As an ardent proponent of dialogue between different fields of knowledge, Jan Fabre has studied neurology for over ten years, working with a number of renowned scientists. Do we feel with our brain and think with our heart? is a dialogue between the artist and famous Italian neurobiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti (1937), the man behind a major discovery, the mirror neurons that are the basis of the capacity for empathy. As a romantic humanist, Fabre has turned to marble in his quest to investigate the brain, the physical counterpart of the intellect and seat of creativity. Imitation and empathy, the features that distinguish humans from animals, and human emotional and cognitive states are all themes he explores.

Lobes, veins and arteries are laid bare by Fabre, who creates startling associations with objects, fruit and food used in Rizzolatti’s experiments. Those instruments and objects appear in the new series of drawings that examines other poetic possibilities of the brain, drawn from references to art history. “The brains Jan Fabre present are the synecdoche of all imaginable human beings. The representation of the brain is extremely receptive: we can project all individuals onto it, starting with ourselves,” points out art historian Jo Coucke.