Perceive, think, read" Perceive - Think - Read. Perceptual and conceptual possibilities of the analysis of art
Abstract
The topic of the conference is the analysis of the "language" which is used in the transmission of a meaning in art. Art is a medium of communication but it differs from a verbal speech, since its primary tool of expression are not words but perceptual phenomena (meaning the phenomena perceivable by senses, movement, body orientation in space etc.).
The thoughts behind the process of a creation of art can be expressed textually but this does not mean that we can understand works of art as mere illustrations of verbally formulated ideas. In art, the perceptual and the conceptual aspects are intertwined in such a way that they cannot be separated.
The aim of the conference is to deepen the understanding of the dialectical relation between the perceptual and the conceptual aspects of art. This understanding should avoid the reductive art historical methods which polarize works of art into the iconography and the formal analysis.
When a work of art is perceived, our whole personality is involved including the senses, corporeal setting, reason, memory, emotions and experiences. Thus, the analysis of works of art overlaps with aesthetics, philosophy, psychology, neurology, biology and other academic disciplines.
In the analysis of the perception of art, art history cannot detach itself from other fields of knowledge, nor can it leave this analysis to aesthetics or psychology claiming that it is too subjective and difficult to verify.