*above digital photo from WAVES OF MU installation by Amy Caron

Project summary:

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran shook the scientific community when he announced, “The discovery of mirror neurons is the most important unpublicized story of the decade.”  He predicts that the recently discovered system of neurons “will do for psychology what DNA did for biology,” because it provides a biological basis for certain aspects of the human mind, such as social intelligence and empathy, that have eluded scientists thus far.  Inspired by this daring claim, independent artist Amy Caron is collaborating with Ramachandran and leading mirror neuron researchers Lindsay Oberman and Vittorio Gallese to create the performance/installation Waves of Mu.

Named after the electromagnetic oscillations (mu waves – pronounced myew) that reflect mirror neuron activity in the brain, Waves of Mu is a mix of visual and performance art, strategically designed to stimulate public interest in modern neuroscience by providing an experiential understanding of the mirror neuron system.  Specifically, Waves of Mu will engage and inform the audience about the brain while simultaneously triggering their own mirror neuron systems. 

During the evening-length work, the audience will be exposed to a large installation and a performance experience – each occupies a separate room.  Throughout the experience, the artist guides the audience along a constant traverse between the brain/behavior interface – a journey that reveals new knowledge about the composition of our brains and their effect on our social interconnectivity.     

The Waves of Mu experience will offer a unique multidimensional education, demonstrating the scientific and empirical integrity of mirror neurons.  It will also present thought-provoking connections between mirror neuron deficiencies and autism spectrum disorders, thereby challenging our cultural concept of normality and its effect on human evolution.

Project objective:

Why is neuroscience so intimidating?  Because comprehending the complexity of a human brain seems impossibly overwhelming.  Waves of Mu aims to make neuroscience understandable and enlightening through creative experience.  While our brains are indeed complex, Caron and her collaborators believe that innovative presentation can join art and science to transcend pretense and make the truly fascinating and surprisingly practical nature of neuroscience accessible to a broad public audience without compromising the integrity of the research.  Foremost, Waves of Mu intends to pique public interest in neurology through the conduit of art.   

Creative objectives are also integral to the work.  The collaborative and interdisciplinary aspects of creating Waves of Mu is regarded by everyone involved as an advantage for cultivating unique art and building bonds between professional communities.  The project’s participants and presenters want to create a platform for discourse about interdisciplinary work through scheduled public discussions that run concurrent with exhibitions.    

Caron also wants to challenge the boundaries of performance and presentation by creating an equally conscious and unconscious experience of mirror neurons.  This subtle approach correlates to the very nature of mirror neurons as sophisticated “under the radar” communicators, and informs the work’s stealth aspects and social construct.  Through these experimental methods, Caron creates a memorable visual and psychological experience – one that generates awareness and interest in the emerging field of social neuroscience and reveals the profundity of our interpersonal world through the discovery of mirror neurons.

Additionally, this project addresses autism spectrum disorders (ASD).  Ironically, the utility of these covert neurons is most evident when they are not functioning properly, as neurologists suspect to be the case in individuals with ASD.  Indeed, research by collaborator Lindsay Oberman  shows a connection between mirror neuron deficiencies and ASD.  While Waves of Mu is not about autism, the work at times positions itself as a true representation of scientific observation and questions behavioral norms by noting reactions to “bizarre” behavior and false assumptions about intelligence.  By facilitating an understanding of mirror neurons and current research findings on the topic, Waves of Mu will demystify autism and further suggest the possible evolutionary and technological influences behind ASD and the benefits of the cognitive differences found in these individuals.

Project placement:

The WAVES OF MU project is original in concept and approach. 

We cannot see or feel our mirror neurons.  Therefore, we can only come to understand their concept through abstract reference.  While there are countless scientific papers, articles, and popular science books about mirror neurons, there have been no visual or performance art presentations put forth on this subject nationally or internationally.  The discovery of mirror neurons warrants broad public recognition due to its impact on neuroscientific study and its social relevance.  This project aims to bring mirror neuron research out of the lab to the general public in a way that is highly communicative and artistically dynamic.

Additionally, a deepened understanding of the brain will benefit the public.  In relation to classical sciences like physics and chemistry, neurology is, as Ramachandran puts it, “in the tinkering stages.”  As key discoveries such as mirror neurons come forth, knowledge about the brain (still an organ of great mystery) lunges forward.  To know more about the brain is to know more about ourselves, and consequently those around us.  Compassion toward others stems from our awareness about their situations on both emotional and factual levels.  For example, through direct and objective exposure Waves of Mu will de-stigmatize the neural basis of autism to influence a reorientation of judgment about abnormal behavior.  In this way, advancement of public knowledge about brain function (and mirror neurons) can have a positive effect our moral perspectives of other people and foster a needed self-awareness of our own xenophobia as a shrinking majority of “neurologically typical” people.

While collaborative art/science projects are specialized, they are not entirely uncommon.  This project’s approach is particularly rare because it blends a multitude of performance AND visual art mediums and neuroscience—a method that stems from Caron’s diverse artistic and personal background.  A multidisciplinary scheme serves this topic well because mirror neurons integrate vision, observation, movement, emotion, and social interaction. The wide range of applications for these neurons calls for expression through multiple mediums of performance and visual art. 

In terms of presentation, Waves of Mu will defy traditional categories and forge into “new genre” territory in several ways.  For one, the performance/exhibition is designed for a small audience.  The work’s social aspects and theme of interconnectivity will be most successful with an intimate group.  The work also challenges traditional performance boundaries by moving the entire audience between two rooms and further initiating their interaction and participation throughout the show.  Braving these logistical challenges is necessary to dissolve the barrier between audience and presentation, which is important for fulfillment the work’s goal to offer an experiential understanding mirror neurons, which are defined as a neuron with properties that can dissolve the barrier between self and other.  For Caron, the boundary between audience and performer must be traversed to make the work truly successful.

The pioneering spirit of this project extends even to the work’s information distribution.  Contrary to popular practice, the audience will not received detailed information about the work until after the presentation is over.  This tactic aims to free the audience of a specific agenda as they approach the work and is crucial for maintaining the power of its surprises.  Furthermore, the delay of information is a method of extending the impact of the performance beyond its literal timeframe.  Through her study of the brain, Caron learned that minds spend the most mental energy on questions that are not easily answered.  The latency between induced interest about mirror neurons and full explanation about the Waves of Mu experience will effectively strengthen the audience’s relationship to the work while being careful to not explain it away.

Mirror neurons continue to fulfill their prophecy as one of the most significant neurological discoveries of our time and Waves of Mu will be the creative avenue through which this discovery is communicated, experienced, and remembered by the public.