Scanning, Framing and Close-Up: Reimaging the Brain in 265 Looping Snapshots

This article stems from a broader research project that explored the aesthetics of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Here the author focuses on her first-hand experience of undergoing an MRI as an experimental subject within two different laboratory projects. The self-produced video created after the two examinations, 265 Looping Snapshots, muses on the role played by MRI sound and images, the notion of surveillance and the experience of undergoing a scan. The video attempts to resist the reading of MRI as a ‘vision machine’ for surveillance purposes. Far from being a mere representation of an inner condition unavailable to the senses, MRI images slowly become more abstract, a pulsating, rhythmical light from which other forms can emerge.