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Neuroaesthetics: Between Art, Philosophy and the Brain
Over the years I have broadened my focus from the study of dance and the brain to the study of art and the brain.
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Critical Theory and Dance Practice
Information about the graduate course I taught and about my former graduate students
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Dance, Perception, Aesthetic Experience and The Brain
Why can watching dance be interesting, exhilarating or boring?
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The Cognitive Neuroscience of Dance Improvisation
Why do dancers often get stuck when freely improvising?
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Emergent Patterns in Dance Improvisation And Choreography
Complexity theory has shown that a central governing agent is not necessary for the emergence of intricate patterns or cooperative behavior.
Critical Theory and Dance Practice
The course aims to help students bridge the gap between critical theory and dance practice. The course will provide an introduction to some of the central issues in critical theory and explore the origins of some of the ideas and theories that inform contemporary art in general and dance in particular.
We will discuss the work of critical thinkers such as Slavoj Zizek, Michel Foucault, Bruno Latour, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Luc Nancy and Jacques Derrida and artists such as David Lynch, Jeff Wall, Thomas Hirschhorn, Olafur Eliasson and René Pollesch. Students will learn how to place their own work within the larger framework of contemporary art and culture and how to both critically and artistically reflect upon developments in art, science, technology and society. During the first term each student will formulate a research question, which he or she will independently investigate during the second term.
Course Objectives
Students will learn how to flesh out the thinking involved in their
artistic work and how to position themselves within the larger framework
of developments in critical theory and contemporary culture. They will acquire
the skills to independently do research and will learn how to structure
their ideas into an essay, oral presentation and a brief artist statement.
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of various currents in critical theory;
• Formulate and articulate their own ideas;
• Critically evaluate dance reviews and interviews with dance artists.
Course Structure
A public lecture at the beginning of each term will provide an overview of some issues in critical theory and set the stage for the material that will be discussed during the rest of the term. Students meet once every month. During these sessions they discuss their research with the tutor. The tutor will initiate, facilitate and guide the discussions. In addition to their own research, during each session a recent article, interview, movie, performance or exhibition will be discussed.
Course Material
The course material will largely be determined by each students individual research project. Additionally, students are encouraged to read a selection of the books and articles from the recommended reading list.
Graduate Course
During the academic year 2005/06 I was a visiting professor in the post-graduate choreography program of ArtEZ, the Arnhem School of the Arts in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Information for Students
Guidelines for writing an essay
Student Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the basis of an essay documenting their research. The length of the essay should be between 10.000 and 15.000 words.
Recommended Reading
Jean Baudrillard, The Conspiracy of Art. New York: Semiotext(e),
2005.
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison (Trans. Alan
Sheridan). London: Penguin Books, 1991 (1975).
Ivar Hagendoorn, Einige methodologische Bemerkungen zu einer künftigen Neurokritik
des Tanzes, in: Josephine Fenger and Johannes Birringer [eds.], Tanz im Kopf.
LIT Verlag, 2005.
Ivar Hagendoorn, Dance, Perception and the Brain, in: Shirley McKechnie and
Robin Grove [eds.], Thinking in Four Dimensions. Melbourne: Melbourne University
Publishing, 2005.
Bruno Latour, Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to
Matters of Concern, Critical Inquiry 30, 2004, pp. 225-248. Highly recommended.
Brian Massumi, Parables for the Virtual. Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 2002.
Jean-Luc Nancy, Corpus, in: Jean-Luc Nancy, The Birth to Presence (Transl.
Brian Holmes). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.
Michel Onfray, Antimanuel de Philosophie. Rosny-Sous-Bois: Editions Bréal,
2001. [Spanish translation: Antimanual de Filosofia, 2005; Dutch translation:
Antihandboek voor de Filosofie, 2003].
Slavoj Zizek, Looking Awry. An Introduction to Jacques Lacan Through Popular
Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1991.
Slavoj Zizek, You may!, London Review of Books, 18 March 1999.
Zournazi, M. (2003), ‘Navigating
Movements: An Interview with Brian Massumi’, 21C Magazine.
