Extra Credit Event 1 - What Comes to Mind: Memory Traces|Engrams from The Anatomy Lesson by Joyce Culter-Shaw

(Figure 1 Me at the "What Comes to
Mind" Exhibition)

For my fourth event, I went to the Art|Sci Gallery in CNSI at UCLA on December 5^th, where “What Comes to Mind: Memory Traces|Engrams” from The Anatomy Lesson by Joyce Culter-Shaw was held. According to the pamphlet, The Anatomy Lesson, started in 1990, “explores the human life cycle from birth through death as well as our primary structure, skeleton, and at the research frontier, the brain, particularly the complex phenomena of memory”.  

(Figure 2 Memory Traces/Engrams)

Walking through the gallery, I was immediately impressed by Cutler-Shaw’s arrangement of artwork. On the back wall of the gallery, Cutler-Shaw had several of her Memory Traces|Engrams lined up, with a typed up explanation next to them. Each framed artwork consisted of a photographed scene from her past pasted onto a profile of her face. For instance, two of the pictures included photography of her move to “The Middletowne”. Part of the description for those two pieces was, “The building had a doorman 24/7, which had advantages when dating. Years later I ran into the night doormen at another building in Manhattan. We greeted each other with affection”.  

(Figure 3 The Anatomy Lesson)

(Figure 4 The Anatomy Lesson
table set up.)

On the wall opposite to her Memory Traces|Engrams there was a table with 3-D paperwork designs from Cutler-Shaw’s The Anatomy Lesson.  Above the table was a large collage centered between four large images from The Anatomy Lesson. Each image was put together in the same fashion as Cutler-Shaw’s work from Memory Traces|Engrams. However, instead of placing images from her past in front of a profile of her face, she placed images illustrating human anatomy. Believing that the history of anatomy is a history of human representation, Cutler-Shaw wanted her images from The Anatomy Lesson to include a study of the history of anatomy.

(Figure 5 Cutler-Shaw's
work projected onto the
gallery wall.)

In addition to the images from Memory Traces|Engrams and  The Anatomy Lesson, Cutler-Shaw also used one of the gallery walls to project images from her work, and also utilized a computer to show a moving brain scan.

(Figure 6 Brain Scan.)

From the very beginning of walking into this gallery, I was constantly impressed at how well Cutler-Shaw merged art, technology, and biology into her pieces. I believe that her work truly lies at the intersection of art and technology and is the perfect embodiment of the type of art work discussed in DESMA.

Works Cited

Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. What Comes to Mind: Memory Traces|Engram from The Anatomy Lesson. 2013. Flyer. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 1. Gabriela, Cuevas. Leigh Sanders. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 2. Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. Memory Traces/Engrams. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 3. Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. The Anatomy Lesson. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 4. Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. The Anatomy Lesson table set up. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 5. Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. Cutler-Shaw's work projected onto the gallery wall. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.

Figure 6. Cutler-Shaw, Joyce. Brain Scan. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 7 Dec 2013.