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Brain Lounge

Spin around, think around, reload your brain… The CeMM Brain Lounge is more than a room: It is an art installation and open-end experiment dedicated to the power of thinking.

The CeMM Brain Lounge was created by Walking Chair (Karl Emilio Pircher and Fidel Peugeot) in close cooperation with the CeMM Directors Giulio Superti-Furga and Anita Ender. The central piece of the Brain Lounge is a carousel with 14 leather chairs and a “lazy Susan” with an art piece by Peter Kogler. Their reverse side is detachable and meant to be designed by various artists. Currently they present work by Adriana Czernin, Titanilla Eisenhart, Jonas Feferle, Thomas Feuerstein, Dorothee Golz, Markus Hanakam and Roswitha Schuller, Zenita Komad, Hans Kupelwieser, Alois Mosbacher, Klaus Pamminger, Eva Schlegel, Manfred Wakolbinger, as well as by Martin Walde. The walls display artworks of Hubert Scheibl and Esther Stocker, and the ceiling is full of “sister blister” lamps by Walking Chair, which look like clouds. The fashion designer Daniel Kroh, working in Berlin, is responsible for the design of the special Brain Lounge costumes.

On 19 November 2012 the opening of the CeMM Brain Lounge took place as part of Vienna Art Week, which is an art event with international resonance. The scientific community and many art lovers were invited to interact with the designers and artists that developed the Brain Lounge, which is situated on the eighth floor of the CeMM building, overlooking Vienna’s skyline. Many brain lounge rides with different groups of people took place since where the brain lounge could give proof of its purpose and definition: to be a source of inspiration and generator of ideas.

Every Brain Lounge journey begins with a ritual meant to abandon the daily routine and professional habitus and encourage the participant to assume a new identity. Then, by being exposed to an environment of changing art and a science fictional ambience, riders of the Brain Lounge can be induced into a different, playful state of mind. The slow turning of the sitting carousel provides a constant change of views and evokes a sense of communality amongst fellow travelers. A logbook is available to record the intellectual journeys. With its synergy of art, science, medicine and design, the Brain Lounge should act as a breeding ground for new ideas. The Brain Lounge is a lively, developing place. We thank all artists, donors and sponsors who have helped us to realize the project this far.