Brains at the Library
Where: Jubilee Library
When: 1st-21st April
Who: Events for all ages
For the first three weeks of April, the neuroscientists of the University of Sussex, Sussex Neuroscience, are taking up residency at the Jubilee Library to inspire and engage the people of Brighton with the inner workings of the brain. They are hosting two exhibitions and a number of workshops and talks targeted to visitors of the Jubilee Library.
The Brain
1st – 21st April (all ages)
Through March, five schools in Brighton have been working together with Sussex Neuroscientists to learn about the brain. The culmination of this project, Building Brains-Connecting Communities, is the production of the giant brain which is on display in the Jubilee Library before being taken to the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) Festival of Neuroscience at the end of the month. Sussex neuroscientists worked with a year 9 class at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) exploring the brain and how it works, before inviting over 160 primary school children from Coldean, City Academy, Fairlight and St Martin’s to come and visit BACA to take part in workshops to learn all things brain.
The Sussex Brain Bus
1st -21st April (all ages)
The library foyer will be home to an exhibition about the Sussex Brain Bus, a community based project sponsored by Alzheimer’s Research UK where two dementia researchers from Sussex and a local artist, set about running community workshops, shining a light on dementia research, and exploring ways to keep your brain healthy. These workshops provided the inspiration for the messaging and artwork that is now rolling through the roads of West Sussex on the Stagecoach 700 Coastliner bus. Come and see the process we went through to make the bus and the messages it is delivering to the people of West Sussex. Maybe you can catch the bus home afterwards!
Super Brain – a comic making workshop
4th April, 11am and 2pm (90 minutes) all ages
Come along and find out how incredible your brains are and make a story to tell the world!
Dan Locke, the artist behind the Sussex Brain Bus, also works as a graphic novelist and illustrator (Two heads). He will run a cartoon drawing workshop to explore the wonders of the brain, and help participants put together a comic book story from it. The 90 minute workshop will run twice, at 11am and 2pm.
Two Heads: Where two neuroscientists explore how our brains work with other brains
5th April, 1-2pm ages 12+
Eminent neuroscientists Emeriti Professors Uta and Chris Frith teamed up with their son Alex and cartoon illustrator Daniel Locke to produce a wonderful graphic novel telling of their life’s research and careers. We have the extraordinary pleasure to have all four joining us for a panel discussion to talk about the process of translating complex neuroscience into comic book format, and what it all means!
Neuroscience in Action – a demonstration
11th April, 2pm and 3pm (30 minutes) ages 10+
Our brains are incredibly complex organs that control everything about our daily lives. To do this, our brains generate electrical activity which courses throughout our bodies along nerve fibres where it controls a wide range of muscles and other organs. Oli Steele (University of Sussex/Brighton and Sussex Medical School) will demonstrate this electrical activity in real time, learn about electrical activity in the brain and maybe even learn how to control someone else’s arm in the process
Books and Baby Vision
17th April, short 15 min session on the hour, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm
For newborn babies the world is very blurry, but babies’ vision changes radically over the first year of life. In this session Professor Anna Franklin from The Sussex Baby Lab, will explain what colours, shapes and details babies can see and what kinds of images babies like to look at.
She will show baby eye-movement clips that let you see what babies look at when they look at books, and she will provide examples of books which are suited to the different stages of the first year. This is an informal session for parents and babies are welcome too.
Do you see what I see? The Dreamachine and The Perception Census
17th April, 5.30-6.30pm ages 14+
Join Professor Anil Seth, his team from the Sussex Centre of Consciousness Studies and Professor Fiona Macpherson from the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience at Glasgow University to find out about their two large scale art-science projects: The Dreamachine and The Perception Census.
Flow Drawing Workshop
19th April, 2.30-4.30pm
A drop in drawing session as part of Flow, a collaborative project about brain health and research into Alzheimer's disease by visual artist William Lindley and Dr Catherine Hall from the University of Sussex. All welcome, materials provided. Supported by Alzheimer's Research UK.
Colour your brain
Now to April 18th
Children from Brighton and Hove, or further afield, are invited to enter a colouring/drawing competition organised by the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) and Sussex Neuroscience.
Download a form (three designs to choose from) or pick one up from the Jubilee Library or a partcipating school (Building Brains - Connecting Communities).