Visual Arts and Health - How art changes our brain
Institutional Communication Service
27 August 2024
The founder of neuroaesthetics, the world-renowned neurobiologist Semir Zeki, lecturer at University College London, will give an overview of the mechanisms involved in the experience of visual artistic beauty in his keynote speech. Zeki will also present some of his numerous studies, which have opened up new horizons in understanding the neuronal mechanisms involved in an aesthetic experience that is of enormous importance for human beings. His research developed from studies in neuroanatomy to gradually integrate into the psycho-cognitive approach. David Tremlett, an artist known worldwide for his wall drawing projects in public spaces - such as churches, hospitals, public or residential buildings - will speak as a discussant to debate the intersection between neurobiology and making art. Luigi Di Corato will coordinate the discussion.
Save the date: Monday, 14 October 2024 at 6 pm in the Multipurpouse room, East Campus Lugano (Via La Santa, Lugano-Viganello)
Speaker: Semir Zeki, University College London (UK)
Discussants: David Tremlett, Artist, photographer and sculptor (UK-CH)
Semir Zeki
Semir Zeki is Professor of Neuroesthetics at University College London, having previously held the Chair of Neurobiology there. He specialized in charting the organization of the human visual brain and, since 2008, has contributed to our understanding of the brain mechanisms engaged during emotional experiences, including the experiences of beauty, love, desire and hate – within a field of which he is the founder, namely the field of neuroesthetics.
David Tremlett
David Tremlett (b. 1945, St Austell, Cornwall) is an artist working in different media, such as sculpture, installation and drawing. Right from the early stages of his career, he experimented with ‘Wall Drawings’: in situ works, sometimes on the walls of ruined buildings he came across during his travels, or on the walls of galleries and museums. The artist succeeds in completely appropriating space through the technique of hand-painted pastel or mural painting, thus breaking the traditional distinction between painting, sculpture and architecture.