FOR 1008:  Picture Act Research. History, Technique and Theory of the Picture Act

• Subject Area: Humanities
• Term: from 2008 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 56050943

The Collegium for Advanced Study of Picture Act and Embodiment intends to radically revise traditional copy theories of images conceived as likenesses, replacing them with a theory of picture and image acts. Research is structured around the investigation of the problems of the form of pictures, the animated character of pictorial phenomena, and the substitution of body and image. These topics are the subject of two research perspectives: "Picture Act Theory" (headed by Prof. Bredekamp, art history) and the "Theory of Embodiment" (led by of Prof. Krois, philosophy).
To achieve its goals, the Research Unit is investigating a number of case studies requiring the close cooperation of the disciplines of art history and philosophy. Since the topics under investigation are not restricted to certain historical periods or methodical problems, research takes its departure from case studies ranging from the very earliest pictures to contemporary works. In the same way, the philosophical investigations combine the theories of knowledge, emotion, and action. The object is not to establish the differences between various methods of depiction by reference to old and new media, but to understand historically grounded pictorial practices from cave painting to contemporary computer imaging and their implications for the understanding of embodied cognition.
The leading principle of this research is that pictures and images are perceived not only by the eyes, but that the entire body acts as an organ of their assimilation. This thesis finds support today in several fields of scientific research including especially artificial intelligence and robotics, which now employ the concept of embodiment rather than computation as their starting point. Working on the foundation of historical pictorial phenomena, a theory of depiction and of embodied cognition are to be developed that can provide a new understanding of present-day computer imaging, image manipulation, and questions of embodiment in cognitive science that can aid our understanding of human reflection in all of its breadth. Image and picture acts - so the working hypothesis - can only then be completely understood and explained if their form, animated appearance and ability to stand for something else are investigated in terms of embodied cognition. For this, the conjunction of the historical study of art and depiction with research on embodiment in philosophy and cognitive science is indispensable.

• DFG Programme: Advanced Studies Centres in SSH

Projects

• Bildakt-Forschung. Geschichte, Technik und Theorie des Bildaktes (Applicant Bredekamp, Horst )
• Bildakt und Verkörperung (Applicant Bredekamp, Horst )

• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Horst Bredekamp; Professor Dr. Jürgen Trabant