The 12^th International Conference of
	ISSEI	In cooperation With
	International Society for the Study of European Ideas

Section IV: Literature, Art, Music, Theatre, Culture

and

Section V: Religion, Philosophy, Anthropology, Psychology, Language

Workshop: Consciousness, Thought, and Art

Chair: Stephen Barker

The relationship between consciousness and thought has been implicitly and explicitly a central aspect of both philosophy and science since their inception, from Plato and Aristotle to Dennett and Damasio. New studies in neural plasticity and neuronal process have re-opened the debate. Yet the relationship between consciousness and thought remains one of fundamental contention.

This contested ground becomes infinitely more complex with the addition of the creative process in general, and with art-making in specific. Does the artist “think” while making art? Is it possible to be conscious of the process and still act creatively within it? Is the artist, as Derrida suggests, “blind” to everything but the next mark, the next leap of creative faith? Is art that is planned (thought) out art at all?

Even more to the point in the current age, does virtual and digital art “play by the same rules” as more traditional forms? And how do these new forms negotiate the rocky questions of personhood relative to consciousness, and of self-awareness relative to thought?

This session will explore the relationship among these deeply problematic vectors in an attempt to come to terms with their interactive dynamics.

Stephen Barker

Claire Trevor School of the Arts

University of California at Irvine

barker@uci.edu

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