Festival of the Brain

This spring, Whitaker Art Gallery and Museum in Rawtenstall is hosting a Festival of The Brain. Over the course of one day, there will be a variety of guest speakers bringing a range of viewpoints, expertise and new knowledge on aspects and ideas surrounding the brain.

It has been programmed to coincide with Jo Clements’ Everyone In This Room Is Connected to Everyone In This Room. This warmly named exhibition visually explores representations of the brain whilst encouraging people to interact with augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

The festival features keynote speaker Matthew Cobb. An award-winning author and teacher, his book Idea of The Brain looks at a chronology of how our perceptions of consciousness and cognition have evolved as well as how that can be translated into machines and made use of in the future. The book was a large source of interest and research for Jo Clements when putting the exhibition together.

Alongside Matthew Cobb, other speakers will be sharing their thoughts and research on topics such as: how our physical actions and neurological responses are are related to artistic outputs; neuro-diverse ways of experiencing and making art; scientific notions of consciousness; art and mental health; the science of face perception and more. The day will be made up of a mixture of presentations, talks and Q&A sessions, giving you the chance to get into the heart of each expert’s research and come away feeling inspired.

The festival encourages visitors to explore deeper into the themes and subjects of Jo Clements’ exhibition and ask questions beyond our current understanding of the brain, looking into a future of human and technological intelligence.