Migraine Art in the Internet

Migraine Art in the Internet (Podoll, 2006) is a current research project by Dr Klaus Podoll, a migraine researcher working at the University Clinic of Aachen in Germany, who has previously published several medical papers and two books on the subject of Migraine Art (Migraine and Spiritual Experience, with Derek Robinson; The Aura of Giorgio de Chirico - Migraine Art and Metaphysical Art, with Ubaldo Nicola).

Graham Harwood, Untitled, 2004. © 2004 Graham Harwood (see here)

The project attempts at collecting both statistical and anecdotical data on the relationships between migraine experiences and art making activities in a sample of artists, professional or amateur, who are identified on the grounds of a reference to migraines or headaches in websites from the internet. In contrast to previous studies, which were based on the outcome of Migraine or Headache Art competitions, this project puts emphasis on migraine-inspired artwork which has been produced independently from the demands required by the said special art contests for migraine sufferers. From the over 450 contemporary artists up to now included in this project in progress, circa 180 could be traced and responded to a questionnaire. In-depth studies are devoted to the lifes and work of some painters, documenting the great impact which migraines may exert on the art of some individuals.

Far from being just relevant as a facet for what has been called Outsider Art, migraine experiences can be shown to have acted as a unique source of artistic inspiration not only in great painters from the past like Giorgio de Chirico, but also in a considerable number of contemporary artists, just like dreams, hypnagogic hallucinations or drug-induced phenomena, the impact of which has been recognized for long in the history of art. First results of the research project Migraine Art in the Internet are available on the pages of this website.

Klaus Podoll delivering a lecture at the ZKM symposium inVISIBLE. Algorithms as interfaces between art and science, October 31, 2004. © 2005 ZKM, photographer: Thomas Thiel

During a symposium entitled inVISIBLE. Algorithms as interfaces between art and science, held at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, 30-31 October 2004, Dr Klaus Podoll delivered a lecture on Subjective visual sensations - Hallucinatory form constants of migraine aura as interface between art and neurosciences, discussing images of the visual migraine aura ranging from 19th century medical illustrations, over Giorgio de Chirico's migraine-inspired metaphysical paintings, to contemporary fractal and internet artists (Podoll, 2005). Not by chance, the metaphor of the computer (as defined by the algorithms of Turing's universal machine) is nowadays not only used by neurocomputational scientists and artists, but as well by the man-on-the-street who is aware of the hallucinatory form constants of the migraine aura being just like "the images on the computer", as described by one migraine sufferer, Jim M., who wrote in a comment to an entry on scintillating scotoma on Robert Kissinger's personal website: "Just found out the other day what that crazy moving saw tooth arc was... scintillating scotoma! I thought it was someting serious for the past 8 years when they started suddenlly on a Sunday morning. Went to many eye docs over the years... always the same diagnosis....'your eyes are perfectly normal.' I had the idea it was a 'brain job' for a long time becaused I had deduced that it was going across both eyes. My vision looks just the images on the computer... no migraine... just the flashing, saw tooth lines which form a sides ways V or arc and which gets larger and larger until it disappears. Nice to know there are so many of us...... bet the eye doctors make a fortune out of this scary event."

Barbara Könches and Peter Weibel (eds.), inVISIBLE. Art_Science: Algorithms as interfaces between art and science. International Media Award 2004. Benteli, Bern, 2005.

References

Podoll K. Subjektive visuelle Sensationen − Halluzinatorische Formkonstanten der Migräneaura als Schnittstelle zwischen Kunst und Neurowissenschaften. In: Könches B, Weibel P (eds). unSICHTBARes. Kunst_Wissenschaft. Benteli Verlag, Bern, 2005; 286-303.
Podoll K. Migraine art in the internet: a study of 450 contemporary artists. Int Rev Neurobiol 2006; 74: 89-107.

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