In neurobiology, a love relationship can be divided into two phases: falling in love and the
bonding phase. The first is marked by the release of certain biochemical mediators such
as dopamine and NGF. In this phase, the areas of the cortex that underlie desire, reward,
and sexual excitement are active. Conversely, areas responsible for logic and reasoning
are inactivated. The second phase is characterised by “bonding” and the passage to a
phase of greater serenity and formation of the couple’s relationship.

This is how the idea of representing our love relationship was born, going to explore, with
method and scientific rigour, the neurobiological processes within our brain, and then repropose
them to a possible user through some visual metaphors. We therefore produced
and combined different types of images: from a small sculpture that recalls the molecular
composition of dopamine to the neuroimaging of some sections of the brains of people in
love, from the NGF sequence inserted into a computer terminal and screenshotted to a
plant that alludes to the connection of the synapses of our nervous system.

All images ©Andrea Camiolo and Arianna Zanetti