Visitors to Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in Titirangi will be invited to walk through The Brain, an exhibition of moving image works and a sculptural structure that together create a conceptual diagram of the human brain.

Developed in partnership with CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand, the exhibition crosess over many disciplines, borrowing from philosophy, neuroscience, fiction and spatial design. Inspired in part by a series found on YouTube, artist and curator Christina Read is interested in the broad underlying questions that studying the brain provokes. She asks, “Are we our brains? What exactly is a thought? Who or what is really in control?”.

The Brain features a selection of video works, selected by Read, that map questions about the brain that are both academic and amateur in nature. The sixteen single-channel works will explore a number of themes, including: landscapes of perception and cognition, tangible thoughts, altered states, phantom limbs, TV brains, dream archives, memory files, and the mind-body connection.

The majority of works in The Brain sit within a construction designed by sculptor Paul Cullen. The design is made from a combination of scaffolding, steel rods, semi-transparent plastic sheets and projection walls. Works are positioned and grouped intuitively and logically to represent different aspects of the brain.

“I’m excited by this unique project and the way the works will come together to create a larger installation through artist-curator Christina Read and artist-designer Paul Cullen”, says Te Uru Director, Andrew Clifford. “The form of the exhibition explores ideas around the brain and its separate but interconnected components.”

“We’re also looking forward to hearing more about the brain’s idiosyncracies from Michael Corballis, an acclaimed professor and author who will be responding to the exhibition as part of our public programme.”

The Brain is commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aoteoroa New Zealand in partnership with Te Uru with the assistance of Creative New Zealand. 

CIRCUIT Director Mark Williams says, "The Brain is a project we've been working on for a long time. We're excited it's about to happen as part of our annual festival we're presenting in Auckland from 9-15 August, it creates an extra buzz around the exhibition".

 Image: Daniel von Sturmer, small world (chalk drawing), 2012, still from High Definition video. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery.

Artists in The Brain include Paul Cullen, Megan Dunn, Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Ronnie Van Hout, Laresa Kosloff, Owen Kydd, Sonya Lacey, Colie Leung, Richard Maloy, Michael Nicholson, Kim Pieters, Rachel Shearer, Daniel Von Sturmer, Rainer Weston and Layne Waerea.

The Brain runs at Te Uru from 14 August - 15 November 2015
Opening: Thursday 13 August 6-8pm

Hours: 10am – 4.30pm daily

Address: 420 Titirangi Road, Titirangi, Auckland

Website: www.teuru.org.nz

Public programme: Talking The Brain

Saturday 5 September, 2pm

Michael C. Corballis (ONZM) is Emeritus Professor at The University of Auckland and a widely-regarded author. His most recent publications include The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought and Civilization and Pieces of Mind: 21 Short Walks around the Human Brain. Join us for a free gallery talk in which Michael Corballis responds to our exhibition The Brain.

About CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aoteoroa New Zealand:

CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand is an arts agency that supports New Zealand artists working in the moving image through distribution, critical review and research. Founded in 2012, CIRCUIT regularly commissions and curates exhibition and screening projects which are realised in partnership with local and international galleries and festivals. www.circuit.org.nz

About Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery:

Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, based in scenic Titirangi, is West Auckland’s regional art gallery. After two years of redevelopment, Te Uru opened in November 2014 in a purpose-built building as part of the Lopdell Precinct. Te Uru receives core funding from the Waitakere Ranges Local Board of Auckland Council.