The Illuminating the Self exhibition, shown across two galleries in Newcastle upon Tyne, featured work by renowned artists Susan Aldworth and Andrew Carnie responding to the CANDO project.  The work responded to issues such as the lived experience of epilepsy, as well as the technical, ethical and legal issues around optogenetics and neural technology. The exhibition opened at Vane and Newcastle University's Hatton Gallery in January 2020 before being forced to close early due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

Over the duration of the project, Susan and Andrew were observed by filmmaker Alan Fentiman as they talked to researchers, developed ideas and installed the work in the galleries.  The following video is the result of Alan's work.

 In 2021, we held an online event to look back at the exhibition with Susan, Andrew, curator Lucy Jenkins and project scientist Dr Fiona LeBeau. The event, which was open to the general public, included many people who were involved in the exhibition such as some of the many embroiderers involved in creating Susan's work Out of the Blue.  You can watch a recording of the discussion below.

Explore the pages to discover more about the exhibition.  You can also view photographs of the work, taken by Colin Davison, by searching for CANDO Newcastle on Flickr, or by clicking here.