The traditional model of knowledge transfer in academia has for centuries been a written thesis. Embodied experiences have been discarded as an unreliable source of knowledge acquisition in Western societies.
In this essay I will argue the case for the inclusion of other dimensions of knowledge acquisition and transfer that artistic methods can tap into par excellence. I will set out how embodied artistic research can engage with multimodal neural knowledge systems, drawing on novel insights from my research on the
intersection of social neuroscience and visual art. Different elements of embodied artistic research will be contextualised in the Social Brain Atlas, which I have drawn based on the largest meta-analysis of
neuroimaging studies on social cognition to date by Alcala-Lopez et al. (2017).
Using the ‘Creator Doctus’ pilot by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam as a guiding example, I will discuss the unique requirements and challenges of creating a European doctoral framework for embodied artistic research programmes.
Especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, investigating and redefining our deep entanglements with the material and embodied world is more urgent than ever and advanced artistic research should lead the way.
About the author
Janneke van Leeuwen is an artist, designer and social neuroscientist. This essay was written in the context of her doctoral research in visual art and social neuroscience at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London. The research was developed during an interdisciplinary residency at Wellcome Collection in London, and took place in collaboration with Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.
Source: ARIAS
Header afbeelding: Construction Network, Artistic Brain Atlas (Janneke van Leeuwen, 2022)
Icon afbeelding: Perception Network, Social Brain Atlas - Janneke van Leeuwen