Janneke van Leeuwen is based in London and Amsterdam. She holds an integrated MSc in Neuropsychology (VU University, Amsterdam, 2003), a BFA in Photography (Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, 2009) and a PhD in Visual Art and Social Neuroscience (UCL, London, 2020).
Janneke’s interdisciplinary practice investigates the relationships between visual art and the brain networks that regulate complex social behaviour, (personal and cultural) identity, and mental wellbeing. Her art work has been exhibited and published internationally.
From 2014 onwards, her practice began to pivot towards investigating the mechanisms of art as a method to illuminate the inner workings of our minds. Her interdisciplinary PhD research (2016-2020) focused on the relationships between visual imagination and the social brain in neurological healthy young and older adults, as well people with different forms of dementia. The research took place between the Wellcome Collection in London, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, the UCL Institute of Making, Janneke’s art studio in East London, and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie of Art and Design in Amsterdam.
Building on her PhD research, Janneke has developed a neuroscientific framework of art perception and production that is grounded in the social brain, with the aim to lay the foundation for a functional brain model that can guide future research in this field, as well as its practical application in artistic, educational, societal and clinical contexts. In collaboration with the innovators of the social brain connectome – a transformative new paradigm in social neuroscience – Janneke developed the Artistic Brain Atlas.
Her interest in translating research into real-world applications led her to Janneke van Leeuwen’s interest in translating research into real-world applications led her to founding the social enterprise The Thinking Eye in 2015, which develops interdisciplinary programmes and training courses on the intersection of art, design, and social neuroscience.
Institutions Janneke has exhibited at and/or worked with include The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK; University College London, London, UK; Wellcome Collection, London, UK; Goldsmiths, University of London, UK; Anna Freud Centre, London, UK; New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK; RIBA East Midlands, UK; Musée the l’Elysée, Lausanne, CH; International Arts+Minds Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA; Aperture Foundation, New York, USA; Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA; Tilburg University, Tilburg, NL; VTS Nederland, Amsterdam, NL; Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL.
Janneke van Leeuwen 