In this podcast Veronica O'Keane and Ken Barrett share cases and discuss some of the themes explored in Veronica's book 'A Sense of Self'. We explore the various structures in the brain essential for memory to function, talk about the importance of place to memory (we often remember where we where if not when) and recent findings on how our brain does that, the role of the frontal lobes and the hidden area of cortext called the insula, before with interesting detours into nostalgia and memory in the work of Irish writer Samuel Beckett.

Veronica O' Keane, Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin.

Ken Barrett, artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Veronica's book 'A Sense of Self: Memory, the brain and who we are': https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324021834

Opening and closing music: Prelude to Brainland the opera by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram: @brainlandcollective

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In this podcast puppeteer and academic Cariad Astles talks about how she got interested and trained in puppetry, before discussing her experience of puppetry in China and Africa. We explore why puppetry tends to be viewed as a practice for children in the UK (Cariad blames protestantism) before talking about a number of healthcare applications of puppetry including training medical students and nurses, in psychotherapy (citing an especially powerful project in Chile), health education including promoting empathy, in dementia and autism. Cariad concludes by speculating on how robotics and AI may impact puppetry and its applications in the future and shares her hope that its' value should be more widely recognised in the west, not least in ritual.

Participants:

Cariad Astles, Lecturer at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at Exeter University. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cariad-Astles

Ken Barrett, artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Cariad's paper 'the Art of Puppetry Practice: Embodiment, Enchantment, Memory History' can be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/83808501/Puppetry_The_Art_of_Puppetry_Practice_Embodiment_Enchantment_Memory_History

Opening and closing music: Prelude to Brainland the opera by Stephen Brown

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram: @brainlandcollective

Sketch by KB.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation we talk about the earliest representations of memory in classical, latin, literature (the original 'art of memory') then move, via St Augustine, to Proust and his madeleine. Russell describes how the representaion of memory, the 'flash back', appeared in the first years of film-making but identifies the real innovations in Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941). We move on to what made Fellini and Bergan masters in the use of memory before coming up to date with last year's excellent 'All of Us Strangers' . We end with an extended discussion of the ethics of memory in film, in particular the way the Holocaust has been depicted, and give the views of Goddard and Deleuze an airing.

Participants:

Russell J Kilbourn is Professor in the Dept of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada. http://rjakilbourn.com/

Ken Barrett is an artist, writer and former neuropsychiatristhttp://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Some of the films discussed:

Curtiz - Casablanca: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/videogallery/

Wells - Citzen Kane: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_5_nm_3_in_0_q_citizen%2520

Bergman - Wild Strawberries: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050986/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_wild%2520strawberies

Fellini - 8 1/2: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056801/

Haigh - 'All of Us Strangers': https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21192142/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Opening and closing music: Prelude to Brainland the opera by Stephen Brown

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.