Neuroscience, visual illusions, and art – not necessarily a happy union M Bach |
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Eye Hospital, University of Freiburg, Germany
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| I will explore relations between neuroscience –specifically visual phenomena– and art, both fine arts and commercial arts. Transfers from neuroscience to art have occurred with a range of effectiveness. Amongst the successful transfers I count Magritte’s ‘Carte blanche’, Penrose, Penrose & Escher, and Casati’s ‘rabbit shadow’. Forensic controversy resulted from transferring Harmon & Julesz’ ‘The recognition of faces’ by Dali. Amongst the unsuccessful transfers, I count the San Lorenzo mosaic interpretation and ‘café wall paintings’. Puritan censoring and other constraints affect the transfer of neuroscience to art, which I will illustrate in a “Silence of the lambs” movie poster and through an experience with Georgia's school authorities. One could count as “translational research” transfers that have appeared in advertisement and fashion. As examples of successful ones, I will demonstrate Magnum and Vin Uno advertisement posters. Among the doubtful examples are shading in clothing that strives to render body silhouettes more (or less) curvaceous, and for an unsuccessful example I will show the “leopard” car advertisement, based on the Simon gorilla.I will finish up by suggesting that it may not really be useful for artistic endeavours to be too academic. Von Kleist (1810, “Über das Marionettentheater”) gave a beautiful example of a dancer loosing his graceful and enchanting pose when trying to render it wilfully. As more concrete examples I suggest the Golden Ratio, which has largely ex post been read into art, and the standard explanation of pointillism, which falls apart by simply examining a painting close up. This exploration has led me to assert that neuroscience contributes little, if anything, to the understanding of art: Full scientific understanding would lead to rules how to create art, and art created solely by rules lacks art. |
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