Q & A with Seth Riskin

You are co-teaching a class with Pawan Sinha and Sarah Schwettmann, Vision in Neuroscience and Art. What prompted you to create this course with them? What do you hope to accomplish?

Riskin: The course brings together two fields that complement each other beautifully: visual art and vision neuroscience. Recent developments in both fields present the opportunity for an in-depth exchange between vision science and the conscious visual perception practiced in art. We can theorize about vision, run experiments and image the brain, but vision from the inside, that is, awareness of perceptual processes, manifest in art, offers distinct insights. Perhaps nowhere is this “inside” information needed more than in the study of the brain. Pawan, Sarah and I are passionate about the potential of this dialogue and collaboration, and we wanted to give students the opportunity to exercise the full scope of their intelligence. Vision is the perfect subject.

Read full article: https://arts.mit.edu/qa-seth-riskin/

Read “The Technology of Enchantment,” an anthropology and studio art course where MIT students investigate the human dimensions of interacting with technologies: https://news.mit.edu/2019/paranormal-machines-technology-1107

Links

MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery: https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/more/mit-museum-studio-and-compton-gallery

Vision in Art and Neuroscience website: https://vision.mit.edu

MIT Museum Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17937583952331750/?hl=en

People I work closely with:

Professor Pawan Sinha: https://bcs.mit.edu/directory/pawan-sinha and https://www.sinhalab.mit.edu

Adam Horowitz: http://www.adamjhh.com

Sarah Schwettmann: https://www.cogconfluence.com

ZERO Foundation: http://zerofoundation.de/en/

the Generist project: http://generism.net