PAPER BRAINS

An exhibition curated by Danne Ojeda in collaboration with Lisa Kuitert (Book and Manuscript Studies), and the Special Collections Library, University of Amsterdam.

One of the most recurrent metaphors about books is that they are journeys across authors’ brains. Conversely, the exhibition Paper Brains is a gaze at different reproductions, ‘dissections’, and artistic interpretations of selected brains re-presentations. It approaches the question of how the human brain has been represented as a subject of study throughout different epochs in prints and books. The exhibition hints at the multiplicity of ‘readings’ of the brain from scientific and artistic perspectives.

Largely based on the archive of the Special Collections Library, University of Amsterdam, Paper Brains showcases a visual continuum about how human brains have been layered down and printed on book pages. The exhibition includes reproductions made by Andreas Vesalius, whose seminal work De humani corporis fabrica (Basel, 1543) defined the Renaissance’s groundbreaking representation of comprehensive anatomical structures through illustrations and prints. The display extends up to recent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a sequence-scanning technique that slices the brain for clinical diagnosis.

OFFICIAL OPENING
Friday 30 June, 2017 | 6:00pm
Book & Manuscript Studies, 1st floor gallery, Turfdraagsterpad 15–17, 1012 XT, Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands.

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Curators
Danne Ojeda
Lisa Kuitert

Exhibition assistance
Szilvia Mondel
Eline Kortekaas

Exhibition design
Danne Ojeda

Supported by
Book Studies department, Faculty of Humanities,
University of Amsterdam
School of Art, Design and Media,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Acknowledgments
Ihab Saloul
Noelia Vega Guerra
Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes
Annika Rulkens
Annemarie Maenen
Agaath Homminga
Georges Petitjean