H2020 EU-Consortium ART*IS
The Arts and Minds Lab is a project partner in the EU Horizon 2020-funded project ART*IS (Art and Research on Transformations of Individuals and Societies), which explores the transformative potential of art on individuals and societies. The project brings together a variety of empirical and theoretical disciplines to enhance the potential effectiveness of art.
Representing the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the Arts and Minds Lab is responsible for two of the nine work packages in ART*IS. You can read more about the project and our role in it here.
WP3 CAPTURE - Art Experience in Urban Spaces is one of the four empirical work packages and focuses on public art and how residents interact with it.
Part of the work package is an ongoing series of studies based on a questionnaire completed by pedestrians passing by public artworks. The questionnaire asks participants to reflect on the transformative effects of the artwork in terms of behaviour, mood, connection to the neighbourhood, etc. So far we have conducted the study on the "Allesandersplatz" writing on the Haus der Statistik, the exhibition Magical Hackerism at SAVVY Contemporary, as well as on various murals in Vienna. Further studies of other artworks, murals and challenging architecture are planned.
Although these and other WP3 studies are still in progress, the Arts and Minds Lab has already contributed some valuable insights. For example, we have found that art in urban environments is important for the emotional well-being of residents and that it strengthens bonds and a sense of belonging to the local environment.
In addition to the empirical work of WP3, the Arts and Minds Lab is also responsible for WP6 CONNECT - Values, Enaction, Society, which aims to integrate the findings of the empirical work packages into broader philosophical theory building.
One of the main objectives of WP6 is to develop a 4EA (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive and affective) theory of art. The development of this theory demonstrates the interdisciplinary integration of the different work packages, as it has drawn on the empirical findings of the other work packages, while at the same time co-developing and providing feedback on their study designs. This collaborative effort has provided the basis for a theory that captures art and artefacts as evaluative engines, as well as their capacity to instigate cultural change.
This has resulted in several publications, which you can read here, and will culminate in a monograph on 'Aesthetics and Emotions'.