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Art-Mind, Neuroscience

"Human Brains" at Fondazione Prada Venice, and I could not escape a visit so pertinent to the use of the brain and its derivations in the visual field.

Anyone who has thought of enjoying the use of contemporary art could be seriously disappointed this time, but not indifferent to the complexity of the project curated in these splendid rooms of the Ca'Corner della Regina palace in Venice.

At first glance, despite the masterful care, once you become aware of the project and its ambition set up also with copies and photocopies of finds and manuscripts as precious art objects, you are left dumbfounded…



But the preciousness of the temporal sequence and the importance of the content overcome any resistance to controversy.

The process that leads to the study of our brain, step by step, on 5 continents and from very remote times is extremely fascinating. The multidisciplinary approach aims at understanding our organ of thought, its functions and its centrality in the history of mankind.

The exhibition is organized in an orderly manner and the fields of investigation overlap, mix and merge, analyzed from multiple points of view.

Art, architecture, science, medicine, anatomy, superstition, mind travel and voiceovers. Compact to achieve a goal: Progress in the knowledge of the brain, its functions and its pathologies.


At times philosophical, at times religious and at times sadistic, one gets the impression that research takes steps with ever more punctual results as we get closer to our era, highlighting gaps in knowledge and a tendency towards more precise knowledge.


Rembrandt is impressed, a portion, what remains of a fire... but the brain operation is very evident.




To experience the installation in the dark, surrounded by the voices and images on the screens of neuroscientists and the resulting mental operation trying to pay attention to the sequence and contents.


Personally interesting are the Japanese rolls with anatomical representations made in the Edo period by Seii Sugawara, influenced by an anatomical atlas of western origin. The Japanese drawing style is evident.


Contemporary drawings and representations of neurons and their connections.


And for those who have not seen the architectural beauty of the medical classrooms of the ancient universities of Padua and Bologna live, two models in proportion that give an idea of the solemnity of the subject.









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