Mind and Body: The Art and Science of Being Human

ArtScience Museum presents Mind and Body: The Art and Science of Being Human—a season dedicated to exploring what it means to think, feel, and be.

In an era where technological advances are redefining our understanding of both the physical body and cognition, this series of exhibitions and public programmes offers a renewed focus on the human condition. Exploring the mind-body connection from the perspective of contemporary art, neuroscience, material science and more, allows us to reimagine the human body while simultaneously celebrating the link with, and the extraordinary capacities of the mind—from memory and perception to creativity and self-awareness.

Anchored by two key exhibitions, Mirror Mirror: Journey Into the Mind and Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, alongside a micro-festival of programming titled Curious Worlds, the Mind and Body season draws on cutting-edge science, performance, radical fashion and technology to deep dive into what makes us human, and to assess how we, as a species, might be evolving.

Mirror Mirror: Journey Into the Mind investigates the expansive creativity inherent in the human brain and, with insights from scientists from the Society for Neuroscience Singapore Chapter, explores complex concepts such as memory, consciousness, identity and the inner self.  A new multi-part installation by Singaporean artist Genevieve Chua goes further, provoking deep contemplation and emotional resonance through a visual and auditory exploration of neuron signal transmission in the brain during the complex process of spatial orientation.

Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses illuminates Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen’s incisive and transdisciplinary practice, with an exhibition that interrogates the body in space, our identities and our potential futures. Van Herpen’s approach to design is rooted in intensive research and development as well as collaborations with changemakers in the fields of architecture, contemporary art, the natural sciences and technology. Transformation and metamorphosis, the complexity of nature and making the invisible visible are tropes literally and metaphorically woven into van Herpen’s work.

“I imagine sensorial geometries as an exoskeleton around the body when I design, like a micro-dance of movement all around your skin.” —Iris van Herpen

Artists represented in Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses include: mé (Japan), Ivana Bašić (Serbia), Philip Beesley (Canada), Lanny Bergner (USA), Rogan Brown (UK), Chun Kwang Young (South Korea), Juliette Clovis (France), Casey Curran (USA), Enrico Ferrarini (Italy), Heishiro Ishino (Japan), Kim Keever (USA), Yayoi Kusama (Japan), Janaina Mello Landini (Brazil), Courtney Mattison (USA), Kate MccGwire (UK), Kohei Nawa (Japan), Ruben Pang (Singapore), Ren Ri (China), David Spriggs (UK) and Tan Shao Qi (Singapore). 

Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is co-organised by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France, and ArtScience Museum, Singapore, and is based on the original exhibition by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Organised as a micro festival of projects and programmes accompanying the season, Curious Worlds draws on the topics and themes embedded in both exhibitions to consider the multiple interactions between the disciplines of neuroscience, inclusive design and natural history that continue to generate new understandings of the self and our experience of the world around us.

Against the backdrop of an explosion in neuroscience research in recent decades that is decoding the staggering complexity of the human brain, leading women scientists from Singapore’s Brain Bank, Dementia Research Centre, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University as well as the University of Cambridge, UK, discuss research topics from neuroeducation to cognitive decline, advocating for neurodiversity-affirming narratives. Body-centric engagement sees Singapore-based adaptive clothing label Werable and community makerspace Salvage Garden integrate aesthetic expression, agency and care in order to shape a more equitable world for every body through inclusive apparel design and assistive technology. Looking to the natural environment as an enduring source of inspiration and innovation, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore, biodiversity consultancy bioSEA and nature-guided studio Wild Dot explore how we can design with nature for change and to conceptualise radical futures.

Through the work of scientists, researchers, designers and technologists who are innovating breakthroughs in their respective fields, Curious Worlds invites reflection on our shared humanity and a kinship worldview in shaping a better tomorrow, together.

The Mind and Body season has been curated by the ArtScience Museum team: Honor Harger, Adrian George, Deborah Lim, Rafi Abdullah, Chelsea Chye, Victoria Chua, Joel Chin, Debbie Joseph, Gillian Goh and Zhang Bao Xin.

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