Brain Teaser

Summer 2016 - Toronto ON

I'm continuing my Brain Project.

A Brainy Idea - City Hall  19

Brain Wave - Distillery District 7 

Brainstorm - Union Station  5 

Racking Brains - Big Business   5 

Brain Teaser -  9

TOTAL TO DATE - 45

These are some brains that I couldn't find the first time at the above locations or brains located on their own.

CITY HALL  - 5

Added after my first visit.

David Arrigo is known for his works of art for the sports world and corporate industry that include murals and bold designs for helmets. His inspiration for the Brain Project is our pride in our national game of hockey. His piece celebrates the game at the grassroots level and all the parents who have sacrificed their time to give their children an opportunity to play.

In the fight against dementia, the Toronto Blue Jays play for Baycrest Health Sciences. Featuring the signatures of the 2015 American League East Champions, and the full roster of 2016 Toronto Blue Jays, this brain sculpture is dedicated to brain health and the battle against dementia.

Julie Pongrac - Decoding the Brain is inspired by the knowledge that both neural pathways and gene expression respond to environmental factors. Further research into how either is modified through our daily habits, such as diet, exercise, sleep and ‘what thoughts we think’ will help to decode the mysteries of how diseases of the brain like Alzheimer’s disease develop or not. Furthermore, this knowledge may provide new targets for drug development. Taken together, this research provides hope that despite our predispositions, we can assert control over the rate at which disease is expressed.

Artist Lance Freitag was inspired by our exposure to the fears we have had in the past and the fears we will face in the future. The past has always had a way of haunting the human mind with the times we have gone through and the endless blurs and anger of words that are written, said, and violently put upon us. We move through that to our futures of peace and life in the end. You can choose to let this get in the way of your life, or you can take what you have and destroy what destroys you. Still here.

Andre Petterson has long been fascinated by ancient script, languages, music notation, scribbles, unconscious drawing, lines and scratches. These influences can be seen in the artist’s design for The Brain Project entitled Lingua Franca. The work illustrates that the written language, even when it is in an alphabet that is unknown to him, speaks to him visually.

SIMCOE WAVE DECK HARBOURFRONT - 1

Stephane Langlois the artist decided to join The Brain Project because dementia is present in his immediate environment. By participating in the project, he hopes to contribute and support research on brain disease at Baycrest. He used the rusty hammer heads in his sculpture as a metaphor for the human brain. Over the years, the iron hammer head develops a layered structure of corrosion products, which continue to generate all over the areas – comparable to Alzheimer’s and dementia, a progressive degenerative disease of the brain, in which thinking and memory become seriously impaired.

YORKVILLE - 1 to date


In describing his inspiration for the Brain Project, artist David Drebin noted that the title of this brain says it all: Inner Thoughts. What was once personal and safely nestled inside one’s mind is now on display for all to see. Take a look and see if you discover some inner thoughts of your own.

MACKENZIE HOUSE - 1

Diana Bahr - Neural Bridges consists of five layers, each representing a bridge design: arch, truss, suspension, closed arch and double trunnion. The bridges are broken, no longer connecting – a metaphor for a breakdown in the brain’s ability to communicate with itself; yet also speaking to resiliency, as demonstrated by the strength of the centre bridge, the double trunnion, which remains intact. The artist was inspired by research on the function of brain cells called microglia, and growing evidence that the breaking of important synaptic connections by microglia may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases.

TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE - 1

Memory is an invisible tool that empowers Janet Lage to connect seemingly unrelated ideas to form a visual experience. The ability to reach into her bag of memories is critical to the creative process. Maintaining brain health is crucial for everyone. It allows us to transform insight into light, ideas into feeling, and memories into creativity. Brain health is Brain Magic.