Being Moved: Art, film, narrative and the body-brain
International conference
4–6 June 2018, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Hosted by Einstein Visiting Fellow Vittorio Gallese and his group
“In order to understand the meaning of artistic products, we have to forget them for a time, to turn aside from them and have recourse to the ordinary forces and conditions of experience that we do not usually regard as aesthetic.” (John Dewey, 1934, p. 4).
Humans are not satisfied with the prosaic daily relation they entertain with the world. They are constantly relating to and projecting towards the Other, what is missing, what is elsewhere in space and time. Humans re-create the world by imagining it, remembering it, narrating it, representing it, and transfiguring it, by creating fictional worlds. The creation of cultural artifacts such as images and narratives are specific features of the human species. Why do humans create fiction? What are the distinctive features making the human world of fiction special?
This international conference will bring together scholars working in the fields of Aesthetics, Archeology, Film theory, Narratology, Cognitive Science and Neuroscience to address the aesthetic quality of human nature, its natural creative inclination and the relation between art and socio-cultural identity. We will explore the connections among imagination, memory, bodily performativity, motor resonance, empathy and emotions. We will discuss their roles in the creation and expression of fictional worlds as well as in aesthetic experience.
Confirmed speakers include:
Andrea Pinotti, Mariagrazia Portera, Lambros Malafouris, Joerg Fingerhut, Vittorio Gallese, Martina Ardizzi, Sarah Garfinkel, Siri Hustvedt, Michele Cometa, Guillemette Bolens, Hannah Wojciehowski, Eugen Wassiliwizky, Patricia Pisters, Murray Smith, Katalin Bálint, Monika Suckfüll, Laura Kaltwasser, and Barry Smith
Preliminary program download (updated 2 May 2018) (pdf)
Registration: now closed
Deadline: 30 April 2018