In the general chaos of Venice during the Biennale period, the chances to visit or participate to exhibitions or events are really many. However having the opportunity to see something interesting and at the same time not connected to the art is becoming increasingly rare. Fortunately, or perhaps with great logic and vision, the Prada Foundation in its Venetian headquarters has brought to the lagoon a research exhibition, as it is its usual practice, that is about the brain and the thought, which is entitled Human Brains It Begins with an Idea, and it is a show outside the classic panorama of contemporary art.

This exhibition is in fact the result of an in-depth research process undertaken by Fondazione Prada starting from 2018 in the field of neuroscience and guided by a strong desire of understanding the human brain, the complexity of its functions and its centrality in the history of the human. The show, viewable until November the 27^th, accompanies to know for those who do not know and to rediscover for those who already know the human mind, starting from an historical contextualization from the Mesopotamians up to almost today.

How much was known about the human brain and about its modus operandi at the time of the ancient Egyptians? And for the Aztec peoples what was their perception of the brain? What one discovers through the various sections is, for those who are not in the trade, something at times astonishing, one can be amazed to discover how, in spite of the distance, certain logics of analysis and theories on the subject were similar or even the same in very different peoples.

The visitor’s journey, through the first and second floors, is accompanied by over 110 objects that tell the centuries of attempts in understanding the human brain. This selection includes historical artifacts, drawings, paintings, prints and books that mark some of the most significant moments of a millennial voyage of discovery and, at the same time, highlight otherwise forgotten chapters of history, such as the studies lead by the Mesopotamian or the Egyptian civilizations, from the Italian Renaissance, the Japanese Edo period, up to the imaging techniques developed in the last thirty years. An incredible journey, with exceptional Virgils as neuroscientists and philosophers from all over the world who, through their research, help in understanding this ambitious project.

Quoting Miuccia Prada: “We are increasingly interested in the relevant issues of the present, those that affect everyone’s lives, and that, at times, we do not know or do not fully understand. For a cultural institution that has its roots in the visual arts, dealing with science is an intellectual and political challenge”.

Briefly, the exhibition at Ca‘ Corner della Regina is the tale of the history of the development of neuroscientific knowledge, of innovation and discoveries, but also of errors and uncertainties. The project attempts to outline the perishing of consciousness, of the still unresolved questions by scientific research, of the certainties and the unknowns in the process of understanding the human brain.

A lady exhibition, a real pearl in the Venetian map of events, with international contributions in the field of literature and science, for science lovers or just curious.

Info:

Human Brains: It Begins with an Idea
23/04/2022 – 27/11/2022
Fondazione Prada Venezia
Ca‘ Corner della Regina
Santa Croce 2212, 30135 Venezia