A Second Manifesto for Neuroplastic Arts
Symposium:
- ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
- More presentations from ISEA2011:
Session Title:
- The Institute of Unnecessary Research
Presentation Title:
- A Second Manifesto for Neuroplastic Arts
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Panel: The Institute of Unnecessary Research
Although a growing number of scientists are now looking at the effects of the internet on the brain, they are in fact just looking at the tip of an iceberg. They are leaving unexplored the rest of the complex fabric of the digitally enabled contemporary environment, which is in constant two-way interactive communication with our bodies, and with our plastic brains, changing them in an unknown manner. The specific branch of neuroscience that studies brain plasticity – the ways in which the brain can radically modify and reconfigure itself through interaction with the environment – has great potential for helping us to understand the brain’s particular susceptibility to digital technologies. This applies not only to the internet and the broader digital environment, but also to the multi-sensory experiences within the growing body of process-based arts enabled by digital technologies, and in particular interactive art. Can we be sure that neuroscience will one day look at the whole picture, and provide us with explanations of these phenomena? Or might it be that there is a role left for interactive artists, keen to research the very essence of their artistic medium and its effects on their audiences, to push research forward to pursue, produce, and apply the necessary knowledge?