CF: 2014 — Minerva Foundation

2014 Conference on neuroesthetics

Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics

What is the connection between vision and knowledge? Do historical and cultural experiences become embodied in visual cognition? How do designers of digital and networked platforms draw on aesthetic as well as analytical tools to create engaging graphic environments?

Topics covered the history of vision and its role in early human social organization, the modeling of artificial vision as a set of principles for composition, the investigation of brain patterns and responses to aesthetic activity, and the function of graphic structures in design for cross-cultural communication. Speakers included artists and researchers from graphic design, information visualization, art history, paleo-anthropology, artificial intelligence, geography, and visual studies.

Speakers

Francis Steen, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of Newsscape Project, UCLA (with introduction by Johanna Drucker, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, UCLA, Information Studies) http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/francis-steen/ http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/johanna-drucker/ 2014 Conference on Neuroesthetics - Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics http://www.minervaberkeley.org Co-sponsored by the School of Optometry and Vision Science Program, University of California Berkeley

Johanna Drucker
Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies
UCLA, Information Studies
“Seeing/Knowing: Introduction to the Conference Ideas and Participants”

Francis Stein
Associate Professor of Communication and Director of Newsscape Project, UCLA
“The construction of social reality through art”

Aude Oliva
Principal Research Scientist
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Zooming through the Human Brain in Space and Time: A look at Perception and Memory Processes”

Aude Oliva, MIT

Derek Hodgson
Department of Archaeology
University of York
“The Visual Brain, Embodiment, and the First Visual Cultures: What Can They Tell Us About Art"

Derek Hodgson, Department of Archaeology, University of York http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/derek-hodgson/ As visual information is processed by the brain in different areas to that of language, and given the fact that visual culture is closely associated with discrete regions of the visual cortex, this has implications for understanding the emergence of materially engaged practices (usually referred to as "art").

Harold Cohen
Professor Emeritus, independent artist, creator of Aaron
University of California, San Diego,
“Reflections on Designing and Building Aaron”

Harold Cohen, Professor Emeritus, creator of AARON, University of California, San Diego http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/harold-cohen/ 2014 Conference on Neuroesthetics - Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics http://www.minervaberkeley.org Co-sponsored by the School of Optometry and Vision Science Program, University of California Berkeley

Deborah Aschheim
Hellman Visiting Artist, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco
“Thresholds of Significance: Some Art and Science Collaborations”

Deborah Aschheim, Hellman Visiting Artist, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/deborah-aschhiem/ From 2009-2011 I was Visiting Artist at the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) in the Department of Neurology at UCSF.

Cristina Grasseni
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands
“Skilled Visions: Ecologies of Belonging and Sensorial Apprenticeship”

Cristina Grasseni, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/cristina-grasseni/ Originally based on fieldwork with dairy breeders in the Italian Alps, the notion of ""skilled vision"" elaborates on the fact that visual apprenticeship is a form of relational and situated learning. Skilled visions proliferate, both in professional communities of practice and in everyday socialization.

Ellen Lupkin
Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City.
"Design and Framing"

Ellen Lupton, Senior Curator of Contemporary Design, Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/ellen-lupton/ 2014 Conference on Neuroesthetics - Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics http://www.minervaberkeley.org Co-sponsored by the School of Optometry and Vision Science Program, University of California Berkeley

Alan M. MacEachren
Professor of Geography & Affiliate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology
The Pennsylvania State University
“Visually Enabled Geographical Reasoning”

Webcast sponsored by Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by Green College. Beaver and Bieber notwithstanding, Canada is best known for being big. Yet few scholars have thought to ask what Canadians have thought of living in a big country or how size has informed the nation's development?

Marcos Nadal
PhD. Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods
University of Vienna
“Cognitive Neuroscience of Aesthetics”

Marcos Nadal, PhD., Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, University of Vienna http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/marcos-nadal/ The hallmarks of true art-few today would deny this-are evident in the European Upper Paleolithic parietal paintings, such as those at Chauvet (dated to around 30.000 years before present), Lascaux (around 17.000) or Altamira (close to 15.000).

William Seely
Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Bates College
"Seeking Salience: A Short Story About Engaging Art"

William Seely,Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bates College http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/william-seely/ What is it about art that can be so captivating? How is it that we find value in these often odd and abstract objects and events that we call artworks? I suggest that we start with an observation about ordinary perception.

Line Cecilie Engh
Research fellow, History of Art and Ideas

University of Oslo
“Seeing and Knowing with the Bride of Christ: How a Metaphor Shaped Thought and Action in the Middle Ages”

Line Engh, Research fellow, The Norwegian Institute in Rome / Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/line-cecilie-engh/ Seeing and knowing with the bride of Christ: How a metaphor shaped thought and action in the middle ages My talk is about how and why a specific metaphor - the bride of Christ - emerged from the world of theological texts and came to shape central aspects of the ideological and institutional development in later medieval Europe.

Aaron Marcus, President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc., Berkeley, CA http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/aaron-marcus/ What makes products/services relying on human-computer communication successful? Intelligently designed metaphors, mental models, navigation, interaction, and appearance that help people make smarter decisions faster.

Aaron Marcus
President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc. Berkeley, CA
“Key Principles of Visual Semiotics, Visible Language, User-interface Design, and User-centered Design"

Colin Ware
Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Data Visualization Research Lab
University of New Hampshire.
“Perceiving, Interacting and Computing: The Process of Thinking Visually”

Colin Ware, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Data Visualization Research Lab, University of New Hampshire http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/colin-ware/ 2014 Conference on Neuroesthetics - Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics http://www.minervaberkeley.org Co-sponsored by the School of Optometry and Vision Science Program, University of California Berkeley

Philip Prager
Assistant Professor in Aesthetics
IT University of Copenhagen
“The Modernest Muse”

Phillip Prager, Assistant Professor in Aesthetics, IT University of Copenhagen http://www.minervaberkeley.org/conferences/seeing-knowing-vision-knowledge-cognition-and-aesthetics/2014-speakers1/phillip-prager/ The Modernest Muse The Bauhaus, Weimar Germany's iconic modernist school, which operated from 1919 to 1933, pioneered the integration of industry, science and design. This paper focuses on László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), one of the most prominent Bauhaus artists and pedagogues, who played a key role in formulating the Bauhaus philosophy.

Peter Wells
Professor of Anthropology
University of Minnesota