Sunlight graffiti for two: Exploring movement co-creation between art and science

The ability to work together and share experiences with one another is an essential characteristic of human nature. Whereas the focus of much joint action research regards the cognitive processes involved in achieving a concrete goal together, the desired outcomes of creative joint processes such as in dance or music improvisation seem less clearly defined. Often, it is the experience of social interaction itself that is at the core and that can be rewarding and transformative.

Sunlight graffiti, a 2012 artwork by Olafur Eliasson, is all about movement, dance, and, embodiment. As part of the IMC-headed interdisciplinary project Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting, we have turned it into a new art-science installation: a joint movement that is both aesthetic experience and experiment. In this talk, I will tell a story of trying to bridge fields as diverse as art and science, movement and visualization, subjective experience and social coordination, and I will present first results from our investigation of improvised movement co-creation in the context of art museums.

Speaker

Cordula Vesper, Associate Professor
Interacting Minds Centre and Dept for Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Cognitive Semiotics

The talk will present work from the Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting (EER) project: https://www.eer.info/about/cordula-vesper

A collaboration between science and art led by artist Olafur Eliasson and scientist Andreas Roepstorff (Aarhus University), funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (2019–2023). EER is founded upon experimentation. Our experiments examine perception, decision-making, action, notions of togetherness, collaboration, and the transmission of knowledge. These scientific experiments are incorporated into and inform art projects and installations in museums and other public institutions.