Neuroesthetics talk series

Building on the belief that both the arts and neuroscience have
purchase on understandings of the human condition, the Association for
Neuroesthetics is launching a public talk series, together with the
Berlin School of Mind and Brain (Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin) and
the Institut für Raumexperiment (Studio Olafur Eliasson). At monthly
talks speakers from various disciplines will be invited to present
their work. The events will be a platform for dialogue, linking
artists, scientists and scholars, as well as a space for
interdisciplinary research to be presented and shared publicly.


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 working in fields of vision, movement and emotion (such
as with Vittorio Gallese, e.g. Motion, emotion and empathy in esthetic
experience. Trends Cogn Sci, 2007).

Association of Neuroesthetics e.V.

The sciences, the humanities and the arts approach the natural world
and our experience of it from different perspectives. Although
traditionally considered separate disciplines, the desire for more
holistic understandings has intensified the exchange between them.
"Neuroesthetics" is one such node of interdisciplinary exchange,
bridging various approaches to questions of art and human experience.
From one side, rapid development in the neurosciences have produced an
extensive database of insight that can further our understanding of
both artistic appreciation and the processes of creativity. From the
other, artists and those in the humanities continually engage with
questions of experience, value and knowledge and their expertise is
becoming increasingly relevant to scientific explorations aiming to
understand these vital human characteristics. The European non-profit
Association of Neuroesthetics, which is based in Berlin, has been
founded to promote this exciting dialogue and lasting cooperation
between the arts and the sciences.

href="http://www.association-of-neuroesthetics.org/">www.association-of-neuroesthetics.org
Further Informations:
Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Luisenstra?e 56, 2nd floor, Festsaal
10117 Berlin
phone: +49 (0)30 2093-1706
href="mailto:annette.winkelmann@hu-berlin.de">annette.winkelmann@hu-berlin.de
href="http://www.mind-and-brain.de/">www.mind-and-brain.de
href="http://www.neuroscience-berlin.de/">www.neuroscience-berlin.de