REFLECTIONS ON PARALLELLEPIPEDA: TOWARDS A NEW KIND OF

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Vivian Small
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1 REFLECTIONS ON PARALLELLEPIPEDA: TOWARDS A NEW KIND OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHO-AESTHETICS? JOHAN WAGEMANS ARTS & PERCEPTION, BRUSSELS, 23 NOV 2010

2 Parallellepipeda an interdisciplinary (cross-over) project on the boundary between arts and sciences 3 years ( ) minimal funding an initiative of a number of partners in Leuven: Kunst in Huis the Department of Cultural Affairs of the city of Leuven the City Museum M STUK/Artefact the Association K.U. Leuven/IvOK Note: IvOK stands for Instituut voor Onderzoek in de Kunsten ( Institute for Research in the Arts ), which allows a number of artists to obtain their PhD in Arts (not arts science or arts history, but really practice-based arts)

3 Parallellepipeda different projects Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and 4 artists: Ruth Loos (visual, PhD) Wendy Morris (visual, PhD) Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (visual) Carl Van Eyndhoven (Lemmens Institute, carillon, PhD) others: Ronny Delrue (visual, PhD) + Koen Van Laere (nuclear medicine) Nick Ervinck (visual) + Pierre Delaere (experimental ORL) Koen Vanmechelen (conceptual) + Jean-Jacques Cassiman (human genetics) + Luc Vrielinck (stomatology) highlight: joint exhibition in M (Jan 28 till April 25, 2010)

4 Parallellepipeda different projects Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and 4 artists: Ruth Loos (visual, PhD) Wendy Morris (visual, PhD) Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (visual) Carl Van Eyndhoven (Lemmens Institute, carillon, PhD) others: Ronny Delrue (visual, PhD) + Koen Van Laere (nuclear medicine) Nick Ervinck (visual) + Pierre Delaere (experimental ORL) Koen Vanmechelen (conceptual) + Jean-Jacques Cassiman (human genetics) + Luc Vrielinck (stomatology) highlight: joint exhibition in M (Jan 28 till April 25, 2010)

5 Ronny Delrue

6 Nick Ervinck

7 Koen Vanmechelen

8 Outline 1. some Parallellepipeda projects a) to illustrate the nature of the collaboration b) to sketch the development 2. some reflections a) towards a new kind of experimental psychoaesthetics? b) a moment of self-reflection

9 PART 1. SOME PARALLELLEPIPEDA PROJECTS

10 What I will do here present a brief introduction of the artists and their work present one or two examples of studies we did in relation to their work (in the context of Parallellepipeda) some from early stage of collaboration (close to standard lab work) some from later stage of collaboration (more remote from standard lab work) briefly mention other (on-going) projects

11 Ruth Loos preparing a Ph.D. thesis on different aspects of the book object important graphical/visual component to her work: repetition, symmetry, balance 2D vs 3D texture scale perspective visual relations

12 opgerold boek met paraffine-schijfje en touw

13 opgerold boek met paraffine-schijfje en touw

14 boeken ontbonden, pagina s herschikt tot lopende meters

15 sea of stories - fairy tales

16 harten en dragers - plaaster, papier, inkt, naaigaren

18 Early stage experiment forced choice and ranking task with several series of works ideas: balance/composition (visual rightness) method: which one do you like most? which one do you like least? rank order the remaining in-between these extremes which one do you think is the original?

19 Example

20 1

21 2

22 3

23 4

24 5

25 6

26 7

27 8

28 And the correct answer is

29 96 op 126 cm (één van drie) 7

30 Later stage study (quasi-experiment) manipulation/evaluation during an exhibition exhibition divided in 2 halves: left/right of diagonal, one with and one without additional information (counterbalanced across participants) additional information in this case: explanation by well-informed guide evaluation in this case: standard questionnaires but also semi-structured interviews (checking whether we made them look differently) relate viewing/knowing to appreciation

33 Wendy Morris preparing a Ph.D. thesis on her movie work animated charcoal drawings important visual component to her work: spatiotemporal variations translations, transformations, invariance traces, analogies micro-macro visual detail

41 Later stage project eye movement and visual memory study (with Peter De Graef & Line Denayer) animation film: Off the Record multiple viewings (1-2-3) with or without additional information (2 types: biographical/historical versus anecdotal/visual) in-between: same aesthetic appreciation (5- point scales) afterwards: unexpected recognition memory test, using static images from the same film (40 targets) or another film (40 distractors) same personal background questionnaire (general art interest, familiarity of the work)

