Envisaged as one of its core activities, the Association of Neuroesthetics strives for continuing respectable higher education. In May 2009 the AoN launched a public lecture series, together with the Berlin School of Mind and Brain (Humboldt-Universität Berlin) and the Institut für Raumexperiment, led by Olafur Eliasson. Within the frame of the AoN Neuroesthetics Talks Series, speakers from various disciplines are regularly invited to present and discuss their work in public. The lectures serve as a forum to feed the need and desire of neuroesthetic research, and to draw attention to the intriguing outcome of the interdiciplinary dialogue between scientists, artists, and scholars.
Furthermore, the Deutsche Guggenheim promotes the AoN in organizing talks for the Deutsche Guggenheim CLUB within the AoN Art and Neuroscience Series. 2010 Neuroesthetics Talks Series
Christoph Redies (Jena)Scale-invariant statistical properties of aesthetic art imagesTuesday, 22 June 2010, 18.30 – 20.00
Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Luisenstraße 56, Haus 1
FESTSAAL (2nd floor)
10117 Berlin
The Fourier power spectra of subsets of aesthetic art, other visually pleasing images and natural scenes share a specific statistical property. On average, they are scale invariant (fractal-like), which means that the relative prominence of coarse structure and fine detail remains constant for different image scaling. In contrast, real-world photographs of objects, faces, plants and scientific illustrations have Fourier power spectra that deviate from scale invariance. Moreover, art images possess more uniform scale invariance across image orientations than comparable real-world photographs. These results suggest that subsets of aesthetic images display luminance contrast statistics that are more pronounced than those of real-world image categories. The significance of these findings with regard to sensory coding in the visual system will be discussed.
Christoph Redies is Professor and Director at the Institute of Anatomy, University of Jena School of Medicine. Together with Joachim Denzler from the Institute of Informatics, University of Jena, he studies statistical regularities in art images and other image categories. This research attempts to identify universal properties of art images that relate to the basic principles of sensory coding in the human visual system. In other research, Christoph Redies studies the molecular basis of neural circuit formation during vertebrate brain development. Besides his scientific work, he has a long-standing interest in the visual arts and pursues abstract painting as his hobby.
Neuroesthetics Talks Series
Dorothée Legrand and Susanne Ravn: "Perceiving subjectivity in bodily movement: The case of dancers"
Monday 26th April at 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Abstract
This paper is about one of the puzzles of bodily self-consciousness: can an experience be both and at the same time an experience of one′s physicality and of one′s subjectivity? We will answer this question positively by determining a form of experience where the body′s physicality is experienced in a non-reifying manner. We will consider a form of experience of oneself as bodily which is different from both “prenoetic embodiment” and “pre-reflective bodily consciousness” and rather corresponds to a form of reflective access to subjectivity at the bodily level. In particular, we argue that subjectivity is bodily expressed, thereby allowing the experience of the body′s subjectivity directly during perceptual experiences of the body. We use an interweaving of phenomenological explorations and ethnographical methods which allows validating this proposal by considering the experience of body experts (dancers). Art and Neuroscience Series Luc Steels and Sissel Tolaas: "The Utopia of Communication"
Thu. 28 January 2010 - 19.00 at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin Abstract Luc Steels and Sissel Tolaas represent different ways of approaching the interaction between science and art; one comes from the science world and the other from the art world. They try to understand each other’s methods of working more than actually striving towards making works of art together. Steels and Tolaas both stress the importance of processes in their work and want to give others access to these processes. They both investigate communication. Steels studies the origins of communication, and particularly how sensory experiences, such as colour or spatial and bodily perception can become categorised and verbalised. Tolaas studies the most unique non-verbal communication form that we humans have, namely smells. Luc Steels is professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and director of the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris. He is known for his experiments investigating the origins and evolution of symbolic communication. These experiments attempt to find out what kind of mechanisms are needed so that humanoid robots can autonomously self-organize language-like communication systems. In addition to his scientific work, he has been involved with various art/science projects with artists Sissel Tolaas, Olafur Eliasson, Carsten Höller, and others. He collaborated with theatre maker Jean-François Peyret for a piece at the Avignon theatre festival. Last year he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
Sissel Tolaas runs the ResearchLab Berlin for SMELL & COMMUNICATION. She studied mathematics, chemistry, languages and visual arts in six different countries. She has been working with smells for twenty years, continuously expanding the contexts where they are considered. She has developed projects in order to use chemistry, neuroscience and modern technology to present smells and nonverbal communication on different scales. Smells at a personal level, including sweat from men with fear attacks, were exhibited at i.e. MIT, Beijing Summer Olympics and Louisiana Museum – the projects is also the starting point of serious research in Stanford University and San Francisco Neurosciences Institute. In addition to her artistic activities, Sissel Tolaas works actively with business and academia. She also has an appointment for research and teaching at Harvard University. This year she was awarded the Rouse Visiting Artist-in-Residence at the Harvard GSD, for a research project done in Mexico City about pollution, perception and communication - developing new tools and new methodologies/methods to confront disastrous realities. Her work is generously supported by IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.).
