PAPER BRAINS is an exhibition curated by Danne Ojeda in collaboration with Lisa Kuitert (Book and Manuscript Studies) and the Special Collections Library, University of Amsterdam.
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Exhibition dates
22. 06 – 17. 07. 2017
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Place
Book & Manuscript Studies
Turfdraagsterpad 15 – 17, 1012 XT
Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam (UvA)
The Netherlands
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paperbrain.com

Practice as research
The exhibition draws from Ojeda’s research for her creative practice on how human brains have been visualized throughout the history of books, as well as her professional creative practice in editorial and exhibition design.
In creative arts, ‘practice as research’ might manifest by expanding beyond the scrutiny of library resources, or the reading of textual references, to a proactive engagement with the work of other writers, authors, and their consequent creative objects. Thus, Paper Brains creates a dialogical scenario with the audience and the diverse voices that inhabit the space via bibliographic visual citations in the exhibition space. In doing so, it also contextualizes historical books that have represented human brains, while becoming an innovative interactive exhibition-installation in the form of a book page in space.

One of the most recurrent metaphors about books is that they are journeys across authors’ brains. Conversely, the exhibition Paper Brains is a gaze at different reproductions, ‘dissections’, and artistic interpretations of selected brain re-presentations. It approaches the question of how the human brain has been represented as a subject of study throughout different epochs in prints and books. The exhibition hints at the multiplicity of ‘readings’ of the brain from scientific and artistic perspectives.
Largely based on the archive of the Special Collections Library, University of Amsterdam, Paper Brains showcases a visual continuum about how human brains have been layered down and printed on book pages. The exhibition includes reproductions made by Andreas Vesalius, whose seminal work De humani corporis fabrica (Basel, 1543) defined the Renaissance’s groundbreaking representation of comprehensive anatomical structures through illustrations and prints. The display extends up to recent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a sequence-scanning technique that segments the brain for clinical diagnosis.
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Exhibition design: Danne Ojeda, d-file studio
Photography: Stefanie Archer

Basic Object of Knowledge [B.O.O.K.]: The Contemporary Book and its Model, features works by today’s practicing graphic designers such as Irma Boom, Theseus Chan, Sara de Bondt, Karel Martens, Mevis and Van Deursen, Danné Ojeda, Ingeborg Scheffers and Hansje van Halem.
The exhibition showcases physical transformations of the book that affect its anatomical canon. It examines how the object-book expresses through its materiality and form. The exhibition also pays attention to the collaborative efforts of the designers with other relevant agents within the field. They include printers, publishers and editors, among others. Such an alliance devises innovative reading systems that significantly improve communication.
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An exhibition-installation curated by Danné Ojeda at the Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, CCA, Singapore.
13–16.11.2014
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Curator: Danne Ojeda
Exhibition design: Danne Ojeda and Outofstock.
Photos: Outofstock, Colossalphotos and Marvin Tang.

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The Good Design Awards 2017

Presented by The Chicago Athenaeum museum of Architecture and Design (US), together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies (IE/GR).
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A’Design Award 2016–2017
Interior Space and Exhibition Design category, (IT).
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Red Dot Design Award: Communication Design, 2015,(DE).