Me, Myself and MRI is a science and art project, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England (amongst others) that worked with the York Neuroimaging Centre, Archbishop Holgate’s School and the National Science Learning Centre, in the creation of a touring exhibition of contemporary digital portraiture. The artworks used video, audio and photographic source material, together with graphics obtained from MRI brain scans to explore the perception and presentation of self for six specially selected subjects.
As well as the main artistic outcomes, the project was designed to educate, explore and research the issues surrounding the focus of this work. The school group from Archbishop Holgate’s were introduced to subjects including the history of medical imaging and how MRI, fMRI and MEG are used on a day-to-day basis in modern medicine. The relationship between medical imaging, portraiture as an art-form and the development of the concept of the individual in society have been explored, as will the ethics of scientific research and comtemporary art. The exhibition toured throughout 2009 and is now installed across some of the project partners sites.
The whole project has now been documented and archived online, with a new website launched in January 2011. This significant resource brings together details relating to all aspects of the project including the digital portraits and how they were created, the educational resources that were developed in support of the creative aspects, the background to the project in terms of both art and science, as well as some more information about the people who sat for their portraits.
