Wheel
Hiromi Tango and Dr Emma Burrows
What if you could turn a dial to instantly boost your mood?
You can and it’s legal, right here in this living laboratory. Wheel is a collaboration between renowned artist, Hiromi Tango and neuroscientist, Emma Burrows that explores the effects of exercise on mood. Scientists have shown that exercise can boost brain plasticity, protect our mental health and help us live longer. Despite this, we make excuses, delay and cancel our next workout. Exercise has been shown to improve our mood but how can we tap into this mood medicine and what keeps us on track? Step up as a volunteer to help researchers explore the influence of social rewards on your exercise commitment.
What will keep you going?
Hiromi Tango has been creating her signature sculpture and textile-based art in Australia and around the world for many years. She is known for experimenting with vibrant colour, lighting and details that bring the invisible connections we have with nature, others and ourselves to life. Hiromi’s art is made with the intention to heal and draws from her continuous fascination with what makes us happy. These explorations span her solo artistic practice, community engagement projects, and collaborations with scientists and health professionals.
Dr Emma Burrows is a neuroscientist exploring how environments can impact on our mental health and memory. Emma’s team study mice living in playful and positive environments. Her team explore how these positive environments impact on a mouse’s motivation, mood, brain growth and ability to learn and pay attention. It is her hope that understanding some of the complex drivers of motivation and the way we interact with our world will pave the way for healthier and happier ways of living. You’re part of her first experiments with humans. She knows your motivations will be more complex than mice and is looking forward to seeing the results.
Dr Tilman Dingler is a computer scientist and researcher who builds technologies that peak into their users’ minds. Whether sleepy, alert, bored, or annoyed, what if computers picked up on our cognitive states and adapted to them? Tilman uses data from smartphones, wearables, and novel sensors to model and enhance our abilities to communicate, process information, and learn more effectively.
In gallery live stream
Follow along with the livestreams of the wheel and armbike. To cheer along and show some love, tap on the heart to give participants some encouragement to go further!