The Research Labs in EYE on Art on 28 February and 16 May provide scope for a new generation of curators and artists to hone their skills. In these Research Labs, students from ten art academies and universities put together a programme involving their own work and films (including remixes) from EYE’s collection.

Neuropower

Our theme for this year’s Research-lab is Neuro-power referring to the brain as one of the most complex phenomena on our planet and its enigmatic power of control versus the loss of control. And how this very brain invented machines to take over vital functions and decisions in our life.

10 students of VAV-moving image from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie dive into this subject and let their own brain take the lead on this path of research. Trespassing into various realms; the metaphors and the reflections that pop up ín our brain and are propelled out of our brain. Where is the control panel of this brain? Is it the Self? The myth of the Self? The Selfie?

Some say: in order to reach some understanding or knowledge or skill, there is always this phase during this process of learning, when you need to surrender to a certain flow of not understanding or not knowing. How to visualize this left and right hemispheres of the brain, its functions and malfunctions?

Or

They go into a nervous discussion with a sculptural element, the vastness of form and the emptiness around it.

Or

How would our brain cope with a language that starts acting autonomously, mixing up its vowels, as we speak and still pretend to talk flawless.

Or

Some wonder: Can a brain live a happy life without a body? Will it be possible, in the near future, that technology separates the brain from the body and thus enters the virtual world?

And

What about the social awkwardness and hidden manipulations in our daily communication with the brain of the other? Mistranslations and miscommunications trigger our brain to act as a Perpetuum Mobile of troubleshooting.