Call for paper:
“Aesthetic Notions: Framing Emotional Perception”

The conference aims to explore notions related to the cognitive
aspects of aesthetic emotion, both in regard to its manifestations and
the theorization of its forms. It seeks to investigate how emotional
perception is framed by terms which foreground the levels, nuances and
different aspects of the aesthetic emotion, a human phenomenon with
unclear contours.

The assumption behind this endeavour is that artistic experience
contributes to the reconfiguring of our cognitive perception of the
world, combining perceptive/interpretative mechanisms with an
emotional experience belonging to the realm of affects. In so doing
the work acts as a transitional object between the creator's poïetic
experience and that of the spectator. The success of this very poïetic
experience stems from the disturbance it causes to emotional
perception and its cognitive interpretation.

The language which characterizes this phenomena is contrived in
different ways according to different cultures, as is exemplified by
the various termes such as "catharsis" in the West, "rasas" in India,
the "qi" in China, the "flower metaphor" in Japan (hana, flower),
and so on. This approach should facilitate the understanding of how
affects (emotion, trouble, etc., "gandong" en Chine, "gamdong" en
Corée, "kandô" au Japon) translate emotional perceptions into
aesthetic appreciations (such as the existing hierarchy « shen,
miao, neng » in China).

Taking a comparative, considered approach we aim at understanding the
associated mechanisms - both universal and cultural - and how
different cultures have attempted to theorize these experiences as
well as the modes of expression used to characterize them.

At the intersection of the social sciences and the humanities (SHS) on
the one hand and advanced neuroscience on the other, we focus as much
on the appearance of these terms, the conditions of their use, and
their theorization as it does on accounts of actual experiences and on
experiments aiming to reveal the conditions whereby aesthetic emotions
are activated.

Papers can be presented in the classical format, based on written,
performed or experimental material, where an audience is implicit and
analyzed. Proposals are invited for presentations of 30 minutes long;
they must include an abstract of maximum 300 words and a short
biography, sent to the following address: langarts2014gmail.com

Deadline for submission: 15th February 2014
Deadline for results: end of March 2014

The selection committee is formed by ad-hoc members attached to
Langarts' leading and scientific committees. The organizing committee
is formed by regular participants of GTs « Notions esthétiques » and
members of the Langarts' leading committee. Please visit the website :
http://langarts.hypotheses.org

The conference will take place at: Bâtiment Le France, 190, av. de
France, Paris 13e