Brainland

Why do we respond to puppets? That's what this episode explores, with the help of Pia and Ana, academics who approach the question from different perspectives. We discover what is meant by the 'uncanny valley' and how it links puppetry to robots (and zombies!) and discuss if 'concptual blending' might be useful. Does the old notion of 'suspending disbelief' hold water? Ana talks about her project using a viewer's direction of gaze to explore this question in re;ation to puppetry.Participants:Pia Banzhaf, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, Department of Linguistics , Lanuages and Culture; Center for Integrrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities; Collaborations for Applied puppetry Research. Website: KaleidoscopiaAna Diaz Barriga, Doctoral Candidate, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Theatre & Drama, Northwestern University. https://www.anadiazbarriga.com/Ken Barrett, artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/Pia's chapter, 'The Ontology of puppets' is here: http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/dolls_and_puppets/dolls_and_puppets.pdf#page=9More about the show Ana has been studying is hereMore about the 'uncanny valley is here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/ai-uncanny-valleyand this image illustrates it: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6f/d2/2c/6fd22c3c6e5cc72c1e7f4f840c594c56.jpgMusic: Prelude to Brainland, Act 1, composed by Stephen BrownSketch by KB.Brainland the opera: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

In this conversation poet and visual artist Andrea Mbarushimana and neurologist/poet Heather Angus-Leppan talk about their project exploring the value of chatbots to help people cope with and better understand their epilepsy. The project began by collecting over 1700 questions about the condition posted by people living with epilepsy. Heather describes how Andrea was integral to the project, facilitating workshops with people living epilepsy. Andrea shares poems written during the project, including two from the perspective of those chatbots! Heather also shares a moving poem about one of her patients.  Participants:Andrea Mbarushimana, poet, visual artist.www.andrea-mbarushimana.comHeather Angus-Leppan, Neurologist, Royal Free Hospital, Professor of Medical Education, University of East London.https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/services/consultants/dr-heather-angus-leppanKen Barrett, visual artist, writer, former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.ukMusic composed by Stephen Brown: Extract from Act 1 Scene 2 of Brainland.Portrait sketch by KB. Brainland the opera website: https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Peter Vuust is that rare combintion - a professional musician and composer, and a professor of neuroscience investigating how our brain responds to music. This wide ranging conversation includes why we humans are so attracted and responsive to music, the link between groove and predictive cognition, the Mozart effect, the tingle/chill factor in music, and how to get more out of atonal music. As if that weren’t enough, Peter shares a track of his upcoming album (he can be seen and heard in several bands at the Aarhus Jazz Festival in July). Participants:Peter Vuust, musician, composer, professor of neuroscience and Head of the Department of Music and the Brain at Aarhus University, Denmark. http://www.petervuust.dk http://www.musicinthebrain.dk/peter-vuust/Andrew Platman, writer and retired physican.Ken Barrett, artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist/psychophysiologist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.ukMusic : 'Homage to Keith', composed by Peter Vuust, played by the Peter Vuust Quartet (2024, with permission).Portrait sketch by KB.Brainland the opera website:https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Those animated objects, puppets, can work powerfully on our emotions and generate empathy, seemingly tapping into some very basic part of our psyche and, perhaps, neurology. Which is the main reason why we are devoting two podcasts to this subject. In this podcast Claudia Orenstein, a leading authority on puppets and physical theatre worldwide discusses the various ways objects are deployed in performance, including their use in ritual, education and entertainment, for adults as well as children. A number of examples are described as she shares her lifelong passion for the subject and there is also an interesting theoretical discussion as to why this and other types of animation have become more popular this century. Next month on the podcast: the psychology and neuropsychology of puppetry. Participants: Claudia Orenstein, Professor of Theatre at Hunter College and Graduate Centre CUNY, USA (who also launched a new journal of puppetry in January).https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/claudia-orenstein Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/ For more about Claudia Orenstein's book Reading the Puppet Stage:https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003096627/reading-puppet-stage-claudia-orensteinHere is a website for The plastic bag store, which I mentioned in the conversation.https://www.theplasticbagstore.com Blind Summit’s Paper Story.https://www.blindsummit.com/paperstory Bread and Puppet theatre’s website:https://breadandpuppet.org William Kentridge on Wozzeckhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AwwwMN6q3I Music by Stephen Brown: Prelude to Brainland.Brainland the opera: https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.ukSketch by KB.

Since completing her degree in interactive art 30 years ago Luciana Haill has worked at the cutting edge of the field. She recounts how childhood meningitis got her interested in the brain and Grey Walter's 'The Living Brain' the EEG - she sold her car in order to buy a portable EEG recorder, her tool for exploring the boundary of consciousness. More recently, her obsession with lost historical artefacts led her to create the Arts Council funded 'Apparitions' app - the app recreates lost landmarks when a phone is pointed at the original site (such as the 900 foot St Leonards pier, demolished over 70 years ago - and it really does, as I saw last weekend). Future projects explore aspects of nostalgia and grief.Participants: Luciana Haill, visual and mixed media artist. Formerly Research Artist Sussex University, Department of Informatics, and Department of Psychology and Social Sciences, Greenwich University. https://lucianahaill.wordpress.comKen Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/ The following links relate to the projects discussed:https://sites.google.com/view/nohammerneeded/no-hammerhttps://apparitions.site/https://lucianahaill.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/dreamonline-cobwebgenienmo1.pnghttps://lucianahaill.wordpress.com/2022/03/14/creativity-culture-capital-my-interview-video-immersive-spotlight-on-the-future-of-live-performance/https://doc.gold.ac.uk/aisb50/AISB50-S12/AISB50-S12-Haill-paper.pdfMusic by Stephen Brown: Extract from Brainland Act 1 Scene 2.Brainland the opera: https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.ukSketch by KB.

In this podcast Professor Andrew Jackson talks about how he came to be, literally, at the cutting edge between the human central nervous system and new neuro-technologies. After explaining ‘neural interface’, he discusses how the field is starting to change the management of paralysis and epilepsy. There is also an interesting discussion about the effects of exhsiting current tech, including possible implications of Google's acquisition of FitBit and how social media is already effectively modifies behaviour. He also shares a lockdown project – 'closed loop' music generated by and modified in real time by brain oscillations (with some samples included). Participants:Andrew Jackson, Professor of Neural Interfaces, University of Newcastle, UK http://research.ncl.ac.uk/jacksonlab/Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist/psychophysiologist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/Music: Closed loop music generated by Andrew Jackson’s brain (with permission).Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.ukSketch by KB.