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Your Brain on Art review: Fascinating guide needs a bit more science

From a virtual-reality snowscape used for pain relief for burns to immersive art to boost your mood, we all gain from aesthetic engagement, argues a book from Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross that needed a little more science to make it a great read

By Grace Wade

22 March 2023

Images and caption info from the book Your Brain on Art Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather ? teamLab The interdisciplinary arts collective teamLab created an audience-driven experience in Tokyo called teamLab Borderless that brings the natural world to life. See image E in the color insert. The collective incorporates light, sound, and visual effects that feel as though you are part of the art, and that seem to transcend our normal perceptions of time and place. As you meander through the space, you are able to manipulate the surroundings through touch, and to watch as digital flowers bloom, and die, and bloom again. We often think of ourselves as individuals separate from our surroundings, from nature, but this stunning interactive museum dissolves the boundary between art and the viewer, allowing you to feel your surroundings in a visceral way. Composed of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects, teamLab represents the exciting, transdisciplinary collaborations of the future.

Immersive artworks like this one by teamLab activate some brain regions involved in socialising

Teamlab

Your Brain on Art
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross (Canongate)

THE first essay I wrote was about how much I hated my yellow bedroom. The walls were yellow. The blinds were yellow. Even the white furniture reflected the nauseating colour at me like a disco ball. My 11-year-old self described it as “a pee-coloured prison”.

I bring this up because it exemplifies the big idea behind Your Brain on Art: How the arts transform us – …

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