DESMA WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENT

DESMA WEEK 4 NEUROSCIENCE.

This week was an interesting one for me. It might have been my favorite topic so far this quarter.

The brain is a fascinating topic and the fact that we know so little about it makes it intriguing for me.
I find myself to be extremely right-brained so hearing about Gall's take on the brain and his take on it's sections was interesting.

I also found the work of Cajal to be eerily similar of landscapes. I just took a trip to Death Valley, and his work and the structures of the brain eerily resemble dried land. Which is ironic seeing as how barren land is the complete opposite analogy of the human brain.

I think Cajal is a great example of the gist of this class. Art and science don't have to be mutually exclusive. 

The most interesting point of this section to me by far though, was the section on Freud and LSD. 

I've never experience any kind of drug before so hearing the description of what it did to his brain triggered me to look at other types of art made by LSD and what others experienced. 

First what I noticed is the fact that a lot of these images look similar to experiences I have with my chromesthesia and music. I wonder if there's a connection or if LSD will enhance it? (Don't worry, I won't take it). 

What I also found is that LIFE magazine did a tribute to Hofmann and him taking 250 micrograms. The results were utterly fascinating and I think this is some of my favorite artwork I've ever seen actually. The images were made by a group named USCO in the sixties. 

Life magazine said:
"mid throbbing lights, dizzying designs, swirling smells, swelling sounds, the world of art is “turning on.” It is getting hooked on psychedelic art, the latest, liveliest movement to seethe up from the underground. Its bizarre amalgam of painting, sculpture, photography, electronics and engineering is aimed at inducing the hallucinatory effects and intensified perceptions that LSD, marijuana and other psychedelic (or mind-expanding) drugs produce — but without requiring the spectator to take drugs. [Viewers] … become disoriented from their normal time sense and preoccupations and are lifted into a state of heightened consciousness. In effect, the art may send them on a kind of drugless “trip.”

In effect, I think this art is effective in not only showing the user the effects of drugs without taking them, but also gives us a greater and wider sense of light, color, and art. Making a kaleidoscope of euphoria. It's the current day equivalent to what art made by ravers would look like in my opinion. 

Overall, I think the brain is something that is not week known. I think that art is a great way to experiment and learn about the brain and all of it's many unknown and known functions. And in the future, maybe mind controlled art might even become a "thing."

http://life.time.com/culture/life-photos-from-an-lsd-inspired-art-show-1966/#6

http://daystararts.deviantart.com/art/LSD-Forest-36279025

https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/BN0193S04/Ramon+y+Cajal