Gutted, gutsy, gut feelings, gut wrenching, butterflies in your tummy, go with your gut – are all expressions used in everyday language, art and literature to portray a raft of human emotions. How we feel is driven by both emotional and visceral signals and while neuroscientists by training are conditioned to think of what is happening above the neck in terms of the regulation of our emotions, research at the APC Microbiome Institute is literally turning this concept upside down as scientists begin to realise the importance of gut function and the food we eat as critical to our mental well-being.

Food has long been the subject of works of art. In recent times, artists have also examined eating behaviours and the mechanisms of consumption as a way to comment on contemporary society. From artworks that explore the materiality of foodstuffs to creative provocations that test the boundaries of good taste and revulsion, Gut Instinct: Art, food and feeling draws on cutting edge research by John Cryan, Professor and Chair, Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC, and his colleagues at the APC Microbiome Institute, to explore how digestion relates to our mental and emotional states.

25 November 2016 – 19 March 2017
The Glucksman, UCC, Cork