42 Example result

44 Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven works with a lot of different techniques (also digital) important visual component to her work: perceptual organization 2D vs 3D contours vs surfaces figure-ground ambiguities (e.g., perceptual holes) multiple depth layers depth cues

51 Early stage experiment free sorting task with I ll rob you (36 drawings on colored paper, 12 weeks, Lakenhalle, Bruges, 2005) question: do people see connections between the drawings? method: free sorting

57 Sorting criteria color of paper color of central blob female present or not furniture present or not female: body and head integrated or not one or more blobs homogenously colored background or not

59 Later stage study eye movement study with Kalligrafie - with Peter De Graef & Karen De Ryck - a series of 15 drawings goal: to get insight in the process of viewing and appreciating art by studying on-line visual sampling relating scan parameters to questionnaire measures of art appreciation explicit (evaluative statements and ratings) implicit (Osgood semantic differential) as a function of level of art experience level of episodic experience interpretive set available to the viewer

69 the artist checking balance Effects of art expertise on individual scan paths

70 Effects of art expertise on individual scan paths the novice reading

71 the expert checking composition Effects of art expertise on individual scan paths

73 Future projects

76 PART 2. SOME REFLECTIONS

77 Themes the nature of the collaboration we have developed the development from working with art works as stimuli to working with artists as a source of stimulation and inspiration the possibilities and limitations of experimental psycho-aesthetics (and, more generally, between the arts and sciences) a moment of self-reflection about the ways this project has changed my being a vision scientist and an art-lover

78 Nature of the collaboration Quite intense, intensive, extensive extensive: many different projects 3 years (+ beyond) intensive: time labour intense: more personal than other types of research more complicated

79 Development Events: studio visits, seminars, joint visits of exhibitions joint participation in Art & Science conference (Benasque, Spain, July 2009) joint exhibition (Leuven, 3 months, Spring 2010) Stages: 1. working with art works as stimuli 2. working with artists as a source of stimulation and inspiration 3. artists and scientists working together in a truly mutual collaboration

80 A new kind of psycho-aesthetics? Traditional psycho-aesthetics usually of two types: well-controlled, experimental work, often with reduced stimuli and responses famous art works by famous (often dead) artists Traditional psycho-aesthetics faced with all the problems of psychology as a discipline: internal, private experience mind/brain problem difficult to access perception/cognition/emotion interplay determined by many different factors some general principles but large degree of interindividual variability challenge to investigate properly tension between experimental control and ecological validity aesthetic response (questionnaire, psychophysiology, thrills ) dilemma: what is interesting, is hard to study (and vice versa)

81 A new kind of psycho-aesthetics? working with real, active artists who are scientifically interested and motivated added value new kinds of research: new art work as experiments (different stages/versions possible) appreciation in the exhibition environment new insights in visual perception, aesthetics, and arts multi-method approach: combining more controlled lab work and rigorous measurements with less rigid work in richer contexts and more private/subjective measurements in addition to immediate scientific results, also long-term enrichment, both of the arts and the sciences involved

82 Limitations Less easy to publish in traditional outlets alternative journals? monographs? joint exhibitions/catalogues/websites? Less easy to obtain funding? Barriers between disciplines: even if the artists and scientists are enthousiastic, the other players must be able to follow (museum directors, staff, curators, public, media, ) Long-term efforts required

83 My personal evaluation It is definitely worth doing this It has been my most precious collaboration so far It has affected my way of looking at art and science quite strongly, literally and metaphorically: I see more in artworks (more aspects, more dimensions, more perspectives, more layers, more connections, ) I can tolerate more different ways of performing research I have enjoyed this project a lot

84 Take home message I see multiple ways of doing experimental psycho-aesthetics I have illustrated what I believe to be a relatively uncommon type of collaboration between artists and scientists I think this kind of research is hard work but also great fun

85 THANK YOU

2012 VISUAL ART STANDARDS GRADES K-1-2

2012 VISUAL ART STANDARDS GRADES K-1-2 COGNITIVE & K Critical and Creative Thinking: Students combine and apply artistic and reasoning skills to imagine, create, realize and refine artworks in conventional and innovative ways. The student will