Artist Pipilotti Rist with guests and officials at the launch of installation “Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You” at NMoQ.
A first in the Middle East, the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) in collaboration of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has unveiled a museum installation by internationally-renowned Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist “Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You,” which will run starting today until December 20.
The installation will then be moved to Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar as a permanent display.
Qatar Museums Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said: “Visitors of all ages are sure to be captivated by Pipilotti Rist’s dazzling artwork Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You, a journey of light and sound that plunges participants into the intricacies of the human brain while at the same time sweeping them across the natural landscape of Qatar. I am thrilled to announce that after its initial presentation at the National Museum of Qatar, this specially commissioned artwork will be permanently installed at Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar, where it will be part of the future museum’s stimulating and inspiring family experiences in the heart of Doha.”
Artist Pipilotti Rist said the installation speaks on emotional level. “I hope it also contributes that when you are in, you little bit forget about your past, and you forget your future, that you are in the moment with the others, and that is publicly perceived as space where it belongs to everyone,” she said, speaking to the media.
She emphasised that “Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You” is ‘medicinal’. “Culture, music or visual culture does not only gives identity but also [has a] healing quality — calming, contemplating. And we need these to relax our minds and to take the soul seriously.”
The exhibit features three parts – first is Rist’s “pixels” that comprised 12,000 LED lights strung on cables throughout the gallery. These represent neurons which constantly fire and communicate with each other. The pulsing resin-encased bulbs are programmed in choreography with a soundscape and featuring abstract footage of Qatar’s landscape.
This is then followed by a black canvas room where you can write or draw using glow in the dark marker your thoughts and emotions. Afterwards is the programme’s area where a video is on loop that discusses about mental health. For group visits, there will be exercises on meditation and breathing.
The artist said she used six songs that are in-sync with the “pixels”. One was sung by her, one music by a Palestinian oud musician Clarissa Bitar, and the rest are in collaboration with her friends. “I want that people see themselves, that they think when they go in, they did it themselves or it reminds them of certain moods and they feel themselves mirrored [through the LED lights]. All of that – it’s actually my brain, it’s me there; that would be my main vision,” Rist said.
Speaking to The Peninsula, NMoQ Curator and Head of Exhibitions, Bouthayna M Baltaji, said: “There are two ways for you to experience it, first is just throw yourself in and kind of see what it means to you, and second is essentially take a step, breathe, and think about things before you enter.”
She explained that linking the exhibit to a national narrative is essential. “The National Mental Health campaign, the National Vision 2030 is all about social development. We need to empower our people, not just locals but residents of Qatar, and so this has been really a great exhibition.”
“This exhibit is again an amazing thing — she uses technology which has isolated us during the pandemic, it brought us together but also isolated us, and she kinda reverses it where technology in the gallery is forcing us to look inwards and also connected one another. It’s a fun play on technology because it’s powerful and we need it but it also is isolating,” she said.
HMC Mental Health Service Chief Executive Ian Francis Tulley said one out of four people will suffer from a mental health problem. He said the exhibit is a “fantastic metaphor” in terms of helping people to forget the stigma, and to become more mindful about life and presence.
