What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience

The human brain is wired in such a way that we can make sense of lines, colors and patterns on a flat canvas. Artists throughout human history have figured out ways to create illusions such as depth and brightness that aren’t actually there but make works of art seem somehow more real.

And while individual tastes are varied and have cultural influences, the brain also seems to respond especially strongly to certain artistic conventions that mimic what we see in nature.

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Science Art-Nature invites you to participate in a juried virtual exhibit, WINDOWS ON EVOLUTION:  An Artistic Celebration of Charles Darwin, commemorating Darwin Day, February 12, 2013.

• The top 40 entries will be posted on Darwin Day, but all qualifying works will eventually be added. 
• The exhibit will remain accessible through the Science Art-Nature website indefinitely. 

We intend to have the exhibit announced through various websites including that of the Darwin Day Organization. Darwin Day, as described there, is “an international celebration of science and humanity.” Visit their site to see videos, lectures on evolution, and information on Darwin, evolution, Darwin Day events and more.

As always, our aim is to display and promote the best contemporary Science Art and to encourage discourse between the scientific and artistic communities.

• Each selected piece of art must portray a narrative about evolution. To help viewers step inside that narrative it must be accompanied by a 100-word caption describing the evolutionary context. For comparable caption examples, please refer to our previous shows in 2010 and 2011. For an example of evolutionary art, see our placeholder for the exhibit.
• The exhibit may be interactive, inviting commentaries from viewers.   Send us your preference!
• The exhibit is open to all living artists working in any medium, although submission of traditional photographs is discouraged.
• Each artist may submit up to three works, but no more than two works from each artist will be selected.

SUBMISSION DATE:  The deadline for entries is midnight, October 15th, 2012.

Robots paint hotel guests’ sleep patterns

Global hotel chain Ibis is transforming the nightly tosses and turns of its guests into works of modern art, painted by robots.

"Our masterpiece is to make your sleep a true work of art," the promotional video gushes, after putting a far more interesting point to viewers: "What does sleep look like?" To find out, the budget chain is installing thin grids covered in 80 heat, pressure and sound sensors on mattresses in select guestrooms, kicking off on 13 October in Paris. Data gathered by the sensors will be fed wirelessly throughout the night to the studio, where it is then fed through an algorithm that converts information on a guest’s movement, sound and temperature into colour and movement.

This video shows the robot, much like an assembly line arm, reacting in sequence, tracing acrylic paints onto a black canvas in a visual and physical interpretation of sleep cycles and patterns.

Only 40 participants can take part — anyone who wants to try it out can enter a competition on the Ibis Facebook page. When the project is wrapped up in Novemeber there will be an online gallery of the artworks and guests will get an original to take home.

Cajal’s histological preparations and drawings showing some contributions to glial cells. (A) Fibrous astrocyte in the white matter of adult brain (formalin-uranium nitrate and gold-sublimated chloride); (B) Protoplasmic astrocyte in an adult brain (silver carbonate (del Rio) and formalin-uranium nitrate); (C) Twin astrocytes in the human hippocampus (formalin-uranium nitrate); (D) Fibrous astrocytes from the white substance of adult brain (Golgi methods); (E) Olygodendrocytes (ammoniacal silver oxide and Nissl); (F) Microglia cells (ammoniacal silver oxide, reduced silver nitrate and silver carbonate (del Rio) methods).

Source: The Histological Slides and Drawings of Cajal