Week 4: MedTech + Art

When I was 6 years old, I experienced chronic headaches for about a year. They hurt terribly, but I didn’t know why and neither did my doctor. I was sent for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan, which informed me that I did not have a brain tumor (thankfully). This experience left a deep impression on me.

When prompted to relate my personal experiences with medical technologies to the art projects I have seen this week, I immediately thought of delving deeper into how artists use MRI scans in their art to better visualize and understand the human body. 

Silvia Casini’s research into MRI configurations as both acoustic mirrors and portraits show that MRI scans have been used in many art pieces to make statements about our body. However, instead of “being transparent windows into the inner self” (Casini 75), MRI images are performative tools which “enact the body, rather than represent it” (Casini 92). Here, we can see that the change in the medium of art leads to an alternative interpretation of artistic concepts like self-portraits.

Marta De Manezes’s Functional Portraits displays this dissonance clearly. Photographs and fMRI scans of the same individual are put side-by-side. On one hand, it can be argued that these fMRI scans are portraits of the individual, and it is unlikely that an identical fMRI scan will be produced by anyone else. On the other hand, we are unable to recognize or verify that these fMRI scans belong to the individual. I can imagine seeing the fMRI scans would create a fascinating yet confusing predicament for the individual.

De Manezes’ Functional Portraits

I remember how it felt to experience the MRI scan. There was apprehension and anxiety before the scan began, discomfort and a tinge of fear during the scan as it took longer than I had expected, and astonishment and awe at seeing my MRI images. The experience and emotions of undergoing a MRI scan were captured in the artworks Looping Snapshots by Casini, and Resonant Imaging by Kenneth Wilkes. Unfortunately, I was not able to find much on the latter’s artwork, but I can imagine that it would be similar to the video below, which touches on the emotions felt by the patients as they underwent the MRI scan. Wilkes states that “a multitude of mental states arise and fall away,” including “hope, grief, sadness, joy, and anger” (Wilkes). In the video (and in my experiences as well), the patient expresses anxiety and even fear at the scan, and we understand that this seems to be the main concern of most patients, as the video repeatedly reassures us that it is a “very safe” procedure.

What is it like having an MRI scan?

Upon seeing my MRI scans, I felt liberated and in awe at viewing my brain in such a manner. I believe this experience is captured in Justine Cooper’s RAPT II, where 76 MRI scans are suspended in a 10-metre long databody. Walking past the exhibit would certainly evoke a myriad of feelings as we see and can even run our hands through the cross-sectional slices of the body.

Justine Cooper’s RAPT II

References 

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as mirror and portrait: MRI configurations between science and the arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73-99. PubMed, doi:10.1353/con.2011.0008. 

De Manezes, Marta. “Functional Portraits.” Marta De Menezes, martademenezes.com/portfolio/functional-portraits/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. 

“Looping Snapshots.” Screenworks, screenworks.org.uk/archive/volume-2/looping-snapshots. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. 

Wilkes, Kenneth. “resonant imaging: revealing bodies.” Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu/bodies/wilkes_3.html. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. 

“MRI as art: How one radiologist uses MRI images as his artistic muse.” GE Healthcare, 23 Nov. 2018, www.gehealthcare.com/article/mri-as-art-how-one-radiologist-uses-mri-images-as-his-artistic-muse.

<Images and Videos> 

De Manezes, Marta. “Functional Portraits.” Marta De Menezes, martademenezes.com/portfolio/functional-portraits/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. 

“What is it like having an MRI Scan? – Going into hospital for an MRI scan.” YouTube, uploaded by Oxford AHSN, 13 Aug. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=D02MT9m4rww. 

Cooper, Justine. “RAPT II.” Justine Cooper, justinecooper.com/rapt2.html. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.