At the next KPU Science World Speaker Series, Kwantlen Polytechnic University psychology instructor, Dr. Farhad Dastur and artist, Nicoletta Baumeister, will bring together their areas of expertise to discuss perception.
“We want to look at perception from the perspective of a working artist and a cognitive scientist. What is divergent and what is convergent in our understanding?” says Dastur.
He says perception is an interesting topic to explore. It is both intimate and strange because it is how we experience the richness of the world but it is also full of paradoxes and surprising findings.
“You can think of the role of the artist as altering our perceptions, through artistic creation, in order to reveal truths or deepen our aesthetic appreciation. You can think of the role of the scientist as more deeply investigating perception, in order to discover truths about the inner workings of the mind. These discoveries may also deepen our aesthetic appreciation.”
Dastur and Baumeister’s uniquely collaborative approach will feature examples from both science and art to showcase perception.
“We are trained differently, we use different language, attend different events, and have different priorities. We believe that those differences have impoverished our understanding of our complex worlds. Reversing that trend is the purpose of our Science World talk.”
Believing is Seeing: An Artist and A Scientist Discuss Perception takes place at Science World on February 25, 2020. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the presentation at 7 p.m. Registration for this free event is required.