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The magazine will feature exclusive interviews with artists, scientists, writers and creative thinkers.

The Brain as a Time Machine

“In many ways the brain is a time machine, we remember the past to predict the future and we engage in mental time travel (we can mentally project ourselves into the past and future). Additionally, we are pretty good at telling time, whether demonstrated by catching a ball, playing the piano, or anticipating when the red light will change to green. But how does Mother Nature build clocks using neurons?”

Dean Buonomano is a professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Psychology, and a member of the Brain Research Institute, and the Integrative Center for Learning and Memory at UCLA. He is a leading researcher on how the brain tells time. His new book is is titled ‘Your Brain is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time.’

Felt Time

“One could say that the study of time consciousness overlaps with the study of phenomenal consciousness. Conscious awareness is extended awareness of duration, temporal order, the present-moment, and the passage of time.”

Marc Wittmann is currently employed at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany. He has written two books on the topic of time perception. ‘Felt Time’ has been published in 2016 by MIT Press and ‘Altered States of Consciousness’ is going to appear in August 2018, also published by MIT Press.

The fragility of human existence

“My work mainly depends on – and is influenced by – everyday life: the political, social and cultural events that occur and change our ideas and perception of the world around us. Wars, social injustice, natural catastrophes have marked people, reshaped regions – the fragility of human existence.”

Alexandra Dementieva main interests focus on social psychology and perception and their application in multimedia interactive installations. Her videowork integrates different elements including behavioral psychology, developing narrative using a ‘subjective camera’.

Who are we now or what will we be in various versions of the future?

“Our artworks investigate human futures and evolutionary paths influenced by emerging and disruptive technologies. So our work is not so much a prediction of the future or solution to issues of the day, but instead invites audiences into a space to explore the endless opportunities that can shift according to our desires and dreams.”

Based in London, Burton Nitta is an interdisciplinary art and design studio collaborating with science and technology to investigate our future world and human evolution.

Human bodies and the environment that they occupy

“I observe how human interactions happen and how the body moves through space, the motion and gestures associated with different activity. I also question why we move the way we do and how may we change those habits. In addition, I am extremely interested in how these natural interactions are effected by digital technology and artificial futures.”

Betty Zhang is an interaction designer and interdisciplinary artist creating sensory experiences that are immersive and interactive in both digital and non-digital media. Currently, she is exploring wearable technology, gestural interactions, biofeedback, and sound installations. Her work deals mainly with the body as a multi-functioning interface and performative medium.

Experiencing human-computer interaction

“I build interactive tools and design experiences that make human-computer interaction more tangible, divergent and meaningful. I work in this manner to investigate how computation could be unveiled and brought out into the real world, thus rendering it accessible to the diverse forms of distributed and embodied cognition that humans have always been using to live and act on this planet.”

Raul Altosaar is an infradisciplinary artist, technician and researcher. He leverages his foundational skills in computer graphics and extended realities to design spatial experiences and interactive tools.

Between the human body and the inner self

Valeriya N-Georg is an artist inspired from Neuroscience, Psychology and Consciousness studies, who works with a range of media: drawing, printmaking, mixed media and sculpture.

“My principal interest is Neuroscience, as a system of exploring the relationship between the human body and the embodied self. I use fragments of physical anatomy to visually represent the inexpressible experience of inhabiting a body; the boundaries between the inner and outer self; between the physical and metaphysical; tangible and intangible, the tactile and the optical.”

A vocabulary of patterns

Giulia Ricci’s finely detailed geometrical works use a variety of processes, hand-made and digital drawing, laser engraving, installation and video. Drawing underpins the artist’s practice across the various media. Drawing is a means of translating the experience of tactility into a visual image, as the artist creates a sense of texture through the use of a non-representational visual language.

Drawing, language and thinking

Ana Mendes is a writer and visual artist, creating projects in which she uses photography, video, drawing, text and installation to address issues of memory, language and identity. She has been the recipient of several awards for her works in performance, video, photography and literature, including the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017, second prize winner, London, UK. Her research project, ‘On Drawing’, aims at establishing a connection between drawing and thinking in the realms of arts and science.