At the front of this year's art exhibit at HBM, sat a table.  And for some reason--maybe simply because it stayed in the same place the entire time--the table took on a life of its own. Important information such as where the bathrooms were located, what time the plenary started, and if the program brochures were free, was liberally doled out by happy, well-informed volunteers from around the world. "I'll meet you at the Art Table" quickly became a meme. Empty coffee cups, half-eaten burritos, hangovers, golden buttons and profound questions about art and science gathered together and mingled. As people repeatedly asked how to know about things, and the effect of the constancy of The Table became evident, the idea of the NeuroBureau Newsletter was hatched. So to begin the inaugural newsletter, a brief recap of NeuroBureau events at HBM...

Curated by Noah Hutton, the art exhibit "Subjective Resonance Imaging" was (in our biased opinion) a resounding success. This was the third exhibit hosted by the NeuroBureau at HBM, and it featured sound and 3-dimensional installations as well as a number of sculptural, digital and 2-dimensional pieces. We had the pleasure of working with one of the artists, Elizabeth Jameson, during the installation, and it was exciting to see the different components of paper, glass, fabric and metal assembling together in that concrete space in the middle of a scientific meeting. Despite (or perhaps because of) the perturbations in the universe caused by the non-anatomical ordering of silk-screened sagittal slices, art and science met, mirrored and coalesced throughout the conference. See Noah's post for more images and an essay about the exhibit at http://thebeautifulbrain.com And for those of you still asking, the missing art piece was returned, and show catalogues (almost vintage) are still available for $20. The art contest was also highly successful this year.  You can still check out many of the submissions at https://www.neurobureau.org/galleries/brain-art-competition-2013/.  From a field of 84 fabulous entries, and via the work of over 40 judges, the winners from five different categories were:     We would also like to thank everyone for attending the Grunge Gala "Smells like Brain Spirit" where the 3rd Annual Brain Art Awards Presentation (in all its splendor, especially Helga), and hours of dancing took place. And though everyone has not yet recovered or even caught up on email, work for the 2014 art exhibit at HBM in Hamburg is already underway.  If you would like to be a part of the ad hoc Art Committee to help with fundraising and administrative aspects of the show, please email neurobureau-hubs@www.nitrc.org with subject "Art Committee" by August 15th, 2013. Lastly, the wildly popular purportedly-glow-in-the-dark buttons at HBM gestured toward the upcoming multidisciplinary unconference Brainhack in Paris, Oct. 23-25.  More information describing the event is available at http://www.brainhack.org/?p=27357 and registration is now open at http://www.brainhack.org/?page_id=27361.  The registration deadline is Sept. 7, 2013.  So mark your calendar, book your flight or train, and don't forget to check your passport...