Art and Science: exploring the limits of human perception

2009, Jul 12 -- Jul 17

Organizers:
A. Nieto (Inst. Neurociencias, Alicante)
Luis M. Martínez (Inst. Neurociencias, Alicante)
S. Martínez-Conde (Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix)
Torsten N. Wiesel (The Rockefeller University, New York)

Programme

July 12 (Sunday)

- Shuttle from Barcelona to Benasque.

July 13 (Monday)

         09:00 - 11:00 - The visual science of visual arts
         LM Martinez (Institituto de Neurociencias, Alicante) , Din Matamoro (Painter. Vigo, Spain).

         11:30 - 13:00 - Contributed talks

                  11:30 O.1 Quantification of artistic style through sparse coding analysis. J Hughes, DJ Graham & DN                   Rockmore. (Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH, USA).

                  11:50 O.2 Aikon-2. A multidisciplinary investigation into sketching. FF Leymarie & P Tresset. (University of                   London. London, UK).

                  12:10 O.3 Computational Aesthetics. Measuring and modeling aesthetic perception. C Wallraven (Max                   Planck Institute for Bilogical Cybernetics), M Feixas, J Rigau & M Sbert (University of Girona. Girona, Spain).

                  12:30 O.4 Dali paintings as a tool for assessing altered size perception in schizophrenic patients. MLB                   Simas, GMN Menezes, RMTBL Nogueira, AM Lacerda, NA Santos & VF Amaral. Universidade Federal de                   Pernambuco & Universidade Federal de Paraíba. Pernambuco, Brasil.

         13:00 - 16:00 - Lunch

         16:00 - 18:30 - Virtual reality
         Mel Slater & Mavi Sánchez-Vives (ICREA-Universidad de Barcelona & ICREA-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain) /          Nonny de la Peña (Transmedia producer and journalist, Los Angeles, USA) & Peggy Weil (Digital media artist          and designer, - USC-SCA Interactive Media Division. Los Angeles, USA)

         18:30 - 18:50 - Contributed Talks

                  18:30 O.5 Robotic Art: Perceiving and inventing reality. F. Ghedini & M.Bergamasco. Scuola Superiore                   Sant'Anna. Pisa, Italy.

         18:50 - 19:30 - Visiting Scientific Posters and Artistic Displays.

                  P.1 How do we gaze Art? Influence of knowledge and artistic value. J Binnie, S Dudley, D Barrie & RQ                   Quiroga. The Art Fund & University of Leicester. Leicester, UK.

                  P.2 What is an elephant? F Halper. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA, USA.

                  P.3 Science via Art: Induced emotions by the music and painting. O de Juan, P Montoya, JJ Campos Bueno                   & N Birbaumer. Conservatorio de Música de Alicante, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Universidad                   Complutense & Eberhard Karls Universitãt Tubingen.

                  P.4 Fractal processing in the brain. A proposal. A Perez-Castellanos & LM Martinez. Instituto de                   Neurociencias de Alicante. Alicante, Spain.

                  P.5 Deconstructing Mona Lisa's smile. How symmetry, spatial frequency and luminance influence our                   perception of complex visual images. D Alonso-Pablos, A Perez-Castellanos, J Marquez-Bugella,M Molano                   Mazon, J Martinez, RQ Quiroga & LM Martinez. Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante & University of                   Leicester.

                  P.6 Statistical analyses of colour information of paintings. A Fukumoto, K Tsukada & J Kurumisawa. Chiba                   University & Ochanomizu University. Japan.

                  P.7 Sleep/Wake. S Trubridge & P Gander. Massey University. Wellington, New Zealand.

                  P.8 Pictures. A. Aranda. London, UK.

                  P.9 Paintings. MA Martin Pascual. Instituto de RTVE. Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain.

