Neuroarts
Neuroarts, or neuroaesthetics, is an interdisiplinary field that examines the intersection of art and brain science. It explores how the brain processes and responds to various art forms and investigates the neurological basis of creativity. This field also looks at the therapeutic benefits of art in mental health and cognitive rehabilitation. Combining insights from neuroscience, psychology, and the arts, neuroarts seeks to understand the profound impact of artistic experiences on the human brain and behavior.
Your Brain on Art - How the Arts Transform Us - Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It involves the study of subjective and sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics coveres a variety of topics, such as the philosophical understanding of how and why things are considered attractive or unattractive, the nature and appreciation of art, and the experiences of beauty.
The Philosophy of Art: Exploring what art is, what makes something a work of art, and the nature of artistic expression.
Judgement of Taste: Understanding how and why we find certain things beauftiful or aesthetically pleasing, and the cultural and individual differences in these judgements.
Perception of Beauty: Investigating the criteria and standards used to discern beauty in various forms, whether in art, nature, or everyday objects.
Emotional and Sensorial Experience: Examining how aesthetic experiences evoke emotions and engage our sensory perceptions.
Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics is a branch of neuroscience that studies the neural basis of aesthetic experiences and artistic creativity. It examines how the brain perceives, intterprets, and responds to various forms of art, such as visual arts, music, dance, and literature.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, encompassing its structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology. It seeks to understand how the brain and the rest of the nervous sytem operate and how they influence behavior, cognition, and emotion.
Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
The earliest recorded reference to the brain (17th century BC)
Aristotle
In the fourth century B.C., Aristotle considered the brain to be a secondary organ that served as a cooling agent for the heart and a place in which spirit circulated freely
Galen
Building upon this research in the next century, the Roman physician Galen concluded that mental activity occurred in the brain rather than the heart, as Aristotle had suggested. His observations of the effects of brain injuries on mental activity formed an important practical basis for his conclusions. Galen concluded that the brain was the seat of the animal soul - one of three “souls” foundin the body, each associated with a principal organ. The brain was a cold, moist organ formed with sperm.
Nicolaus Steno - 1669
The brain, the masterpiece of creation, is almost unknown to us.
Renaissance: Da Vinci
Drawings of the complex three-dimensional nature of the brain, cranial nerves and facial structure. Studied the anatomy of the brain.
Phrenology - Franz Joseph Gall
Phrenology is a discredited 19th-century theory that proposed the shape and size of the skull could determine a person’s character and mental abilities. Developed by Franz Joseph Gall, it suggested that different brain areas corresponded to specific personality traits, which were reflected in bumps on thee skull. Although now recognized as pseudoscience, phrenology was an early attempt to link brain regions with specific functions, influencing the development of neuroscience despite its flawed premises.
Electrical Brain - mid 1780s
Luigi Galvani showed that the nervous system works with electrical pulses.
Localized Brain Function - 1860's
Paul Broca’s area is involved in the expressive aspects of spoken and written language (production of sentences constrained by the rules of grammar and syntax).
Discovery of Neuron - 1906
Santiago Ramón y Cajal recognized the neuron for the first time with Golgi’s silver staining method.
Penfield Kandel Damasio
Mirror Neurons
Involved in imitation, emulation
Phantom limb syndrome
Early forms of Sculpture
The earliest known exaples of sculpture date back to the Upper Paleolithic era, roughly 40,000 to 20,000 years ago. These ancient sculptures are primarily small figurines carved from sotne, bone, ivory, or clay. One of the most famous and earliest examples is the “Venus of Willendorf,” discorvered in Austria and dated to around 28,000-25,000 BCE. This small figurine, only about 11cm tall, is made of limestone and represents a female figure. It’s characterized by exaggerated female features and is thought to be a symbol of fertility. Other early examples include the “Lion Man” of the Hohlenstein-Stadel, a mammoth ivory carving found in Germany.
Bust of Nefertiti 1345 B.C.
Terracotta Panthenaic prize from 530 B.C.
Art for Propoganda
The small private Wilton Diptych for Richard II of England
Impressionism 1870s-90s
Claude Monet, Poppies, (c. 1876, Musee D’Orsay Paris, oil on canvas)
Post-Impressionism (c. 1880=1905)
Starry Night
Pointillism/Neo-Impressionism (1886-c1900)
Georges Seurat, La Grande Jatte
Pixels, paintings formed by dots
Working for the everyday life instead of the church
Art Nouveau (1890-1905)
Gustave Klimt, The Kiss
Fauvism (1900-20)
Henri Matisse, The Dance
Expressionism (1890-1934)
Edvard Munch, The Scream
Paul Cézanne's "Bouilloire et Fruits"
Cubism (1907-14)
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich, 1915
Very first modernist paining of a black square
Marcel Duchamp: the fountain
Urinel with signature on it
Canned Artist's Shit
Precedes Andy Warhol’s Canned Soup
Jackson Pollock
Liberated paint from the paint can
Gerhard Richter's STRIP series
Took a photograph, painted extremely large horizontal color strips
Piss Christ - Andres Serrano
Took a figure of Christ on the cross and dipped it in urine, took a photograph of it
Chris Ofili Virgin Mary 1996
Depicted with cutouts from porn magazines with female genitalia and elephant dung
Damien Hirst: the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living: 1991
Commissioned someone $20,000 to kill a shark and then put it in formaldehyde
Tracey Emin - MY BED (1998)
After a breakup, including debris with condoms and tissue paper
Olafur Eliasson: 2003
The weather project
People went into trance
Giant mirror in the ceiling and pumped gas into the room to create an atmospheric effect
Immersive artwork
Artificial sun
Eduardo Kac
Genetically modified rabbit that starts to glow like a jellyfish
Biggest advertising campaign for a glow in the dark bunny
Maurizio Cattalan (2019)
250,000 bananas with duct tape
Then someone came and ate the banana on video, got sued
How did we get from cave wall painting to bananas taped to the wall?