How does it feel to enter a prehistoric cave? When was creativity born? And what was the first animal depicted in Paleolithic paintings?
Three collateral meetings at the “Lascaux Experience. The cave of lost tales ”, at MUSE until February 12, 2023, bring together researchers and popularizers engaged on the subject of Paleolithic art, not only from an archaeological point of view. Among the proposals, too an “ancestral” experience of altering states of consciousness.
The review “Around Lascaux. Three encounters between art, brain and spirituality “dedicated to the lesser known sides of the famous French cave, opens Tuesday 18 October at 18.30 with the unusual meeting entitled “Creativity and altered states of consciousness in the Paleolithic caves “.
With Nicola De Pisapiaassociate professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DIPSCO) of the University of Trento, we will try to understand how our brain behaves when we enter a deep cave and how our artistic creativity can be influenced by external visual and auditory stimuli.
Not a simple conference: the participants of the event will be involved in a practical experiment (about 20 minutes) with sounds and lights to induce a slight alteration of the state of consciousness, similar to what our Paleolithic ancestors could experience when exploring a painted cave.
The second meeting will be held Thursday 10 November (always at 18.30) and will see the participation of Sara Hejazianthropologist and researcher of the Religious Studies Center of the Bruno Kessler Foundation of Trento, of the Jean Monnet Center of the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Trento and of the Al Farabi Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan.
In his speech, entitled “Homo and other animals: a spiritual relationship from prehistoric times to today”, will focus on our relationship with the animal world between art and spirituality. Animals are one of the first subjects that humans, starting more than 30,000 years ago, drew on the walls of ravines and cavities, but still today many questions remain about their symbolic and religious meanings.
In the end, Thursday 15 December the third and last meeting of the review: Francesco d’Erricoarchaeologist and professor at the universities of Bordeaux and Bergen, will retrace the traces of human evolution, from the first African hominids to our species, Homo sapiensto go back to origins of symbolic thinking and the concept of art.
“Paleolithic art – he explains Luca Scozarchaeologist and scientific mediator of MUSE – it is not just a manifestation of human creativity: behind it are hidden deep and complex meanings that today we struggle to recognize but, after thousands of years, they can still excite us and question us about our place in nature. Over the years, scholars have proposed many interpretations, in this cycle of meetings we will explore some of them with the eyes of science and anthropology ”.
The three appointments, free with reservation on Ticketlandiaare collateral to the exhibition “Lascaux Experience. The cave of lost tales “which can be visited at MUSE until February 12, 2023. Participants in the meetings will receive a free voucher for the virtual visit to the Lascaux cave with technology Oculus (to book on the website muse.it when purchasing the entrance ticket).
Nicola De Pisapia he is associate professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DIPSCO) of the University of Trento, where he teaches cognitive ergonomics, artificial neural networks, neuroscience of altered states of consciousness and meditative states.
Sara Hejazi she is an anthropologist and researcher at the Religious Studies Center of the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Trento and at the center Jean Monnet of the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Trento. Sign Global Studies and Anthropology of Modernity at the Al Farabi Kazakh National University. Among his essays, The End of Sex? Relationships and ties in the digital age (2017) and The sense of species. Because planetary culture is the destiny of humanity (2021).
Francesco D’Errico he is an archaeologist. He has worked in several European and American universities. He is now director of research for the Center national de la recherche scientifique at the University of Bordeaux and professor at the Center for Early Sapiens Behaviorof the University of Bergen.
Around Lascaux: three encounters between art, brain and spirituality