BRAINLAND

In this podcast Professors Uta and Chris Frith, in conversation with Ken Barrett, speak about their brilliant and original book 'Two Heads', a 300 page comic that tracks their neuroscientific journeys (with over 300 academic references), acknowledges the many researchers they have worked with, and outlines their current understanding of how our brains work with other brains. The book was created with writer Alex Frith and illustrator Daniel Locke who have agreed to speak with us for part 2 later in the month. We talk about the origins of their book and their wider interest in the comic medium, Uta's work on ASD and neurodiversity and Chris's work on schizophrenia and functional imaging, and their most recent collaboration with the Interacting Minds Centre in Aarhus, Denmark. Max and Moritz, Phillip K Dick and Rain Man and a certain opera also get a mention.

Contributors:

Dame Uta Frith FRS is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London.

Chris Frith FRS is Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at the Welcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, University of London.

Ken Barrett is a retired neuropsychiatrist and some time psychophysiology reseracher before his migration to the arts http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/ http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Music: Prelude to Act 1 of the opera Brainland composed by Stephen Brown www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

A review of Two Heads is here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/29/two-heads-by-uta-frith-chris-frith-alex-frith-and-daniel-locke-review

Portrait sketch by Ken Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators.

PODCAST 2: MESSAGES FROM ANOTHER WORLD

The second storyline in Brainland focusses on Professor Hans Berger, the German psychiatrist who, in the 1920s, discovered that the brain emits rhythmic electrical pulsations, the EEG. In this episode we hear about his personal doubts, struggle with the scientific establishment and final vindication, as the Nazis take power in his country.

Contributors:

Andrew Platman (librettist)

Ken Barrett (librettist/designer) http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Stephen Brown (composer) ( http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Musical extracts: Opening of Brainland scenes 2 and theme to accompany the discovery of the alpha rhythm.

The book mentioned in the podcast is Brainwaves: A cultural history of Electroencephalography, by Cornelius Borck. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781315569840/brainwaves-cultural-history-electroencephalography-cornelius-borck-ann-hentschel

Brainland the Podcast produced by Ken Barrett.

The image is from Brainland act 1, scene 2 - concept drawing in charcoal and chalk by Ken Barrett.

For the full score, libretto, story outline, designs, animations and more go to the opera website:

www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Click the link below for an animated prelude to Act 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNNcslZ2Mnc

Contact: steve4cello@ gmail.com                              

[email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators.

PODCAST 4: MANHANDLING THE BRAIN

One of the storylines in Brainland concerns the two leading figures of the psychosurgery movement in the middle years of the last century: Egas Moniz and Walter Freeman. In this episode we learn more about them, the clinical and neuroscientific environment of the period. We also learn about a 200-year-old operating theatre in London that is hoping to host the first performance of this central story of the opera.

Contributors:

Dr Stephen Brown, composer http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Adrian Look, dancer, teacher choreographer, https://tanztheateradrianlook.com/creatives/

Dr Ken Barrett, research and design/librettist http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Dr Monica Walker. Engagement manager, Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret, London

 https://oldoperatingtheatre.com/

Musical extracts: Brainland Act 1, scenes 7 and 8. Composed by Stephen Brown, libretto by Andrew Platman, Ken Barrett & Heather Angus Leppan, sung by Jodie Li-Smith and Hester Dart & Leo Selleck (Morley alumni).

Brainland the Podcast produced by Ken Barrett and Bob Barrett.

To read more mid 20th century psychosurgery, including the UK experience, click on the link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/members/faculties/neuropsychiatry/neuropsychiatry-january-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=875d7a1b_4 

For the full score, libretto, story outline, designs, animations and more go to the opera website:

www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Click this link below to see an animated prelude to Act 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNNcslZ2Mnc

Image is of a diorama of Freeman and cadaver (act 2 scene1) made by Ken Barrett.

Contact: steve4cello@ gmail.com                              

[email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators.

PODCAST 2: TOPSY GOES TO NORWAY

The opera opens with four UK brain specialists led by physiologist William Grey Walter, arriving at a US Airforce base in Gloucestershire in 1957. They are enroute to Oslo where they will visit a US funded laboratory pioneering a controversial brain investigation and treatment. In this episode we explore the background of the visit.

Contributors:

Dr Andrew Platman, dramatist and retired GP.

Professor Phil Husbands, Research Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Sussex.

Dr Ken Barrett Visual artist, former Senior lecturer, Keele University and neuropsychiatrist.

Musical extracts: Prologue to Act 1 of Brainland.

Music by Stephen Brown, libretto by Andrew Platman, Ken Barrett & Heather Angus Leppan.

Brainland the Podcast produced by Ken Barrett and Bob Barrett.

To read more about the Norway trip and its' background click on the link:

Ken Barrett » writing 

For the full score, libretto, story outline, designs, animations and more go to the opera website:

www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Click the link below for an animated prelude to Act 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNNcslZ2Mnc

The image is by Ken Barrett and based on a Soviet era collage.

Contact:

steve4cello@ gmail.com                             [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators.

INTRODUCING BRAINLAND

In this podcast the four artists who created Brainland talk about the origin of the project and their contributions. The four storylines, covered in detail in other episodes, are briefly outlined.

Contributors:

Tim Taylor, dancer, teacher; Programme manager for dance, Morley College, London.

Ken Barrett, research and design/librettist http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/                                      

Stephen Brown, composer. http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Heather Angus Leppan, poet (libretto)

Musical extracts: Act 1, Scene 7: Singers: Jodie Li-Smith and Hester Dart (Morley alumni)

For the full score, libretto, story outline, designs, animations and more go to the opera website:

www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Click the link below for an animated prelude to Act 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNNcslZ2Mnc

Contact: steve4cello@ gmail.com                              [email protected]

Brainland the Podcast produced by Ken Barrett and Bob Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.