Sciart 2005

In 2005 the Sciart scheme funded 14 new projects through Development Awards and Production and Research Awards.

Panacea: The Art of Wellbeing

Artists Michael Pinsky, Neil Bromwich and Zoe Walker, with Dr Mark Down from Central Middlesex Hospital, are developing an evolving expandable and travelling artwork designed to function as a universal formular to 'cure' social, economic and political problems. The artists will create a thought-provoking and humourous comment on society's increasing expectation of the artist as 'social reformer, economic revitaliser and catalyst for all things good'. The effectiveness of the artworks will be assessed by scientific evaluation processes and the results will refine the project's artistic 'solutions'. 'Panacea' will tour the UK in 2006.

Contagion

Using the subjects of Avian Flu and SARS as a starting point, artist Gina Czarnecki, in collaboration with Dr Keith Skene from the University of Dundee, will create an interactive project where the audience 'spread' the infection by their movement in the installation space. The work draws parallels between the biological transmission of infection, the mathematical transmission of data, and the spread of ideas and understandings. Themes of surveillance, biosecurity and human interaction are all examined in the work. 'Contagion' will tour the UK in 2007.

Quartet

'Quartet' will explore and create new real-time relationships between music, the gestures of dance, robotics and the animation of a virtual 3D human character. The project team will create a transdisciplinary environment between artists, engineers, computer and biomedical scientists who will each have input into the research and production stages of the project. Artists Margie Medlin and Stevie Wishart are working with the Physiology Lab, University of Cambridge. 'Quartet' will be presented at the ICA in London in 2006.

The Process of Portrayal

'The Process of Portrayal' will research and explore the experience of neurological impairment in a personal and novel way. The team will develop and document a collaboration between a clinical neuroscientist, physical performers, actors and people with tetraplegia. The project will reveal the experience of living with the condition, through a process of imitation and empathy, and so allow a dialogue between patient, artist and doctor. Professor Jonathan D Cole, clinical neurophysiologist working in collaboration with Andrew Dawson, performer; Lucia Walker, teacher and performer; Chris Rawlence, Director.

A Hospital Odyssey

In 'A Hospital Odyssey' poet Gwyneth Lewis collaborates with Professor Stephen Tomlinson (Cardiff University) and Professor Ilora the Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Professor of Palliative Medicine, to research and write a modern epic poem inspired by Homer's 'Odyssey'. The book-length poem will chart one patient's journey through a hospital, including interactions between gods, men and chimeras of disease. Each of the 12 books of the poem will take a separate illness as its main metaphor.

The Sonic Body

Interactive designer Marcus Woxneryd and cardio-thoracic surgeon Francis Wells will utilise medical equipment to discover and record inaudible sounds from deep within the human body. The project takes influence from traditional medical techniques of listening to the body to diagnose illness and aims to capture sounds from healthy bodies as well as those with medical conditions. Presented through an interactive audio-visual environment, the movement of visitors' bodies in the space will trigger an ever changing symphony of body sounds. As both a revealing experiment and a playful experience, the work will propose an alternative way of perceiving the human body; through sound.

Walking Here and There: Movement, Memory and Delusion

Artist Simon Pope and neuropsychologist Vaughan Bell will investigate the interaction of reference and memory in reduplicative paramnesia (a delusional belief that a place exists in two or more locations simultaneously). Video and performance will bring an experience of this exceptional neurological condition into everyday life to explore the relationships between space, mobility and memory.

Certain Moments

In 'Certain Moments', filmmaker Jocelyn Cammack explores the phenomenon of the optical illusion by investigating various forms of neurological errors in perception. The research will form a basis for the production of a series of ambiguous images, each interrogating specific neurological characteristics of perception. These images will be presented together with fMRI scans, indicating the areas of the brain that are involved in the cognitive response to each movement. The project is led by Jocelyn Cammack, working with Professor Christopher Kennard and Dr Parashkev Nachev from the Department of Visual Neuroscience at Imperial College London.

Breathe

'Breathe' is a collaborative project between artists Dalziel and Scullion, working with the Institute of Medical Sciences in Aberdeen and hosted by Peacock Visual Arts. The collaborators will explore the mechanics and acoustics of breathing, using microscopic images combined with recordings of human breathing to create audio and visual responses.

Ringing

Visual and performance artists Juan Delgado and Fabrizio Manco will work with Professor Jonathan Ashmore, University College London, and psychologist Professor Richard Hallam to develop a body of work exploring the artist's experiences of living with tinnitus. Inspired by a forest of 'singing' cicadas in the Mediterranean, the artists will create video and live art installations, and engage with contemporary scientific research into this condition.

Synaesthesia & Sound

'Synaesthesia & Sound' will be a short animated film that aims to further our understanding at a scientific level of how synaesthesia operates, and how it relates to the type of multi-sensory processing we all perform. Animator Samantha Moore, working in collaboration with film director Dr Jamie Ward (the Synaesthesia Research Group, University College London) and Julian Knight (New London Orchestra).

D'Alembert's Dream

Artist and director Phoebe von Held will work with various science researchers at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, to create a film adaptation of Diderot's 'D'Alembert's Dream', an 18th-century imagining of a delirious universe of scientific speculation and metaphor. Diderot's references to evolutionary theory, genetic engineering, cloning and eugenic experiments provide the inspiration for the piece. The project team will experiment with animation styles to develop a unique visual language, as well as a new translation of the original text.

Khat - out of sight, out of mind

This project aims to raise awareness of the dangers of khat, a legally available highly dangerous amphetamine style drug that is widely used in the Somali community. Artist and playwright Ali Seenyo will work with consultant psychiatrist Eleni Palazidou to develop a 30-minute play that will be performed in Somali and English. The project is hosted by Oh!Art in London.

Balnakiel

Professor Martin Conway, University of Leeds, will work in collaboration with artist Shona Illingworth to develop an experimental drawing process exploring the psychological layering of experience, memory and association that contributes to contemporary definitions of place and physical location. Working in Balnakiel, a small, isolated community on the north coast of Scotland, the differing perceptions and memories of the inhabitants will be recorded. The drawings will inform experiments using spatio-acoustic sound systems and moving images to create plans for a time-based installation.