KENNESAW, Ga. | Jan 7, 2020

Is art an integral part of being human?

What makes us appreciate beautiful art? Is art an essential part of being human? As part of the 2019-2020 Research in the Arts series, the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University will host guest lecturer Dr. Anjan Chatterjee on January 28, 2020. He will discuss his groundbreaking research using neurology to explore our understanding of evolution, production, and appreciation of art.

The lecture, “The Aesthetic Brain,” will explore Chatterjee’s research presented in his book of the same title. Delving into aesthetics with a neuroscientific lens, he will examine the significance of art, beauty, and pleasure. Is art inherent neurologically, or is it a mere accident or outlier in our brain function? Why do we find people, places and even numbers beautiful and how that is related to pleasure? He will discuss the challenges of defining, interpreting and understanding art from humanity’s first paintings in caves to contemporary art. Why is something that is seemingly useless––outside of its beauty––feel like such a fundamental part of our humanity? What if appreciating beauty is not just pleasurable, but essential to our survival?

An Elliot Professor and Chief of Neurology at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Chatterjee is also the founding director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. His main research interests include neuroaesthetics, neuroethics, and spatial cognition as it relates to language. His 2011 journal publication “Neuroaesthetics: A Coming of Age Story” from the “Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience” is widely considered an instrumental piece in articulating the promise and limitations of neuroaesthetics. He continues to explore this and other areas of neurology in the quest for understanding the human brain.

Delve into the intricate world of our neurological system and explore how art could be an inherent part of being human. Please join us on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Stillwell Theater in the Wilson building on KSU’s Kennesaw campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

--Lauren Richmond and Kathie Beckett