Neuroesthetics Talks Series Vittorio Gallese: "Embodied Simulation and Aesthetic Experience"
Wed. 13 January 2010 - 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain Abstract
The discovery of mirroring mechanisms in the human brain and the functional hypothesis modeling these mechanisms - embodied simulation- offer the opportunity to shed new light on the empathic reactions triggered in beholders by images, in general, and by visual art images, in particular. During this seminar I will challenge the cognitive primacy in our reactions to art. The hypothesis being proposed will be that a crucial element of aesthetic response consists of the activation of embodied mechanisms encompassing the simulation of actions, emotions, and corporeal sensation; and that these mechanisms are universal. This basic level of reaction to images is essential to understanding the effectiveness both of everyday images and of works of art. Historical, cultural and other contextual factors do not preclude the importance of considering the neural processes that arise in the empathic understanding of visual artworks. Vittorio Gallese is Full Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Gallese 2009 Neuroesthetics Talks Series Semir Zeki: "The Forms of Space" - A dialogue between Semir Zeki and Anton Burdakov Wed. 25 November 2009 - 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Abstract
Space is a loosely defined term and so offers many working definitions to many fields. The dialogue will consider whether neuroscientific insights and definitions relevant to 'space' could find currency in other fields, such as art and architecture. It will touch on perception of form, colour and movement as the basis of establishing the nature of relationships between yourself and other entities in the world. It will also consider more specifically what it means to perceive yourself to be inside a particular space, discussing contributions of memory, non-visual factors in space perception, and the crucial but neglected role of peripheral vision in creating a sense of enveloping spatiality and embedding the subject in space.
Anton Burdakov is a Berlin-based artist. He worked with Semir Zeki after finishing a neuroscience degree at the University of Cambridge, subsequently moving to to Berlin to concentrate on his artwork.
Semir Zeki is Professor of Neuroesthetics at University College London. One of the pioneers in the study of the visual brain, in the last ten years he has been focusing on applying neuroscientific knowledge to the study of art, and on using products of artists to help the neurobiologist to study the brain.
Neuroesthetics Talks Series Ruggero Pierantoni: "The Question of Scale. A Neglected Aspect of Images: Just How Big is too Big?"
Wed. 15 July 2009 - 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Abstract
The challenge of measuring a physical representation such as an image or an artifact presents many interesting dilemmas, both practical and theoretical. What measures are possible and which make most sense? Within the scope of possible methods, a "scientific" approach takes into consideration the visibility of the artifact: size relative to observer, perception of the detailing, the role of visual acuity, illumination levels, object reflectance and other physical factors. Another approach looks at limiting factors during creation of the artifact: working time, availability of material and mapower, allocation of space, economic cost, and social and political background.
