Architecture and Embodied Cognition - 2019 Swiss Congress of Art Historians Presentation

Architecture and Embodied Cognition - 2019 Swiss Congress of Art Historians Presentation

Grant:
Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)
Academic Year:
2018 - 2019 (June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019)
Funding Requested:
$2,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
stevelau
Overview of the Project:
I am applying for funding to support my participation in the Swiss Congress of Art Historians in Mendrisio, Switzerland from 6-8 June, 2019. This annual conference brings together an international cohort of scholars to present research and discuss methodological challenges currently faced by the disciplines of art and architectural history. The format is unique in that the organizers assemble multi-lingual panels (with contributions in Italian, French, German and English) in hopes of diversifying the approach to each topic. I have been invited to present as part of a panel on “Architecture and Embodied Cognition.” Building off contemporary advances in cognitive science, this panel will re-examine the work of Heinrich Wölfflin, an art historian recognized for his pioneering study of the “Psychology of Architecture” (1886) and for developing an architectural theory of empathy. My own contribution involves research on the small-scale objects that act as intermediaries between perceiving subjects and their architectural surroundings. Participation in this congress will enable me to make connections across an international academic network and offer an opportunity to receive feedback on my research before its anticipated publication in a scholarly journal. I hope to use this experience to lay the groundwork for a future graduate seminar on “Architecture, Empathy, and Cognition.” More broadly, attending the conference will help me to further enrich and diversify the content of ARCH 313 – History of Architecture I, a course I hope to continue reinventing as a vital component in the undergraduate architecture curriculum.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:
1) To present a research paper at the 2019 Swiss Congress of Art Historians. 2) To make connections across an international academic network. 3) To receive feedback on my research from an international assembly of scholars. 4) To lay the groundwork for creating a possible new graduate seminar on “Architecture, Empathy and Cognition.” 5) To learn from other research presented at the congress and apply it to my teaching at the University of Michigan (in particular, an introductory lecture course on the Global History of Architecture).
Project Achievements:
Through the congress, I was able to connect with several scholars including Giovanna Targia at the Universität Zürich, Riccardo Olivito at the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Isabella Pasqualini at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles, Tristan Weddingen at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, and Sonja Hildebrand at the Università della Svizzera italiana. Their thoughtful questions and insights will guide the revisions of my paper in advance of its publication. More broadly, the presentations I attended at the congress have informed several of the lectures I am currently delivering in ARCH 313 – History of Architecture I and they have inspired me to change the way I approach the assignments for this course. I am doubling down on my efforts to use the assignments as a way to encourage student engagement with the artifacts and architecture in their immediate environment, especially in terms of the collections we have here on campus. More specifically, I designed a new assignment that utilizes the current special exhibition at UMMA on “Copies and Invention in East Asia.”
Continuation:
I am currently working to revise and expand the paper I presented at the congress in Mendrisio in hopes of submitting it to an academic journal later this year.
Dissemination:
Upon its completion I will share my essay on the history of architecture and embodied cognition with my colleagues. This research thread also informs a new project I am conducting under Taubman College’s “Prototyping Tomorrow” initiative. In collaboration with a senior colleague I am examining the streetscape of Detroit in terms of its historical urban furniture and civic vessels. We will then prototype a new set of small-scale architectural interventions that might transform the existing context in positive ways. This work will be disseminated via a public presentation and an exhibition in the fall semester 2020.
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