Inspiration and composition

The inspiration for these videos came from Rakitina’s work in diffusion imaging, a type of MRI method that is often used to look at biological tissues of the brain. ‘The images themselves have a lot of colours and patterns, so when I saw the call for the exhibition, I thought it might be nice to do something creative with them’. After several conversations about the brain between Rakitina and Donchev, they decided to do a creative collaboration for the exhibition. The design and names of the videos came from Rakitina’s research looking at human brain scans. ‘It felt like I was wandering around peoples' brains. You look at them in such detail, but you don’t even know who it belongs to’. She explained that this sometimes made her feel like an intruder, especially in her field of paediatric oncology. ‘So many scientists have been digging around this organ hoping to find the root of consciousness. So far this has only resulted in superficial wandering around the anatomy and physiology’. Consciousness continues to

elude us. Mind wandering not only refers to Rakitina’s own wandering, but also ‘the occurrence of thoughts that are not tied to the immediate environment (Murry, Krasich, Schooler, & Seli, 2020)’, often referred to as a task-unrelated thoughts (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). These thoughts and definitions helped the two artists explore different design ideas for the videos. Using diffusion MRI, Rakitina created the rotating image of the brain where you can see the maze-like patterns within. Using Adobe Premiere Rush, Donchev added the animated figures in each image and music to represent a more literal representation of a human wandering around the brain. The background music was a spontaneous addition to the works but according to both, ‘immediately just clicked. It really gives the viewer a calming experience’, which both agree they hope the viewer experiences.