American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Brain: The Inside Story (Exhibition)
birth: 2010 November 20
death: 2011 August 14
Exhibition. Opened in November 20, 2010 and closed August 14, 2011. Located in Section 3, Floor 3 in Gallery 3 at the American Museum of Natural History. "Brain: The Inside Story" was an exhibition giving visitors a new perspective and insight into their own brains using imaginative art, vivid brain scan imaging, and interactive exhibits.
Summary
"Brain: The Inside Story" was an exhibition giving visitors a new perspective and insight into their own brains using imaginative art, vivid brain scan imaging, and interactive exhibits. The exhibit also featured the latest research from the treating of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to recent studies of more intangible aspects like the mapping of our emotional responses. The exhibition began as visitors walked past a 3-pound preserved brain and continued with a walk-through installation by contemporary Spanish artist Daniel Canogar, a canopy of moving lights representing billions of firing neurons inside the human brain. Additional highlights included an installation by artist Devorah Sperber that brought hundreds of spools of thread into focus as an image of a world-renowned painting; an interactive map representing the streets of London that explored how the brain stores long-term memories; and a 6-foot-tall sensory homunculus, a figure sculpted with enormous hands of lips to demonstrate the proportional amount of the brain devoted to the sense of touch in different parts of the body. Visitors also learned how the brain's plasticity allows changes at different stages of life. The exhibition was organized by the Museum in collaboration with Codice.Idee per la Cultura, Torino Italy, in association with Comune de Milano-Assessorato Cultura, Italy; the Guangdong Science Center, Guangzhou, China; and Parque de las Ciencias, Granada, Spain. The exhibition was curated by Rob Desalle, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology who also carried out research at the Museum's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. Several consultants assisted with the exhibit: Maggie Zellner, a research associate at The Rockefeller University, and Joy Hirsch, director of the Program for Imaging and Cognitive Sciences (PICS) at Columbia University. Support for the exhibit was provided by the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund, Virginia Hearst Randt and Dana Randt, and Mary and David Solomon. Additional support for the exhibit and its related educational programming was provided by Roche. The exhibit was on view in Gallery 3 of the American Museum of Natural History from November 20, 2010 until August 14, 2011 after which it began an international tour.
Individuals and institutions involved in the creation of the exhibition: Musee des Confluences, Lyon, France; Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England; The Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway; Ross MacPhee.