02 — Process
Making the Piece
From first sketches to opening night — a photographic record of building Neuronal networks.
presents "Neuronal networks"
An installation where visualized neuronal activity, pharmacology,
brain imaging, and interactive installation design converge—
transforming biological signals into a sensory experience.
Visitors enter a space governed not by the artist's hand, but by the logic of neuronal networks — visualized, processed, and made perceptible to the human body.
At the heart of the installation stands a tree-like pillar mounted with 15+ screens displaying calcium-imaging inspired data of neuronal networks across a variety of states. Visitors can trigger a pharmacological intervention — a picrotoxin or ketamine dose — sending the network into an altered state before it reverts to baseline activity.
Green light pulses travel along cables toward the screen-tree, tracing the arc of a signal as it departs a neuron and arrives somewhere new. Compounds that alter network synchrony in the biological substrate are echoed in light and image, making visible what ordinarily remains beneath the threshold of perception.
NEURONS asks: what does it feel like to inhabit the logic of a nervous system? Where does biological signal end and human interpretation begin?
From first sketches to opening night — a photographic record of building Neuronal networks.
© Pia Maria Rautio
Soma spends most of his days in laboratories studying the intricacies of the brain's workings. He always liked playing with electronics and interrogating complicated systems to reveal the mechanism by which they serve their function. In Neurons, he combines his love for the sciences, gadgets and self-expression to build something that lets everyone appreciate the complex beauty of our brains.
Conceptualization, design, implementation
Samuel is a neuropharmacologist and neuroscientist with a long history of dabbling with the arts. He leads a research group investigating the neuropharmacological mechanisms of rapid-acting antidepressants and the neurobiological mechanisms of brain temperature dynamics at the University of Helsinki. Samuel is an active science communicator and believes in the power of bridging art and science. He is also a board member of Yhtiö., whose products have been featured in previous Purkutaide-exhibitions and beyond.
Iina is a pharmacist who is currently finishing her PhD in Tomi Rantamäki's group at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki. Her doctoral research focuses on illuminating the mechanism of action of ketamine at cellular and molecular level, seeking to bridge its effects on neuronal activity and intracellular signaling. Passionate about neuroscience, she never gets tired of watching neurons fire under the microscope — research data that also serves as inspiration for this artwork. When not in the lab or reading scientific articles or books, she does yoga or tries to brush up her skills in handstand acrobatics.