MULTISENSORY EXPERIENCES
BrainMind recognizes the arts as a key pathway to brain health and wellbeing, which is why we prioritize featuring outstanding artists and immersive experiences at all our gatherings.
New York City Musical Curators: Anna Gabriel and Michael Hermann, Reverberation
Reverberatation Featuring Neurosteer Tech
Michael Hermann and Anna Gabriel are cofounders of Reveberation with world renowned artist Peter Gabriel.
Reverberation operates at the convergence of music, science, technology, and medicine, wrapped in compelling entertainment and transformative tech. The studio explores music's impact on our brains and activities, creating media spanning books, TV, digital media, education, and live events. Reverberation aims to address some of the world’s most vexing problems through scientifically-rooted music and sound interventions.
Tai Chi, Qigong, and Mind Training
Cari Shurman discovered Tai Chi and Qigong while in China over 30 years ago. Seeing how the flowing movements, the focus and the visualization were used in the schools to help students stay focused and calm she decided to incorporate it into her teaching. She eventually developed a program appropriate for all ages that can be easily used in the classroom for breaks, before a test for focus, to release stress and find inner peace.
Cari has an MAT degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has taught for over 50 years. She has worked with all age groups from elementary school to university to continuing adult education teaching foreign languages, art, Tai Chi for Kids© and Qigong. She developed her kids program over several years seeing what worked in her own classes. Cari has been working with the NYC public schools for over 20 years. She has also trained teachers through zoom in many states and countries around the world.
Tai Chi for Kids© speaks to everyone. It is non-competitive, and a chance to be in touch with ourselves, our feelings. Cari will give us a Tai Chi for Kids© break to help us focus, relax, and have fun. It is such fun to be an elephant, a dragon or even a sleeping lion.
Williams Spear is a recognized expert on Feng Shui and has authored several works on the topic, notably the book "Feng Shui Made Easy." This book is intended to help readers understand and apply the principles of Feng Shui in their lives to create balance and harmony in their environments. Spear approaches Feng Shui as an intuitive and holistic practice, emphasizing its benefits for personal and environmental well-being.
Get out your mind and into your body with integrative Health and Healing expert, William Spear. Spear will lead a set of somatic experiences, integrating stretching, genlte movement, and focused breathing exercises, Spear is an internatinoal lecturer, consultant, mentor, and writer on complementary healing arts, self-development, end-oflife care, vital design, Eastern philosophy, and leader of trauma relief teams following natural disasters to help children.
His work blends traditional Feng Shui practices with modern life, aiming to make these ancient techniques accessible and relevant for contemporary audiences. If you're interested in detailed teachings or specific aspects of Feng Shui according to Williams Spear, his books and lectures would be valuable resources.
Jim Kwik, his real name, is a widely recognized world expert in brain performance, mental fitness and memory improvement. He has transformed the lives of clients ranging from top-tier corporations like Google, Virgin, and Nike to academic institutions such as Caltech and Harvard. Notably, he has also provided training to high-profile organizations like the Cleveland Clinic and the U.S. Airforce. Jim’s innovative techniques and passion for teaching stem from overcoming his own learning challenges, driving his mission: 'No brain left behind.' He excels in leveraging cutting-edge neuroscience and peak performance strategies to enhance productivity and improve personal and professional outcomes for individuals and teams worldwide.
Featured artists this year include:
Dr. Dunn’s paintings and reflective microetchings deeply fuse art and science, attempting to illuminate the unfathomable complexities of our minds. Dunn’s art includes ink paintings on gold leaf exploring the spontaneous branching of a handful of pyramidal neurons to incredibly intricate, large scale reflective etchings such as Self Reflected that animate the collective activity of half a million neurons at once. In prints, paintings, hanging scrolls, and etchings, Dunn’s works bridge the micro to the macro to change the way in which the average person thinks about the brain. It hopes to reinstill the sense of awe, even to those of us who struggle with various neurological ailments, and to hopefully remind us that our brains are a thing of wonder.
Dr. Dunn has works in collections around the world including permanent installations at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Museum of Science in Boston, Caltech and Johns Hopkins Universities, and the Society for Neuroscience headquarters among many others. Past exhibitions have included the Pompidou Museum in Paris, the National Gallery of China in Beijing, Sotheby’s New York, the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, and the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Dunn’s NSF funded project Self Reflected executed in collaboration with Dr. Brian Edwards has won international acclaim and is widely regarded as the most complex artistic rendering of the human brain in existence.
