June 08, 2007
University College Dublin Conference
Perspectives on the Body and Embodiment
Perspectives on the Body and Embodiment :: University College Dublin :: Friday June 8-9, 2007 .
Since the investigations of phenomenological theorists such as Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, the themes of embodiment and situatedness have enjoyed increased popularity over a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, literature, women's studies among others. Recognition that the body is not merely an appendage to the self, but rather is what opens up the possibility of meaningful subjective existence, has radically shifted the classical philosophical understanding of the body. Within popular culture this shift is reflected with an increased interest in embodiment in realms such as design, architecture, education and business.
This conference aims to explore the themes of the body and embodiment in contemporary discourse inviting papers from a range of disciplines including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, performance studies, women's studies and literature. This unique inter-disciplinary perspective will provide a multi-faceted understanding of how Western thinking has changed with understanding the role of the body in constituting or influencing cognition, subjectivity, identity and discourse.
Nathaniel Stern: Implicit Bodies through Explicit Action
This research contends that the body is performed. A body can “act” as a site of emergence, a boundary project, and an incipience. While Rebecca Schneider’s “explicit body” in feminist performance art performatively unfolds (Latin: explicare) and explicates, the implicit body concordantly enfolds (Latin: implicare) and implies. Inter-action is both constitutive of, and always already involved in, the flesh. Like an animated moebius strip, the body feeds back between affection and reflection. This paper attempts to think through digital art as a proscenium for, and framer of, the implicit body.
Nathaniel Stern is an internationally exhibited installation and video artist, net.artist, printmaker and performance poet. He is currently working towards a production- and research-based PhD on interactive art and embodiment at Trinity College, Dublin. Recent works include an article in the Leonardo Journal of, Art Science and Technology, a write-up in NY Arts Magazine, solo exhibitions at Art on Paper gallery (Johannesburg) and the Johannesburg Art Museum, and artist residencies at the iCommons (Croatia), Frans Masereel Centre (Belgium) and the Anderson Ranch (USA).
Posted by jo at June 8, 2007 03:12 PM
