From antiquity to the present, medical science and art have been inextricably entwined. The first anatomical theories in Ancient Greece developed in conjunction with and parallel to artistic theories about human proportions. From the 16th c. artists practiced dissection in order to improve their depictions of human form, and their drawings in anatomical atlases were used to educate generations of medical professionals. The Charcot school in Paris studies art works in an attempt to improve their understanding of psychological phenomena like hysteria. Sigmund Freud ´s psychological theories were enriched by his study of literature, and his theories inspired the arts of literature and film. The theory and practice of connoisseurship is based on principles borrowed from medical science. Contemporary artists collaborate with medical scientists, and medical professionals still find inspiration for new medical techniques and practices in art. The lectures in this symposium will necessarily be only a small selection of in-depth case studies illustrating the varied relationships between art and medicine.
The symposium lectures will be structured in sessions composed of lectures related to each other by topic and/or disciplinary perspective. Both medical scientists with interests in the arts, and scholars of the arts with interests in science and medicine are encouraged to participate. One goal of the symposium is to provoke all participants to confront the challenge of engaging in discussion of how medical science and the humanities enrich and inspire each other.
We hope that the participants will attempt to transcend disciplinary borders and challenge pre-existing interpretations of the relationship between medical theory, practice and artistic expression.
All lectures will be published as videopodcasts. Selected papers will be included in a subsequent edited digital book or journal volume devoted to the symposium topic. The symposium papers should be 20 minutes (ca. 10 double-spaced pages) and in English.
Please send a one-page CV and an abstract of 150-200 words to Einar Petterson einarp@ifikk.uio.no by March 15, 2012.
Participants will be notified by March 25, 2012.
Organizers:
Einar Petterson, Professor of Art History, University of Oslo, Norway
Knut Kvernebo, MD, PhD, FRCS, Professor of Cadio-Thoracic Surgery, Oslo University Hosptial, Ullevaal
The symposium (reception, lunches and a symposium dinner) is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Norway.
Professor dr.philos. Einar Petterson
Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas
University of Oslo
Norway
einarp@ifikk.uio.no
