Mind Mine

10th ­ 18th June 2006 / Mon – Fri 10 – 5 pm by appointment

If we understood how our brains process information and store our experience of the world, would we be better able to determine our behaviour?

Mind Mine was an ambitious attempt to understand complex neurological principles, through the construction of a huge two-storey installation, a labyrinthine installation that dismantles brain functioning faster than it is physically possible to travel through its neural canals. Developed and created by artists Harriet Murray and Neil Taylor in collaboration with scientist Elaine Beattie, Lecturer in Biopsychology at Goldsmith College, and Mafjay Alvares a creative digital animator.  

Mind Mine – an extensive collaboration project working with over 150 key stage 2 students, exploring ways of communicating brain cell functioning, neurological concepts, and the way these affect our decision-making, and emotional stability. Like the wiring inside a computer that handles both the software and hardware, the electrical signals passing through our brains affect both our thoughts and emotions. Over time this continual process of strengthening or abandoning neural pathways causes our brains to become hard wired and we become actors in our own electrochemical matrix. MindMine asks what personal choices do we have in this evolution that’s taking place inside our heads and how through learning about the science can we affect change and stay masters of our own destiny?

The project was granted a Pulse Award by the Wellcome Trust.

Mind Mine was made possible by the enthusiasm of children and teachers from Jubilee and Holmleigh Primary Schools in Hackney, London.