Your Brain on Art

Our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts. In their new book Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross guide us on a life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics and share how the arts can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities.

Moderated by The Slowdown‘s Editor-in-Chief Spencer Bailey.

Your Brain on Art, which refers to the Rubin’s Mandala Lab in its pages, also features conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson. The book is on sale at the Museum’s Shop for $30 (Rubin member price:$22.50)

“Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, through extensive interviews and research, have created something beautiful and affirming with their book. Its pages provide proof for what so many of us have always known, that art, especially art in community, is transformative beyond measure.”—David Byrne, founding member of Talking Heads and author of How Music Works

The event will be followed by a book signing with the authors and a tour of the Mandala Lab with the Rubin Museum’s Tim McHenry.

About the Authors

Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she is a faculty member. She is also the co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint. Susan works with both the public and private sectors using arts and culture evidence-based approaches in areas including health, child development, education, workforce innovation, rehabilitation, and social equity.

Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for hardware product area at Google, where she leads a team that has won over 225 design awards. She is a National Endowment for Arts grant recipient and was ninth on Fast Company‘s list of the one hundred Most Creative People in Business in 2019. Ross believes that the intersection of arts and sciences is where the most engaging and creative ideas are found.

Spencer Bailey is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the media company The Slowdown and host of the Time Sensitive and At a Distance podcasts. He is also editor-at-large of the book publisher Phaidon and a contributing editor at Town & Country. His latest book is Alchemy: The Material World of David Adjaye to be published by Phaidon, July this year.