                  P.10 Virtual reality in the extreme: experiencing and understanding violence. N.de la Peña, P. Weil, M.                   Stater & MV Sanchez-Vives. USC-SCA Interactive Media Division. Los Angeles, USA; ICREA-Universidad                   de Barcelona & ICREA-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.

                  P.11 The anatomy of passion: the creation of sound. F de la Rocque, A Azambuja, NR Carneiro, C                   Hedin-Pereira & MM Froes. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

         - Dinner

         21:00 - 23:00 - Consciousness: Filtering reality
         Susana Martinez-Conde & Steve Maknick (Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix), Miguel Angel Gea (Magician,          Madrid) (Includes demonstration/workshop).

July 14 (Tuesday)

         - Morning
          Official inauguration of the new building of the 'Centro de Ciencias de Banasque, Pedro Pascual' by Spanish          political and scientific authorities. Includes the short talk 'Seduced by Science: An Enduring Passion' by Nobel          laureate Prof. Torsten N. Wiesel (The Rockefeller University. New York, USA).

         18:00 - 20:00 - Food for thought: not just a matter of taste
         Charles Spencer (Oxford University. Oxford, UK), María Jose San Román (chef, Monastrell Restaurant. Alicante,          Spain).

         20:00 - Wine Tasting workshop: Depriving senses
         Jose Ignacio Latorre (U. Barcelona).

July 15 (Wednesday)

         09:00 - 11:00 - Music: more than meets the ears
         Paul Verschure (ICREA, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona, Spain), Octavio de Juan (Musician. Alicante,          Spain).

         11:00 - 12:00 - Contributed talks

                  11:00 O.8 The anatomy of passion: the creation of sound. F de la Rocque, A Azambuja, NR Carneiro, C                   Hedin-Pereira & MM Froes. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

                  11:20 O.9 Exploring artistic possibility of fusing music and painting. A Fukumoto, K Tsukada & J                   Kurumisawa. Chiba University & Ochanomizu University. Japan.

                  11:40 O.10 Brushes and sounds. L Mususa-Wiesel (Painter. New York, USA).

         12:00 - 14:00 - Perceiving Art vs. Perceiving Science
         Rodrigo Quian Quiroga (Leicester University. Leicester, UK), Marcos Pérez (Casa de las Ciencias Scientific          Director. Museos Cientificos Coruñeses. A Coruña, Spain).

         12:00 - 16:00 - Lunch

         16:00-19:00 - Parallellepipeda

         Wendy Morris, Géry d'dewalle, Ruth Loos, Dorothee Augustin, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Johan Wagemans &          Edith Doove. (University of Leuven, the Institute for Research in the Arts (IvOK), and the city museum of Leuven          (M), Belgium).

         19:00 - 19:30 - Visiting Scientific Posters and Artistic Displays.

         - Dinner

         21:00 - 23:00 - Choice blindness
         Lars Hall and Petter Johansson (Lund University Cognitive Science. Lund, Sweden).

July 16 (Thursday)

         09:00 - 11:00 - Kagai: creating and perceiving visual space
         Peter Thompson (York University. York, UK), Benedetta Tagliabue (Architect. EMBT Barcelona, Spain).

         11:00 - 11:40 - Contributed talks

                  11:00 O.6 An ambition for symmetry-breaking: the floating laboratory. S Hughes (University of Exeter) & D                   Robinson (University of Plymouth, UK).

                  11:20 O.7 The permanent resistance: the hidden agendas of activist art. D Petrova. (Edinburgh College of                   Art. Edinburgh, UK).

         12:00 - 14:00 - Sleep/Wake (special simposium)
         Sam Trubridge & Phillipa Gander (Massey University. Wellington, New Zealand).

         14:00 - 16:00 - Lunch

         17:00 - 18:00 - Visiting Scientific Posters and Artistic Displays.

         19:30 - Art and Science Closing Lecture
         By Semir Zeki (University College London. London, UK).

         21:00 - Banquet dinner

July 17 (Friday)

         - Shuttle to Barcelona.