Space-Time Geometries and Movement in the Brain and in the Arts

International conference convened by Tamar Flash (2017-2018 Paris IAS fellow/Weizmann Institute of Science), Alain Berthoz (Collège de France) and Gretty Mirdal (Director of the Paris IAS)

Presentation

Space and time are of fundamental importance to understand human perception, action, memory and cognition. Movement, which describes the changes in the locations of physical objects and human bodies with the passage of time, is equally important in physics, biology, neuroscience, psychology, as well as the arts. Our bodies and minds shape the way we perceive space and time and the scientific theories we formulate about physical laws. Hence the importance of understanding how the brain perceives and represents space, time and movement, and how it plans and controls our bodily movement and actions.
Our interest in the use of movement, space and time in different artistic fields - fine and digital arts, performance arts and music - is mainly inspired by the notion that knowledge about the general organizing principles and simplifying strategies used by the brain in perception action and memory, in movement generation and representation, and in action-perception coupling, can lead to new insights regarding the ways artists make use of movement, space and time in their artistic creations and how humans are affected and perceive works of art (aesthetic experiences).

Program

June 19

Introduction

09:00 - 09:05   Introduction and welcome
Gretty Mirdal (Director of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study)

09:05 - 09:15   Scientific presentation
Tamar Flash (2017-2018 Paris IAS fellow/Weizmann institute of science) and Alain Berthoz (Collège de France)

Perception and Memory

09:15-09:45   Variety of brains geometries for action/perception
Daniel Bennequin (Université Paris Diderot)

09:45-10:15   Neurogeometry and perception
Giovanna Citti (Università de Bologna) and Alessandro Sarti (CNRS – EHESS)

10:15-10:45   Perceiving and modelling performers’ movements qualities
Frederic Bevilacqua (IRCAM - Centre Pompidou)

10:45-11:10   Break

11:10-12:00   Geometry of the hippocampal cognitive map, implications for navigation, architecture and other disciplines concerned with large-scale spatial representation
John O’Keefe (University College London - Nobel Prize of Medicine and Physiology 2016)

12:00-12:30   Dimensionality reduction in touch
Vincent Hayward (Sorbonne Université)

12:30-13:00   The multiplicity and coherence of brain reference frames, geometries and cognitive strategies for movement
Alain Berthoz (Collège de France)

13:00-14:00   Lunch Break

Action and Emotion

14:00-14:30   The role of Neural Circuitry in Skilled Drawings
Emilio Bizzi (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

14:30-15:00   Traces of life
Thierry Pozzo (Université de Bourgogne)

15:00-15:30   Brain space-time  representations and action-perception coupling in movement and the arts
Tamar Flash (Paris IAS/Weizmann Institute of Science)

15:30-16:00   On what moves us
Beatrice de Gelder (Maastricht University and University College London)

16:00-16:20   Break

Music

16:20-16:50   Cortical Dynamics while Following Musical Meters
Moshe Abeles (The Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan University)

16:50-17:20   The EEG dynamics signature of flow sensation during movement in music
Guy Cheron (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

17:20-17:50   Space and timing in musical expression: lessons from conducting
Eitan Globerson (The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance)

17:50-18:30   Interaction, Cooperation and Entrainment in Music: Experience and Perspectives
Luciano Fadiga (Università degli Studi di Ferrara) and Sera Tokay

June 20

Drawing and Painting

09:10-9:40   Motor coordination, cerebellar predictions, and cognitive processing
Chris Miall (University of Birmingham)

09:40-10:10   The epistemological role of drawing
Renaud Chabrier (Author, draughtsman and film director, Institut Curie, PSL)

10:10-10:40   Measuring and understanding the geometry of pictorial shape
Johan Wagemans (KU Leuven)

10:40-11:10   Geometry in artistic knowledge and the understanding of fundamental visual processes
Robert Pepperell (Cardiff Metropolitan University)

11:10-11:30   Break

Performing arts

11:30-12:00   Individual and collective movement dynamics in performing dance
Guido Orgs (Goldsmiths, University of London)

12:00-12:30   The Score of the Dance. Virtual and Actual Spatiality
Einav Katan-Schmid (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

12:30-13:00   Automated analysis and interactive sonification of expressive qualities of movement and non-verbal social interaction: a case study on dance
Antonio Camurri (Università degli Studi di Genova)

13:00-14:00   Lunch Break

Digital Arts

14:30-15:00   New artistic practices in digital space : an art of movement in space-time geometries ?
François Garnier (ENSAD)

15:00-15:30   Dance notation and robot motion: geometries?
Jean-Paul Laumond (LAAS-CNRS)

15:30-16:00   Spectator and virtual actor movement interactions. From child gestures to interactive digital creation
Marie-Hélène Tramus and Dominique Boutet (Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis)

16:00-16:45   General Discussion

16:45   Concluding Remarks
Tamar Flash, Alain Berthoz, and Gretty Mirdal