08/16/2013

Marina Abramovic: Experimenting on Consciousness, Through Art

34:38 minutes

Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze, by Marina Abramovic, Suzanne Dikker, Matthias Oostrik, and participants of the Watermill Art & Science: Insights into Consciousness Workshop. Copyright Marina Abramovic, 2011. Photo by Maxim Lubimov, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
“Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze,” by Marina Abramovic, Suzanne Dikker, Matthias Oostrik, and participants of the Watermill Art & Science: Insights into Consciousness Workshop. Copyright Marina Abramovic, 2011. Photo by Maxim Lubimov, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture

Performance artist Marina Abramovic’s collaborative piece Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze is both art installation and science experiment, in which volunteers sit facing one another while having their brain waves measured. Abramovic discusses these arts and science experiments with neuroscientist Christof Koch, an expert in consciousness.

See a visualization from Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze below:

Segment Guests

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic is an artists who specializes in performance in New York, New York.

Christof Koch

Christof Koch is chief scientific officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, Washington.

Meet the Producer

About Christopher Intagliata

Christopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.