Cerebromatics is a future language of science, invented in 1964 by the Polish author, futurologist and theorist of science, Stanislav Lem. With this term Lem was anticipating a cognitive correspondence to prosthetics – the technological manipulation of the neuronal brain structure.

Ten researchers from disciplines far apart and who have never met one another, discussed the metaphors and difficulties arising out of interfaces between the organism and technology in the brain. The audience was able to follow the conversations live from the viewing room or participate as extras. Documents with statements and songs by the scientists, visual and film materials as well as the first trailer clips were also on display.

Trailer Cerebromatics

At the interfaces between the brain and technological tools, information from the language of the nerve cells is translated into that of the computer and vice versa. These physical interfaces, i.e. the construct out of synthetics and metal that comes into contact with the brain, must satisfy the requirements of a signal receiver capable of extraordinary detail without however damaging the body. If it ever proved possible to understand the data stream at this intersectional point, humans could control machines directly with their brains through implants in the future. Moreover, the received brain signals could reveal abnormal patterns, for example the first indicators of an approaching epileptic fit. The implant could then not only be a receiver but also a sender, and through specific stimulations recognize and repel the seizure.

Two adapter difficulties are discussed in the five dialogues: those in the brain are still yet to be researched and those between the humanities and the natural sciences are asserted against one’s better judgment. From the outset the neurosciences were also a history of brain images, or brain metaphors. The invisible, the intellectual qualities, are inscribed in these images and thus made scientifically manageable. Naturally enough, brain images always depend on the media technologies of their time and mirror prevailing collective fascinations; the brain has been described variously as a loom, a jellyfish, an inner cosmos and a computer. Anatomical-morphological images like that of the jellyfish may seem curious today and hardly productive for gaining a better understanding. But in the case of functional images like graphs, tables and diagrams, one can also follow how relatively sparse information and meagre signs are transformed into recognized scientific images. While the resulting models and metaphors make a cerebral localization possible, at the same time they foster the creation of myths and conjure the danger of obfuscation. Since the 1990s and the deployment of imaging technology a new successful imagery impetus has been set alight: It flashes! It fires! It thinks! And ever since, the computer itself is hardly still used as a brain metaphor – instead, we now speak of a self-organizing dynamic system. Aspects of this current metaphoric – networking, simulation, breakdown, assembly, machinist – were broached in the dialogues.

Neurosciences  & humanities

The brain is a scientific object with an enormously promising future, because it permits experiments and hypotheses in foundational research as well as close-to-market product developments. It is said that the only comparison to the magnitude of the money flowing into this research is that of the financial resources made available to accomplish Kennedy’s vision of landing on the moon.

Despite the diversity of statements on various fundamental questions that the neuro sciences like to make, the language of brain research is simple, slanted towards the technological and aims to be popular: there’s networking and wiring, feedback and routing, signaling, firing, booting, charging and storing. The natural sciences suffer from language oblivion (Sprachvergessenheit) and it is not exactly helpful that during the research process it adheres to a rather simple division of work: we’ll produce hard facts and knowledge and at some time let the cultural theorists and humanities interpret, therapize and consume. One could quite justifiably claim that today it is precisely in the humanities where a demystification program is being formulated to counter the symbolic production and meaning overload in the natural sciences, especially in the neurosciences.

The Freiburg excellence cluster BrainLinks-BrainTools is an alliance of researchers who are pursuing a shared goal in a variety of ways, employing diverse methods. The cluster is active in foundational research, implants devices in the brain using invasive procedures, works on therapeutic scenarios, to this end experimenting on mice, and conceptualizes abstract and elegant formulae. The activity of the brain is mathematically described as comprehensively as possible; the electrical din of billions of nerve cells is listened to; electrodes tolerably embeddable in tissue are constructed; tiny generators are built which generate electrical current from body heat, while robots are made fit enough to do the housework through thought commands.

Concept/Direction/Video:
Hannah Hurtzig and Philipp Hochleichter in collaboration with Oliver Müller and Gunnar Grah

The dialogue partners:
Ad Aertsen, biophysicist & Dirk Baecker, sociologist
Cornelius Borck, historian of science & Wolfram Burgard, computer scientist
Volker Coenen, neurosurgeon & Karin Harrasser, media scientist
Arvind Kumar, engineer & Sibylle Peters, cultural scientist
Martin Warnke, cultural computer scientist & Cornelius Weiller, neurologist

The table company:
Tonio Ball, Matthias Breitenbach, Ulrich Egert, Gunnar Grah, Nele Jahnke, Oliver Müller, Florian Rau, Stefan Rotter & visitors

Maximilian Haas: The Donna Haraway Union of Animals in Research

Assistance: Franziska Krause
Drawings: Florian Stirnemann
Public relations: Gunnar Grah
Graphics: Pierre Becker (Ta-Trung)
Translations: Paul Bowman
Audio/Video: Jonas Gottschall, N.N.
Assistant set design: Johannes Storch
Technique: Jenny Herman
2nd camera: Alexander Schröder
Photos: Maurice Korbel

Hostesses: Franziska Brandhorst, Kerstin Finke, Nicolin Grimm, DaJull Lim, Morin Münzer, Constanze van Gemmeren
Helpers: Felix Hoffmann, Martin Jost, Raphael Rauh, Rafael Torrejon Torres

Interludes at the table: “The Brain Modulator” by Florian Rau / “Assemblies of Things, People, Animals” from the Buratowsky Collection
Films in the viewing room: “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die”, Joseph Green (1962) retold by Bruce LaBruce. Production: The Undead. Life Science & Pulp Fiction, Mobile Academy 2011.
“Deep In The Brain” by Chris Kondek (2013) for Cerebromatik.

With thanks to Alexander Albiker, Markus Bönzli, Gertrud Dischinger, Klaus Fritz, Petra Markmeyer-Pieles, Uwe Nüssle, Marie-Louise Reineke, Dorothee Schmitt, Tanja Weber, Jörg Zembruski, the house service of KG1 and the workshops of Theater Freiburg.

A production of the Mobile Academy Berlin and the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. In collaboration with Theater Freiburg. Realized with funds from the German Research Foundation.