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Prof. John Lutterbie, KIASH Lecture. 'Toward a Time-based Aesthetics: Performance and the Experience of Art'
Wednesday 19th March 2014, 5.30-7pm. Jarman Studio 1.
Neuroaesthetics and Aesthetic Science tend to focus on the neural substrates activated when experiencing a work of art, generally understood as visual art, music or literature. These empirical approaches to understanding the pleasures of engaging with art frequently overlook the complexity of the aesthetic experience by focusing on specific responses to selected stimuli. This talk uses Dynamic Systems Theory as a frame for analyzing two performances by Societas Raffaello Sanzio as a means of arguing that the aesthetic experience should be understood not in terms of pleasure but as a multi-modal experience that defers interpretation through the ongoing disruption of expectations. The presentation concludes with the application of the theory to Robert Smithson’s Mirrors and Shelly Sand.
Biography
John Lutterbie teaches theory, history and criticism and directs. In addition to being a member of the Theatre Arts Faculty, he is an affiliate member of the Department of Art. His primary research areas is in Performance Theory, where he examines the intersection of phenomenology and the neuroscience of emotion and consciousness, and of culture and inter-subjectivity. The University of Michigan Press publishes his book, Hearing Voices: Modern Drama and the Problem of Subjectivity. In addition, he has published in numerous journals including Theatre Journal, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Performance Research, The Journal of Psychiatry and the Humanities, and Modern Drama. His recent directing credits include A Macbeth, Happy Days, Angels in American: Perestrioka and Blood Wedding. He is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, the Modern Language Association, the American Society of Theatre Research, and Performance International.