»Sketching Brains« is an exhibition-as-research project which triggers new conversations around the act of drawing in and about neurosurgical practice.
Bypass in OR 1. 10.06.2022. Digital.
Based on several series of fieldwork within the neurosurgical department at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin by graphic ethnographer Maxime Le Calvé and on the research of neurosurgeon and cultural scientist Anna L. Roethe, this initiative takes the form of a series of corresponding exhibitions and writings, presented and continued both online and offline.
The first on-site exhibitions will curate side-by-side various notes and drawings addressing and performing neurosurgical practice. The dynamic curation process will take over the walls of the corridors of the department with a series of framed pictures, which will regularly be updated and exchanged according to the production and assemblage of new images. This work will be also accessible online, shareable through social media, and supplemented by a print-on-demand service.
The exhibits are conceptualized to provide some continuous visible output and work as an interactive tool within the collaborative ethnographic fieldwork, which will be continued simultaneously. In the second phase, this participatory research process will be then exhibited as a public event outside of the clinic.
The authors acknowledges the support of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2025 – 390648296.
The curators would like to thank Peter Vajkoczy, Janett Grimm, Thomas Picht, Katharina Faust and the team of the Neurosurgery Department for their curiosity, support and involvement in this research.
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