Everything is Connected

Everything is Connected, a new visual art exhibition exploring UCL’s ground-breaking neurological research, will run at the Crafts Council, London from 22nd May to 3rd June during Dementia Action Week. 

The exhibition, produced by UCL public art, celebrates the wide-ranging public art programme, which supports the ION-DRI programme - UCL’s ambitious project to build a new world-class neuroscience centre on Grays Inn Road, London. The centre, due to open in 2027, aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments for neurological conditions, including dementia – for which there is still no known cure 

A range of works will be on display - many of which will be installed in the neuroscience centre when it opens in 2027.  These include digital and video works, soundscapes, interactive installations, photography, painted wall works, lightboxes and sculpture. 

In the exhibition, lead artist Annie Cattrell, who is creating a large-scale artwork for the new building will map and reflect on her research journey over the last four years and artist-in-residence Freya Gabie will showcase some of her work, which will be exhibited within the centre. 

Since construction began in 2020, Cattrell and Gabie have been collaborating with UCL researchers, clinicians, professional services staff, patients and wider communities as part of the programme of work to broaden knowledge and awareness of the ground-breaking neurological research that will be made possible by the new facility. 

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The show will also feature work by artist Jo Volley, as well as the work of the Arbor programme -  artist and researcher partnerships, who have been collaborating with communities with lived experience of neurological disease to create a range of creative projects. 

The centre will be home to the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology; the UK Dementia Research Institute and the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, bringing together scientists, clinicians and patients under one roof, enabling ground-breaking research to be translated from bench to beside and back again.

The show will showcase the following work

Annie Cattrell

Annie has been commissioned to make a series of major public artworks  She has worked extensively with academics to understand the scale and magnitude of the research taking place
 

Walking in your Footsteps  

A collaborative project between artist Briony Campbell, neurologist Dr Natalie Ryan and members of the Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) support group.

 

I Hear You: A Soundscape of the Unheard World of Young Onset Parkinson’s.

Artist Alison Carlier and neuropsychologist Dr Jennifer Foley explore the unheard voices of younger people affected by Parkinson’s

Freya Gabie

Freya has been exploring the unique history of 256 Grays Inn Road and its significance as a hospital to create an archive of research as well as a series of works for the building.

Drawing the Stuff of Memory

 Artist Maria Teresa Ortoleva and neuroscientist Dr Kirsty Lu take a compassionate look at the lived experience and fear of memory loss.


 

How to Swim on Land

Artist Caroline Wright and researcher Dr Louie Lee explore the unique relationship that people living with neuromuscular diseases have with water.  

Jo Volley

Jo has been commissioned to develop a new work for the public spaces in the building rooted in her research exploring colour and pigments.

Ebb & Flow

Artist Lucy Steggals and neuroscientists Dr Tatiana A. Giovannucci and Mar Estarellas connected artists, scientists, carers and people with lived experience of dementia to share experiences of uncertainty.
 

In Search of Lost Time  

Clinician scientist Dr Tom Miller and artist Lynn Dennison look at memory loss in patients to give a voice to those with LG11-limbic encephalitis to describe and capture the first-person experiences of amnesia.

Further information 

Please see the ION-DRI Programme website