(Projection) mapping the brain: a critical cartographic approach to the artist’s use of fMRI to study the contemplation of death

This paper discusses the author’s artwork, Neuro Memento Mori,a self-portrait comprising digital animations and live action videoprojection-mapped onto a 3D print. The life-sized sculpture of thehead and neck, dissected to reveal the artist’s brain, was producedfrom MRI data gathered as the artist viewed memento moripaintings and meditated on death. The production of the artwork,made with neuroscientists, explores the relationship between theso-called frontier of neuroscience, data and the map. The use ofcomputation to produce neuroimages, 3D prints and projectedvideo is discussed from the perspective of critical cartography.