In 2018 artist Candy Chang collaborated with writer James A. Reeves to create an interactive artwork for the Rubin: A Monument for the Anxious and the Hopeful. Each day visitors added new hopes and anxieties, totaling over 53,000 submissions. Whether you participated or simply read the contributions, A Monument for the Anxious and the Hopeful truly served as a barometer of how visitors were feeling at any given time. Neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary and her team have been analyzing these societal shifts in pressure. The engagement aspect of this experience continues in this workshop in which your hopes and anxieties are set in the context of the hopeful and anxious brain.

About BrainwaveAbout Brainwave

You live inside your head every day, but do you understand how it works? Brainwave, the Rubin’s longest-running program series, investigates how our minds shape our everyday experiences, incorporating Eastern and Western philosophy, science, art, and other disciplines. Every spring, a unique theme unifies the Rubin Museum’s programs, including on-stage conversations between neuroscientists and notable personalities, films, and immersive visitor experiences.

Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, PhD, is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at The City University of New York. As director of the Emotion Regulation Lab, she conducts NIH-funded research on anxiety, suicide, and digital therapeutics for stress and anxiety. She is the cofounder of Arcade Therapeutics, which translates cutting-edge science into digital tools for behavioral health, and co-executive director of the Center for Health Technology at Hunter College. She is the author of Future Tense: Making Anxiety Our Superpower.

James A. Reeves is a writer, designer, and professor of philosophy and art history at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute.

Candy Chang is a social practice artist who creates public spaces for people to transform their individual thoughts into a collective experience. Her project Before I Die has generated three thousand walls in seventy countries since 2011.

Published April 27, 2019

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