Jane Brucker Studio

Exclusive March Live Webinar

The Color of Healing: The Role of Color in Diagnosis and Therapy in Premodern Medicine

SIGN UP NOW → jeremywasser.org/medical-history

Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026
Time: 2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT
6:00 – 7:00pm London (time change due to daylight savings)
Presented by Dr. Jeremy Wasser with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

A discussion of the medical history of color as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. We will explore the ancient reasoning for why color was thought to be medically important and delve into the ways in which it was used to diagnose and treat medical conditions by premodern practitioners. We will also shine a light (so to speak) on how color is used for diagnosis and therapy in the 21st century.

The importance of uroscopy, the examination of urine for color, turbidity, the presence of particulates, smell and even taste was such a critical element of premodern medicine that the flask itself became the emblem of doctor-ness, much as the stethoscope is today. The ubiquity of uroscopy as practiced in the premodern world meant that the color diagrams physicians used (called uroscopy wheels) played a primary role in diagnosing disease.

Color also was a therapy for ailments ranging from skin diseases, ophthalmologic disorders, and even smallpox. John of Gaddesden (1280-1361), one of the most famous medieval English physicians and a contemporary of Chaucer, may have been the model for the physician-pilgrim in The Canterbury Tales.

Even today color plays a role in diagnosis and therapy. That red-light therapy was of value in treating smallpox patients (at least in terms of minimizing the degree of permanent pitting of the skin from the pustules) formed the basis for the awarding of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to the Danish physician, Niels Ryberg Finsen. The medical specialty he created, now known as photobiomodulation, uses colored light in the treating of dermatologic diseases and more recently other somatic and psychological conditions.

Image: Late medieval urine wheel, c.1500. Wellcome Collection, London.

Exclusive March Live Webinar from Dr. Jeremy Wasser
The Color of Healing: The Role of Color in Diagnosis and Therapy in Premodern Medicine

SIGN UP NOW → jeremywasser.org/medical-history

Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026
Time: 2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT
6:00 – 7:00pm London (time change due to daylight savings)
Presented by Dr. Jeremy Wasser with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

A discussion of the medical history of color as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. We will explore the ancient reasoning for why color was thought to be medically important and delve into the ways in which it was used to diagnose and treat medical conditions by premodern practitioners. We will also shine a light (so to speak) on how color is used for diagnosis and therapy in the 21st century.

The importance of uroscopy, the examination of urine for color, turbidity, the presence of particulates, smell and even taste was such a critical element of premodern medicine that the flask itself became the emblem of doctor-ness, much as the stethoscope is today. The ubiquity of uroscopy as practiced in the premodern world meant that the color diagrams physicians used (called uroscopy wheels) played a primary role in diagnosing disease.

Color also was a therapy for ailments ranging from skin diseases, ophthalmologic disorders, and even smallpox. John of Gaddesden (1280-1361), one of the most famous medieval English physicians and a contemporary of Chaucer, may have been the model for the physician-pilgrim in The Canterbury Tales.

Even today color plays a role in diagnosis and therapy. That red-light therapy was of value in treating smallpox patients (at least in terms of minimizing the degree of permanent pitting of the skin from the pustules) formed the basis for the awarding of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to the Danish physician, Niels Ryberg Finsen. The medical specialty he created, now known as photobiomodulation, uses colored light in the treating of dermatologic diseases and more recently other somatic and psychological conditions.

Image: Late medieval urine wheel, c.1500. Wellcome Collection, London.

Gonzalo Reyes Araos
ON VIEW NOW
Exhibition of new works by
“I remember correctly you are you and the rest is history”

By appointment: galeriepluto.com/summer-2025-exhibition
galerie PLUTO
Bonn, Germany

The exhibition, I remember correctly you are you and the rest is history, features new works from Gonzalo Reyes Araos. The work and enriching academic dialogue with University of Bonn scholars began summer 2024 during his residency at galerie PLUTO.

The show is informed by Reyes Araos’ research on pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon where one perceives a meaningful image or pattern where none actually exists. Questions about how our minds perceive and construct the world through optical, sensory, and suggestive phenomena are woven throughout the works. In his series, Clouds, the artist explores the tension between spontaneous perceptions—in this case, interpreting random shapes in clouds—and the unknown. His series “Clouds,” are based on images first taken from walks along the Rhine during his residency summer 2024 at PLUTO.

Image: Gonzalo Reyes Araos, “Herd,” digital photograph, 2025.

Exhibition of new works by Gonzalo Reyes Araos
ON VIEW NOW
“I remember correctly you are you and the rest is history”

By appointment: galeriepluto.com/summer-2025-exhibition
PLUTO - galerie PLUTO
Bonn, Germany

“The accidental moment is very important,” says Reyes Araos, whose research in glitch and miscommunication was a source for discussion with researchers from the University of Bonn, Germany for the past year. These conversations contributed to a new series of his works in the exhibition and will be the basis for a rich and lively upcoming discussion, “The Poetics of Machine Learning” (info below).

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This week at University of Bonn:

The Poetics of Machine Learning
Public Lecture & Discussion
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
6.00 – 8.00 p.m. CEST (s.t.)
Hörsaal I, Universitätshauptgebäude, Am Hof 1, 53111 Bonn

A public conversation between University of Bonn researchers and PLUTO resident artist Gonzalo Reyes Araos. Moderated by galerie PLUTO co-directors, Prof. Dr. Jeremy Wasser and Prof. Jane Brucker, the event presents an interdisciplinary dialogue inspired by Reyes Araos’ work.

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Gonzalo Reyes Araos, “A relationship with my relatives mediated by screens…,” digital screenshot, 2025.