Making Waves

Your brain on art: inside Caron's neuroanatomy installation.
Erik Daenitz

A performance-art installation titled Waves of Mu stimulated brains on campus during the fall semester. The installation was created by Amy Caron, artist in residence at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Caron is interested in exploring the intersection of neurobiology and performance art.

She offered eight public performances of her work, which were held in two rooms in the Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences. Members of the audience were asked to remove their shoes before entering the first room, in which Caron had installed velvet floor coverings, chandeliers, paintings, photography, and sculpture as a way of representing the inside of a human brain.

The audience then moved to a second room, where they found Caron, who interacted with them while playing the role of an eccentric scientist. Music graduate student Paul Leary composed an original score for the installation, and David Paulsen, a graduate student in psychology and neuroscience, provided some additional pieces of visual art.

During her residency, Caron also served as a guest lecturer in both humanities and science classes.

View behind the scenes images from Caron's installation.