Applying both approaches to the large variation in dimensions of representation - from the miniature to the massive frescoes, from the minuscule statuette to the colossi, from the sub-millimetric intricacy of the illustrations of the Book of Kells to the American Flag on Wall Street - shows that the question of scale is a complex cascade of technological, financial and theocratic-ideological pressures on the one hand, and of our perceptual capacities on the other.
Ruggero Pierantoni lives and works in Genoa, Italy. Upon completing his doctorate in Biophysics at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Genoa, he moved on to work at Florida State University Department of Electron Microscopy, Tallahassee, Florida; Max Planck Institut für Biologische Kybernetik, Tübingen; California Institute of Technology, CALTECH and Calgary Medical School. His main research interests have included ultrastructure of synapses in the visual system, white noise technology in electrophysiology, interface between computer and electron microscope, transmission and scanning. Beginning in 1980, Pierantoni expanded into visual and acoustic perception, theory of representation, as well as drawing of the blind.
From 1990, on invitation of Prof. Joseph Rykwert, Pierantoni taught at the School of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania. Additional visiting professor placements have included the Centre for Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario; VIRGINIATECH in Washington D.C.; University of Toronto, Department of Italian Studies; and Dizraeli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton University, Ottawa. Apart from papers in international technical and scientific journals, Pierantoni is the author of nine books on visual perception, history of vision, history of architecture, scientific iconology, and architectural acoustics.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggero_Pierantoni
AoN in Venice 4th June, 2009, Venice: on invitation of Marino Golinelli Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, AoN organised a round-table discussion on art and neuroscience at the library of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection with ca. 30 scientists and artists. The event was organised in collaboration with Ernst Schering Foundation. Neuroesthetics Talks Series David Freedberg: "The Body in Motion: Art, Anthropology and Neuroscience" Wed. 20 May 2009 - 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain Abstract
David Freedberg is best known for his work on psychological responses to art, and particularly for his studies on iconoclasm and censorship (see, inter alia, Iconoclasts and their Motives, 1984, and The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response, 1989). His recent work is on the history of science and on the importance of the new cognitive neurosciences for the study of art and its history. Following a series of important discoveries in Windsor Castle, the Institut de France and the archives of the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, he has for some time been concerned with the intersection of art and science in the age of Galileo. While much of his work in this area has been published in articles and catalogues, his chief publication in this area is The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, his Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History (2002). He is now devoting a substantial portion of his attention to collaborations with neuroscientists, e.g. Vittorio Gallese, working in fields of vision, movement and emotion. David Freedberg is Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art, Columbia University and Director of the Italian Academy for advanced studies in America. Neuroesthetics Talks Series (Inaugural Event) Michelangelo Pistoletto: "The Emergence of Self-Awareness"Wed. 6 May 2009 - 18.30 at Berlin School of Mind and Brain Abstract
Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian artist, world renowned as a protagonist of the Arte Povera movement. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection. His artistic research starts in the ‘50s with self-portraits: studying his personal identity Pistoletto has come to the reflective - metallic - canvas as a conceptual instrument. He began painting on mirrors in 1962, connecting painting with the constantly changing realities in which the work finds itself. In the late sixties he began bringing together rags with casts of classical Italian statues to break down the hierarchies of ”art” and common things, finding in an art of impoverished materials the concept of Arte Povera. Believing in the responsibility of the artist as a “sponsor of thinking”, in 1994 he announced his programme Progetto Arte, whose ambitious aim is to work towards the unification of creative, social and economic aspects of human existence. In 1996, he founded the art city Cittadelarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in an abandoned textile factory near Biella, as a centre and laboratory to support and research creative resources, and to develop innovative ideas and possibilities.
“If art is the mirror of life, I am the mirror maker” – M.P. The talk, moderated by the neurobiologist Ludovica Lumer and introduced by the art historian Elena Agudio, will be an attempt to reflect on the emergence of self-awareness and to focus on the scientific perspectives of Pistoletto’s work and research. The process of self-identification, its development, the relationship of the self to the world, and the dialogue between the work of art and the observer will be the centre of analysis. Michelangelo Pistoletto is painter, action and object artist, art theorist.
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