TCIN artist-in-residence set for show at Molesworth Gallery

Posted on: 08 November 2024

Cian McLoughlin, artist-in-residence at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN), is opening a research-inspired solo show at Dublin’s Molesworth Gallery tonight (November 8 2024).

The show is the culmination of a year-long collaboration between the artist and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, supported by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, formerly Science Foundation Ireland. 

Above extracted from:  The wrong colours at the wrong dosage (Eigenface)’, oil on canvas, 120 x 112cm

At Trinity, McLoughlin immersed himself in a research environment at the intersection of artificial intelligence, deep neural networks, developmental psychology and neuroscience.

This has led to the creation of a new body of work inspired by the pioneering research being conducted by the Foundations of Cognition Project Team (FOUNDCOG) in Trinity’s Cusack Laboratory. The team are using awake fMRI, deep neural networks and behaviour testing to study the brain, perception and cognition of babies between two and nine months old. 

At 3 pm tomorrow (Saturday), the Molesworth Gallery will host a Q&A with the artist, TCIN Director Rhodri Cusack and Cusack Laboratory researcher Cliona O’Doherty. 

Rhodri Cusack said: “The work Cian has engaged with at Trinity is driven by questions such as, ‘What are infants seeing? What are they thinking? And how are they learning?’ It has been a privilege to have Cian working with us, and to experience his unique perspective on the work we are undertaking. We are excited to see the work that has emerged from this collaboration and are grateful to Science Foundation Ireland for their support.”

McLoughlin is a multidisciplinary artist whose work fuses traditional art materials and techniques with modern tools and technologies. Oil paint, pastels, and canvas are used in combination with CO2 laser cutters, 3D printers, graphics generators, and digital colour systems. He examines the transformative impact of technology on painting, creating visual scenarios where no single, valid interpretation exists, offering insights into the processes underlying perception and subjective experience.

His work aims to understand humans as embodied, interdependent continua of psycho-physical processes and to provide a perspective on the challenge of being emotional creatures in a mathematical world.

 ENDS

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