Event overview
Part of the Centre of the Body programme of events - 'Exploring the Body: Interdisciplinarity in Practice' supported by the Wellcome Trust
What is it that goes on in the minds of artists? From Zeitgeist and Mentalités, Psychoanalysis and Discourse Theory, Phenomenology and Embodiment, Post-Structuralism and Agency – the range of possible explanations has been immense. Neuroscience offers us now a new way around previous obstacles by offering a direct access into the human brain. The approach itself is not new: From Winckelmann and Warburg to Gombrich and Baxandall, scholars have long used a knowledge of the brain to enhance their enquiries. What is new today is that art historians can use assumptions that are being tested daily in laboratories and hospitals and apply them to that vast body of experimental data of art-related human behaviours worldwide, from cave art to digital media.
Adam Zeman is a physician scientist, trained in Philosophy, Psychology, Medicine and Neurology. He has written on neurology of cognition, as well as on the science and philosophy of consciousness. In A Portrait of the Brain (2008), his highly-praised book for general readers, he weaves together case histories and concepts and discoveries in neuroscience, leading to a consideration of what the brain’s behavior and misbehavior tells us about the human self as a physical system, living creature, and conscious mind.
Zeman’s research interests include amnesia associated with epilepsy, the neuropsychiatric consequences of cerebellar disease and disorders of visual imagery.
His specialised clinical work focuses on cognitive and behavioural neurology, including neurological disorders of sleep.
His newest book, an edited volume, is Epilepsy and Memory: The State of the Art, (2012 OUP). Zeman is currently professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology at Peninsula Medical School and the School of Psychology at the University of Exeter.
John Onians is Professor Emeritus in the School of World Art Studies at the University of East Anglia. He was founding editor of the journal Art History.
For the last twenty years he has been using neuroscience to advance the study of the history of art. His book Neuroarthistory. From Aristotle and Pliny to Baxandall and Zeki (2007) reviews earlier work in this direction, from Aristotle, Pliny and al-Haytham to Kant, Freud, Gombrich and Zeki. His next book, European Art. A Neuroarthistory, will appear in 2014.
Together they will explore such questions as:
Can our knowledge of the brain help us understand art and visual culture? Does art have neurological components? Do we have an innate love of symmetry? Which properties of our brains do we use when we make art? What are the benefits and problems of working across very different disciplines?
www.gold.ac.uk/centreofthebody/
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 2 May 2013 | 6:00pm - 8:00pm |
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