Artwork by Andrew Carnie for the Illuminating the Self Exhibition in Newcastle at Vane and Hatton Galleries 2020. The work includes large scale installation, video work sculpture ad print.

1. Andrew Carnie
Illuminating the Self
An exhibition of work based on Optogenetics
at the Hatton Gallery and Vane Newcastle

3. The Illuminating the Self Exhibition
There is a long history of fruitful collaborations between artists and
scientists. The exhibition Illuminating the Self shows the strong
connection between two fields often assumed to be polar
opposites. The process of creating work was driven by in-depth
investigation and research, collaboration and experimentation,
before final artworks were conceived and developed. The best art
that comes from this kind of collaboration, however, does not try to
illustrate or simply explain the complex science and engineering. It is
a creative response to those discussions and observations, a
reaction, or reflection, that aims to cultivate curiosity and provoke
further responses from those who encounter it.
Andrew Carnie web site: www.andrewcarnie.co.uk
email: andrewcarnie@tram.ndo.co.uk
Lucy Jenkins, curator of Illuminating the Self.

5. Andrew Carnie and Susan Aldworth were invited to make an artistic
response to the CANDO research project in 2017. It followed on
from earlier discussions with some of the scientists which had
resulted in a suite of collaborative prints made in 2015. These
works, entitled Enlightened, explored more general ideas around
optogenetics and how external manipulation of the brain might
alter our sense of self. A prolonged period of research and
investigation began in Autumn 2017 when Susan and Andrew began
meeting with scientists, clinicians and engineers involved in the
CANDO project. The theme of how technological interventions
might disturb our sense of self continued to bubble below the
surface. Lengthy dialogue followed concerning the neurological
aspects of epilepsy, the implementation of the new treatment, how
the gene therapy and implant are designed. They spent time
studying the complex computer modelling that tests thousands of
different scenarios, observed the animal experiments that are
essential ahead of human trials, and discussed with legal experts the
ethical implications of this kind of technology and what it might
mean for all of us.

6. “There comes a moment during an epileptic fit when my self
ceases to be… my brain wipes my sense of self clean, and then my
sense of self re-emerges from somewhere else in my brain.”
Max Eilenberg interview with Susan Aldworth
The question of how we construct our sense of self and how it might
be changed by the integration of biotechnology within the body has
been central to discussions for Illuminating the Self. While we are
accustomed to the idea of implants in different parts of our bodies –
pins to hold together joints, pacemakers to support the heart – the
concept of something controlling parts of our brain appears more
difficult to comprehend, more in the realm of science fiction with
the potential to elicit fear and suspicion. The brain is the organ
responsible for our thoughts, words and actions – the generator and
custodian of our memories, our character and personality. Yet the
quote from Max Eilenberg suggests that a seizure itself disrupts that
sense of self and it needs to be reformed again.

7. The artworks in Illuminating the Self navigate the scientific and
technological aspects of the project alongside the intensely human
experience of epilepsy. For Andrew Carnie this has meant focussing
on the inner workings of the brain, how they are disrupted during a
seizure and how gene therapy and the CANDO implant might
modulate the disruption. Susan Aldworth has responded to the
inner feelings and experiences of those living with epilepsy. Both
artists have explored the unseen qualities of epilepsy and its
treatment – questioning what is happening beneath the surface.
Andrew has made a large-scale new film, Blue Matter, which
immerses the visitor in an imagined landscape of the brain. Visual
metaphors are created through a combination of drawing and
computer animation. Silhouettes of the brain emerge as beautiful
and powerful, yet at the same time mysterious and enigmatic. Tree-
like forms move and shift mesmerically; jagged lines intermittently
cut across them like activity in the brain disrupted by a ‘seizure’. The
fragile and delicate forms suggest an idyllic landscape – the brain as
Garden of Eden – perfect and untouched. Moving through the
largely monochrome film is a hypnotic experience, at times soothing
and meditative but with hints of confusion and danger.

9. Interventions within this landscape allude to the science and raise
questions over the dilemma of interfering with such beauty:
mistletoe grows amongst the tree branches, the electronic implant
descends from the darkness like a road sign in headlights directing a
seizure to halt. A series of watchtowers come into view – are they
benign or malevolent? The monitoring aspects of the technology is
at the heart of its successful application in recognising abnormal
brain activity (to deliver treatment) but open to potential
interference and misuse. The interventions reflect Andrew’s interest
in the application of the technology beyond the CANDO project:
“optogenetics research using light to control cells in living tissue may
have an impact beyond epilepsy and upon us all”.
The brain is our most complex organ with more than eighty-six
billion nerve cells. It is responsible for our thoughts, actions,
memories and feelings, yet there remain huge gaps in our
understanding of its processes and functions. Blue Matter reflects
both the scientific fascination of the brain as well as its intensely
individual meaning.

11. Andrew Carnie explores disruption and balance through a series of
sculptures. During an epileptic seizure, the natural rhythms of brain
activity are disturbed and there is a catastrophic reduction in its
processing power. The gene therapy and brain implant created by
the CANDO project seek to restore an equilibrium. In response
Andrew has experimented with different objects in changing states.
Balloons inflate and deflate, magnets attract and repel, and the lines
of light from laser levels are broken and fragmented. In each case
the change is triggered by the sound or movement of exhibition
visitors. A still state is unsettled before a period of calm returns.
Using programmable USB word fans Andrew has created a second
sculptural video work, A Tale of Two. Rings of rotating phrases offer
different perspectives on brain implants. The words come from texts
on legal, ethical and personal viewpoints as well as Andrew’s own
writing and reflect the multifaceted nature of epilepsy, device
implantation, optogenetics, and the wider CANDO project.
The exhibitions of Illuminating the Self attempt to give us insight
into cutting edge and complex neuroscience, and convey a sense of
pioneering research on the brink of breakthrough. They also aim to
increase our understanding of what epilepsy is and what it means to
live with the condition. Their main concern however remains to
encourage visitors to ask their own questions – about the science,
the technology, the art, and about themselves.

12. Work at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle

39. Work at Vane , Newcastle

52. Print work for Illuminating the Self
Andrew Carnie and Susan Aldworth

59. Andrew Carnie web site: www.andrewcarnie.co.uk
email: andrewcarnie@tram.ndo.co.uk