The exhibition is the outcome of an arts-based research project, collaboratively produced by Matt Adams, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Science and Jim Wilson, a designer and maker in the School of Art and Media, University of Brighton, with additional support from various technical specialists in SAM. Featuring a series of dioramas, combined with images, text and audio features, the exhibition reimagines an aspect of the life and work of Russian psychophysiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Remembered today for revolutionising psychology, here Pavlov’s dogs, once anonymous experimental subjects, take centre stage in a darkly playful twist on accepted androcentric and anthropocentric narratives, shattering preconceptions about Pavlov’s methods, supposedly docile experimental animals, and the universal laws of science. Tapping into our enduring fascination for miniature worlds, the three-dimensional scale models incorporate dogs, humans, lab equipment, surgical appendages, experimental procedures, parkland, architecture, interior design and medical technology. Highlights include the sinister goings on in the Towers of Silence, an antivivisection […]