Neurovisuality: Why Vision Science Needs Art History

Termin: Montag, 9. Mai 2011, 18 Uhr, c.t.

Ort: Center for Advanced Studies (CAS)
       Seestraße 13

Abstract

By “visuality,” art historians mean historically conditioned and socially constructed modes of seeing. It remains unclear, however, whether visuality has neurological correlates or can be seen as an ecological adaptation or habituation, and if it does, what exactly one should be looking for, or at, in “neuroaesthetic”.

The talk explores the way in which basic computational and cognitive models of visual perception seem to assume, or perhaps to require, models of “neurovisuality.” The talk will argue that scientists and art/architecture historians must collaborate more intensively in designing experiments, pursuing research, and building theory that will address them. At the same time, we can expect art history vigorously to defend its traditional “anti-reductive” philosophies.

Whitney Davis ist Professor für Geschichte und Theorie antiker und moderner Kunst an der University of California, Berkeley, und derzeit Gastprofessor an der LMU im Rahmen von LMU-UCB Research in the Humanities.

Zur anschließenden Diskussion unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfisterer (Institut für Kunstgeschichte) sind alle herzlich eingeladen.