Nicole Wassall

Neuroscientists discovered, using FMRI scans, that throughout history certain groups of artists have created work that stimulates the brain in unexpected ways, and have used this research to gain a better understanding of how the mind works.

Nicole Wassall looks at it from the opposite direction and actively seeks to borrow from the informed understanding of neuroscience to enrich her work. For the most part it is not about waking up parts of the brain that have until now remained dormant, rather it is about processing the information differently with different parts of the brain — and incredibly, many people report they can feel this difference.

Wassall describes her practice as using “an understanding of neuroscience to push open the swing doors of hunches and blur the dotted lines between senses and perception. Neuroscience on its own is a theory of flat surfaces. It needs the laws of unplanned consequence that thread through life for it to resonate.” From her perspective neuroscience is one of the most exciting areas in art because of its potential to push the boundaries of contemporary art.

Wassall's work has been exhibited in Australia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Poland and the USA. She completed an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London, has been shortlisted for numerous awards, and her work has featured in the book 'What is an Artbook?' by The Modern Language Experiment and in a GQ photo shoot of Morrissey.