're not sure here at Omni Brain what technique they're using up there in Canada for the lobotomies there are just so many great ones!
You could drill holes in people's heads and then inject alcohol, you could drill a hole in the head and just remove whatever brain matter happens to be sitting around…
zooillogix | October 4, 2007Famed artist, Louise Bourgeois, clearly had an interesting relationship with her mother. Her new installation at the Tate Modern, Maman (1999) is a giant 30ft sculpture made of bronze, steel and marble and was intended as an "ode to my mother" according to Bourgeois. Inside of the spider's immense cage-like body, lies a clutch of eggs. While the Tate describes it is a strong and warm representation of motherhood, "A female spider, this spectacular arachnid alludes to the strength of the mother with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nuture and protection", the Guggenheim Bilbao, where the piece…
voltagegate | October 4, 2007
Heather just finished her self portrait assignment in printmaking, and while others studied pictures of their faces from all angles, she picked up a cell bio text and studied other aspects of self. Her rationale and a few of my thoughts about science and art are below the fold.
I thought her statement was both insightful and poetic:
I am an animal. I am a human. I come from a long branching line of beings, descending in a progression from prehistoric, mammalian, ancestors. Before those ancestral creatures, existed an even longer, and more branched, line of prehistoric plant, and bacterial…
pharyngula | October 1, 2007Here's a website of mutating pictures, a collection of images made with a splatter of scattered triangles. Your job is to browse through them and score them for how much they resemble a face — which isn't easy. If I stare at any random pile of symmetrical shadings, they all start to look like faces to me.
Anyway, pictures that get higher scores produce more progeny, with slight mutations, in the next round of picture generation. You can see where this is going…
chaoticutopia | September 23, 2007This week’s fractal has been delayed slightly, to coincide with the Autumnal Equinox. It isn’t your usual Friday Fractal, either.
I was fiddling around this week, thinking about ancient symbols which may have represented some sort of dynamic changes. Were our ancestors fascinated by the relentless cycles of nature on which their lives were so dependant? Changing seasons meant changes in food supply to a hunter-gatherer culture, and thus changes in survival strategies. Rhythmic patterns were the way of life. (Is today really any different?) It stands to reason that some ancient artists would…
pharyngula | September 22, 2007Take a look at the winners of The 49th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Bizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest. It's itty-bitty art and weirdness!
neurophilosophy | September 21, 2007
Yellow Red Blue, by Wassily Kandinsky.
After attending a performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin in St. Petersburg, Kandinsky said, "I saw all my colours in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me."
Kandinsky was describing his experience of a condition called tone-colour synaesthesia, in which sounds elicit visual sensations. In his paintings, Kandinsky tried to evoke the visual equivalent of a symphony.
The word synaesthesia comes from the Greek roots syn, meaning 'together', and aesthesis, meaning 'sensation'. The condition was first described…
sb admin | September 18, 2007 The Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest is now accepting submissions for its 2008 prizes. The Neural Correlate Society hosts this fun and popular event now entering its fourth year. Last year's winning illusion will be tough to top!
New this year are the three winners' trophies, designed by sculptor Guido Moretti. The trophies themselves are visual illusions that change shape when you rotate them. Very cool. Click here to see the sculptures' shapes when rotated.
The image above is one of the 2007 entrants, "It's a Circle, Honest!" by David Whitaker. Here's how he created it.
neurophilosophy | September 17, 2007
This drawing is a 4-year-old boy's depiction of Hurricane Katrina. It is one of 50 drawings, photographs and sculptures that went on display yesterday at the New Orleans Museum of Art, as part of an exhibition called Katrina - Through the Eyes of Children.
Involved in the exhibition is Karla Leopold, one of a team of art therapists that has been working with children who have been staying at a trailer park in Louisiana since their displacement by the hurricane two years ago.
The children's drawings are an indicator of how they are coping with the trauma of the hurricane. According to…
chaoticutopia | September 15, 2007Note from your fractalist: Sorry, folks, this one is a day late. I discovered early yesterday that my old website had been hacked. It has been fixed, now, although I plan to eventually remove everything from there, and repost it here somewhere. Just getting the bad scripts out has kept me plenty busy. Never fear, I did finish the Friday Fractal. Other (current) posts are forthcoming. -K
I’m not the only one around here who gets into fractals. I’ve noticed a few other science bloggers occasionally blog on the topic. Mark, over at Good Math, Bad Math, has been working on a series describing the…
voltagegate | September 15, 2007Another kind comment from a student reader on one of the older biomes posts:
Thanks for posting this! It really helped me get some info for MY "Tropical Dry Forest Biome" project for biology class. I couldn't find any info at the library or on any other sites! So I thank goodness this was here....
You're welcome Haley! Keep up the blogging (and the blogging).
So why haven't I written any basics posts in a while? Well, to be honest, much of my time and energy in the past few months has been focused on getting a job in my field. I've recently had to pick up a few shifts doing catering locally…
sb admin | September 14, 2007 Artist Katelyn Sack emailed me earlier to clarify some info. She shares truth:
The post you link to incorrectly states the series is composed of fridge magnets. While I can make prints, magnets, T-shirts, and even baby bubbles featuring any of my artwork, 'Baby, Be A Brain Surgeon!' as featured on The Science Creative Quarterly this Tues., Sept. 11 is oil paint on 4.25" x 4.25" ceramic tiles. You can see my original blog post on the artwork here, and I also list it for sale on my website here.
In her original post, she describes the vision behind her designs. Nursery room decor for a…
omnibrain | September 11, 2007A group funded by the Royal College of art has created an ice cream dispenser named Dr. Whippy. The good doctor will dispense a prescription for ice cream if you sound sufficiently miserable. It is based on a voice-stress analysis of various answers to questions it asks. Check it out, the more miserable you are the more ice cream it dispenses:
I would have given everyone the same amount of ice cream but inserted different amounts of Prozac. But hey - thats just me!
-via boingboing-