Dr. Dunn has lectured extensively about his work in many destinations around the world, oftentimes for eclectic groups of artists, scientists, engineers, and those with a love for the brain. In addition to artwork sales, lectures, exhibitions, and installations, Greg licenses images and video for books, magazines, documentary films, nonprofits, and educational platforms.
After a stroke left him without the use of his right hand, guitarist Ken McCaw had a choice to make: become an ex-musician, or somehow find a way to play using only his left hand. That challenge led him to rethink his entire approach to the instrument, and the amazing results can be heard on his debut CD ‘On The Other Hand’.
Now as an in-demand conference keynote speaker Ken embodies his personal message of resilience, creativity and humour.
Leo Villareal’s work is focused on stripping systems down to their essence to better understand the underlying structures and rules that govern how they work. He is interested in lowest common de nominators such as pixels or the zeros and ones in binary code. The work explores not only the physical but adds the dimension of time combining both spatial and temporal resolution. The resulting forms move, change, interact and ultimately grow into complex organisms.
Yusuke Yamamoto is a multi-instrumentalist (vibraphone, percussion, drums, keyboard and flute), composer and music producer. Credits include FELA! on Broadway, Blue Man Group, Ambient Church, Karen O, Sony PlayStation.
Mauro Refosco, a Grammy-winning percussionist, has left an indelible mark on the music scene with over three de cades of experience. Beginning his touring journey in 1994 as David Byrne’s percussionist, he later joined the inno vative ensemble, The Lounge Lizards, led by John Lurie.
In addition to these collaborations, Mauro founded Forró in the Dark, his own band, which has produced four full length albums and graced major festivals worldwide.
Indre is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Uni versity of San Francisco. She is a prominent figure at the confluence of music and science, having published exten sively on the neural underpinnings of memory and cre ativity, with her work featured in notable publications and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia. Besides being a best-selling au thor and the President of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity, she’s Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at the NeuroArts BluePrint, an acclaimed speaker, and an ed ucator with several best-selling courses under her belt. In addition to her scientific pursuits, Indre is a celebrated sci ence communicator, podcast host with millions of down loads, and the opera singer and stage director with a rich history of acclaimed contemporary opera production.
Anil Salem is a musician that experiments with many styles of music, especially Celtic and Indian music. Salem has been innovating and creating music that allows listeners to have a unique cultural experience. Along with composing music, Salem is an avid learner and loves to play multiple instruments. He plays the classical guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, harp guitar, lap steel guitar bass guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, flute, French horn, piano, and drums. Salem has invented a new style of playing called dulcitarring, where he plays the harp guitar and hammered dulcimer at the same time. Salem always be lieves that he will always be a student. He researches new styles of music, listens to many different genres, and loves to get out of his comfort zone. He enjoys the challenges of composing as it makes him truly think “outside the box”.
Steve Bryant is a drummer and producer from Brooklyn, NY. Although trained in jazz performance, his production and playing styles are deeply rooted in hip-hop & drum&bass.
Award winning journalist/author and public intellectual Andrei Codrescu + evolutionary conceptual artist and de-limiter Lin Jingjing, aka Lov-Lov + neurosavvy in veterate healer and ink slinger Lynnea Villanova make posthuman, transhuman, and human-human art, respectively and collectively. Projection Booth is an exhibit that animates and explores the nature of projection within the mind, not merely in psychological terms, but also as it relates to aspects of neuroscience, healing, and postulates of how consciousness may emerge within the brain.
EXPERIENTIAL NEUROLAB
BrainMind Summits always include a hands-on Experiential NeuroLab with exciting inventions, technology demonstrations, and artistic exhibits. Past experiences include mind-controlled visual media, AR and VR-based technologies, real human brains, 10-100x expanded brain segments, neuroscience-driven perceptual illusions, immersive education experiences, and more.
BRAIN-HEALTHY CUISINE
New research indicates that diet plays a significant role in brain function, impacting everything from memory to risk for brain diseases. We put these exciting findings into practice at our gatherings. You won’t find junky conference fare at our forum. Meals and snacks served at BrainMind feature foods and ingredients with published findings for brain health benefit. Learn more about our approach here.
DETAILS
Dates: Sunday - Monday, June 2nd - 3rd, 2024
Time: Forum: 8:00AM - 6:00 PM both days, Feast of Ideas at 6:00PM on June 2nd
Location: Confidential - see your confirmation email and calendar invite
Hotels: See our recommended hotels here