In recent years she has been focusing on EEG (electroencephalogram) records of brainwaves. Appropriating graphic notations from various disciplines, found illustrations, fragments of books and digital databases, layering them with pictorial marks, analytic structures, emotional codes and handwritten notes, Ortoleva’ creates a non-linear language or dictionary to map the imaginative thinking activity of the mind. She reads and draws simultaneously as the imagery prompted by the text occurs, with the endeavour of keeping track of their proliferation and the examination of their cognitive value.
‘Mindscapes’ is an ongoing collaborative project by the artist Maria Teresa Ortoleva and computer scientist and data visualisation expert Dr Rita Borgo based in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. Both their research findings in data visualisation, urban informatics and mental wellbeing are rendered by Ortoleva into contemporary sculpture, installation and 2-dimensional works.
Ortoleva’s enquiry starts with field data collection using an EEG portable headset to record brainwaves from the public in a real-life scenario, together with a variety of contextual information. She then continues with physicalising the data into acrylic sculptures. Colours and surface qualities vary from reflective, transparent, fluorescent and opaque, offering an interpretation of the information. Lastly, playing with the layout of the physicalised data and disseminated it back in the exhibition space.
The project examines how these types of data visualisations are experienced by people and communicated to their perception, broadening our understanding of the mind and furthering awareness of our own mental wellbeing. Furthermore, it demonstrates Ortoleva’s fascination for images that attempt to capture the imaginative mind to push our understanding of its workings. ‘Mindscapes’ especially shows her ongoing interest in EEG and in the signature shapes of brainwaves that signify elusive states of consciousness – from fancy to remembrance, to hypnagogia and dream – and their impact on mental wellbeing. By the same token, the project intersects Borgo’s research in data visualisation and urban data.
Selected segments of brainwaves and elements from drawings are transferred and laser cut into plexiglass, they become the source of her immersive installations and colourful pictorial displays. The exhibition space turns into a collectively accessible and empathic visualisation of our inner mindscape, reflecting on the value of imagination in our production-oriented urban society and our frenzied and fragmented experience of a global digitised world.
Maria Teresa Ortoleva’s research at King's College London continues, where she is working towards a PhD with the support of UKRI funding. Her studies are dedicated to the development of the ‘Mindscapes project’ in data sculpture and physicalisation, to enhance and support public engagement and mental wellbeing.
Her exhibition Self-Reflections will open at Luca Tommasi Arte Contemporanea in Milano, Via Cola Montano 40, Italy, 9 January 2025 !