In this project I made simplified porcelain brains and knit “cozies” for the brains, and knit the brain stem. These brains were mounted on bars welded to steel plates, and the plates were covered with porcelain covers, impressed with various brain related imagery. The installation covered 3 walls of a small room with a few spotlights.

Within the knitted cozies or coming from the brains themselves through the cozies are various mutant miniatures – for example, an elephant with two trunks, six legged cats, or lobsters with third eyes. I made clay stamps from neuroimaging pictures to impress into the clay. I also used the tops of pill bottles and other brain-related images.

What was the big idea? It was about the creativity, complexity and sometime chaos of the mind. 

Credit: Ailís C0urnane, 2007, “Brain Cozies”, porcelain, yarn, steel.