Art and Science as Ways of Knowing and Experiencing the World: Creativity, Abstraction and Learning

The aim of the conference is to look at the experiences and practices of artists and scientists in their respective fields, in order to establish whether they reflect similar or dissimilar processes. Over the years there have been attempts (mainly in the literature devoted to creativity research) to argue that they are largely similar courses of action in a creative process of discovery, while many have also claimed that they are essentially distinct ways of epistemic relating to the world that cannot communicate with each other. On the one hand, in both art and science, there is a clear process of cultivation of skills and proficiencies: authors, musicians, painters create but also reflect on and revise their reflections, a procedure that resembles the honing of scientific hypotheses. On the other hand, there exists a strong consensus that art is somehow an expression of emotion and sensory experience (aesthesis), while scientific research is assumed to aim at truth and express some kind of objective description of the world. Among the questions that we suggest can be discussed are:

• How are the process and product of creation in both art and science comparable?
• What is the ontological status of the end result?
• What are the similarities and differences in the social engagements leading to works of art and science?
• To what an extent are they individually or socially construed?

Recently we have observed an intensification of the dialogue between art and the sciences on various levels: mutual inspiration, a way to join forces among all the sciences on important societal issues, or striving for a more comprehensive education. Our conference's invited contributions will address such questions on these levels, including the points of view of scientists, practitioners, theoreticians and educators. We invite personal reflections on these questions, as well as more theoretically considered comparisons between the two major areas of human engagement with the world and other people. As usual, however, we are curious about new interesting aspects of the novelties in your work, even if not directly bearing on the issues above. Still, if you can reflect on any of the above from the vantage point of your work - this would be most welcome. In the previous editions, we have hosted psychologists, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, linguists, physicists, biologists, mathematicians, anthropologists, sociologists, and others. You are invited as long as you remain open to other disciplines and can walk and talk at the same time.

HILL walks with Centre Q

HILL (Human Interactivity and Language Lab) co-organizes this year's conference with the newly created Centre Q (Research on Culture, Language, and Mind) , whose main objective is to stimulate interdisciplinary work and create a platform for showcasing fruitful exchanges between the sciences and the humanities. This complements and broadens the HILL's main focus: to examine how various communication and coordination tools emerge from human co-action in a value-realization process.

We are happy to announce that our keynote speakers this year include:

• Yanna Popova (Centre Q)
• Daniel Sobota (IFiS PAN)
• Ilona Iłowiecka-Tańska (Copernicus Science Center)
• Wiesna Mond-Kozłowska (Researcher in the field of Comparative Aesthetics, Choreographer, Polskie Stowarzyszenie Antropologii Tańca)
• Jacek Rogala (Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology)
• Beata Bajno (Artist)

Programme

Book of abstracts

The conference will take place October 27-30 2022 in the mountain hotel near Zakopane. We talk science in the morning, walk during the day, and finish off with another round of short presentations.

The conference fee is 750 PLN and covers accommodation and food. We offer full and partial grants for students and researchers awarded on a per-need basis. You can apply for funding in the application form.

To participate in the conference in person, every presenter will be required to provide the EU COVID Certificate, its national equivalent or a negative COVID-19 test result no older than 48 hours.

Come and share your research results, doubts, questions, ideas, collaboration opportunities. During the stationary meetings and peripatetic ones (from Ancient Greek peripatētikós – “given to walking around”) senior researchers, post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students share their knowledge and draw inspiration for further work.

We all are active participants at this conference. There are three possible types of participation:

• Talk (15 minutes + 5 minutes discussion)
• Poster (with 1 minute teaser presentation)
• Book / art piece review (for undergraduate students, 8 minutes + 2 minutes discussion)

The deadline for application is September 30th. Please find the application form here.

We will let you know about the results of your applications before October 10th.

If you have any questions, contact us at: hill@hill.psych.uw.edu.pl

The Peripatetic conferences on Cognitive Systems Modeling have been organized since 2010 by and for those who appreciate thinking and exchanging ideas while walking and those who, like many before, believe that the rarefied mountain air and the physical exertion bring our brains to another level of functioning.

Cognitive systems are defined through their ability to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of the environment. We observe such processes of adaptation on many different levels: from single cells and tissues, through regulation systems such as the immune system, to people operating on conscious level and whole social groups. The aim of the conference is to present recent research on cognitive systems from multitude of perspectives and methodologies, and to bridge gaps between different disciplines in order to develop common language as well as new methods and paradigms for modeling cognitive phenomena.

Among the participants of the previous editions of the conference were psychologists, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, linguists, physicists, biologists, mathematicians, anthropologists, sociologists. No matter what is your discipline, what counts is your interest in cognitive systems, your openness to talk to others and your love for the mountains.