Empirical findings to the origins of image usage particularly from the paleoanthropological and archaeological, cultural anthropological and developmental psychological research will be presented, thereby the current state of empirical knowledge in certain ways of "early" forms of picture competence stands as a basis for discussion.
Second:
It is planned to present theoretical approaches to the terms of the possibility of genesis of picture competence in the reflexive analysis of the empirical studies. At the same time these approaches will be examined for their methodological rigor of a picture philosophically well-founded philosophical anthropology.
Third:
Under the title, arguments for homo pictor’ the manner in which the thesis of picture competence could be perfectly rational defended (or disproved) as a specific anthropological difference and what consequences this will have for the empirical and philosophical anthropology will be clarified.
Disciplines/Speakers
Archaeologists and paleo- and culture-anthropologists, developmental psychologists and philosophers doing research for image problems will meet during the conference.
A general image science that focuses attention on images, on the effects of their use, on picture producers and observers – and, as this conference demonstrates, on the source and origin of pictures - has only been recently established. Such a new discipline also calls for re-adjustments concerning the methods of accessing phenomena since in the traditional sciences, neither the understanding of the human ability for production and reception of pictures nor the structuring of the instruments for gaining insights in images in a scientific way is yet agreed upon.
The clarification of the possibility of pictorial competence in an anthropological dimension, and the reflection on its conditions and effects pose an important desideratum in image science. Philosophy and psychology are as important for finding answers to those questions, as are archeology, palaeoanthropology, cultural anthropology, cognitive sciences, and art history. Apart from the metareflexive elucidation of concepts and their limits, and the clarification of the perceptual conditions in a cognitive regard, the branches of archeology, cultural anthropology, and art history can add explanations for empirical findings of particular kinds of picture production and reception, and their historical function in human society. By tying together systematic considerations with empirical issues and instruments, image science hopes to gain more complex insights in the complicated matters at hand.
It is a tradition to characterize the human being as a linguistically talented animal. But also the extraordinary ability to employ pictures is, as far as we know empirically, common only to mankind. Are there conceptual reasons for this empirical coincidence? Posed differently: Is the homo sapiens essentially a homo pictor? This basic question, which has to be understood quite apart from unreflected genocentrisms, has already been raised by Hans Jonas. In his essay on “Image-making and the Freedom of Man” he reflects from a phenomenological point of view upon the status of the capability to use pictures: Which criteria are linked with the symptoms implying the existence of ‘understanding’, ‘mind’, ‘culture’, ‘civilization’, etc.? The capability to use pictures appears to be a good choice: It is on the one hand structurally more simple than the faculty of language, as it seems. On the other hand, and compared to, e.g., the use of tools, no gradual transitions to biologically explainable phenomena are obvious.
Since the pioneering publication by Hans Jonas the topic has been approached from different angles. One such angle is the approach of cognitive psychology in the 80s and 90s of the twentieth century, which however did not remain uncriticized. In a cooperation of palaeoanthropology and psychology in the late 80s, an alternative view on the connection between the development of image competence and the anthropological difference has been developed. The reactions on those reflections, especially among empirical researchers, have revealed a need for philosophical explanations of the forms of argumentation used thereby, and the opportunities they offer. At the same time huge amounts of new empirical results of the last decades have been gained (for instance, the caves of Chauvet and Cosquer, the sculptures of Vogelherd, Namibian rock paintings; but also the growing set of genetic analyses in palaeoanthropology). Their significance for our image anthropological question in particular, or image science in general cannot yet be estimated in full. Therefore two tasks are of prime importance for image scientific research: to take good notice of new empirical findings concerning the emergence of the ability to use pictures thus re-evaluating in their light our conceptions of the origins of pictures in a general, palaeoanthropological sense as well as from the particular perspectives of cultural anthropology and developmental psychology; and to reflect the findings in the light of transdisciplinary theories on the general conditions of the ability of picture use, which thereby are made available as an additional structuring offer to the empirical sciences.
Conference office
Chemnitz University of Technology Faculty of Humanities Reichenhainer Straße 41 09126 Chemnitz
Participation in the conference is free. To receive the documents for the conference and in the case of attending the reception, there will be charges.
The documents for the conference (conference schedule, informational material) will be available in the conference office at the beginning of the conference (charge 5 Euros).
If you want to attend the reception on March 30, 10 Euros will be charged.
Please use the registration form accessible via the menu item "Registration".
The registration form for the conference can be found here:
How Art Emerged from the Incidental Making of Signs of Hominin Activity to Become Self-Conscious Human Making of Meaning Through Signs
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
10:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
In previous papers I have discussed the importance of signs of hominin activity in shaping future actions of other hominins. I argue in this presentation that in order to understand the origins of art we need to define what we mean by “art”. I define art as the marking and making of surfaces which becomes a means to mark difference and to make identity. In tracing the emergence of this practice I will look at several aspects of behaviour which contribute to what we recognise as art but are not the same as it, including Pattern, Indexicality, Design, Decoration, Display, Convention, Iconicity, Ritual and Symbol. I will consider examples of these concepts as they can be seen in the archaeological record.
How Art Emerged from the Incidental Making of Signs of Hominin Activity to Become Self-Conscious Human Making of Meaning Through Signs
In previous papers I have discussed the importance of signs of hominin activity in shaping future actions of other hominins. I argue in this presentation that in order to understand the origins of art we need to define what we mean by “art”. I define art as the marking and making of surfaces which becomes a means to mark difference and to make identity. In tracing the emergence of this practice I will look at several aspects of behaviour which contribute to what we recognise as art but are not the same as it, including Pattern, Indexicality, Design, Decoration, Display, Convention, Iconicity, Ritual and Symbol. I will consider examples of these concepts as they can be seen in the archaeological record.
Consequences of the Discovery and Study of the Chauvet Cave
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
11:00 Uhr
Adresse
Reichenhainer Straße 90
Raum
N112
Since 1998 the Chauvet Cave is being studied by a multidisciplinary scientific team, first directed by Jean Clottes, then by Jean-Michel Geneste. The cave soon became famous because of the aesthetic quality of its art, the sophistication of its techniques (stump-drawing for internal shadind, detouring, research of spatial perspective) and its ancient age. Two main periods of frequentation by humans were evidenced, thanks to very numerous radiocarbon datings (82 in all), nearly all by accelerator. The oldest –with apparently most of the art- is dated to between 29,000 and 33,000BP (uncalibrated), i.e. to the Aurignacian, and the most recent to the Gravettian between 25,000 and 27,000BP. Converging results from various lines of research (paleontology, geology, archaeology, other dating methods) have confirmed those results. An intercomparison program was carried out on three big lumps of charcoal dated by several laboratories; the available results from 4 of them (29 dates) are coherent with again Aurignacian dates.
The aesthetic quality of such ancient images has upset our conceptions about the origins and the development of art. The long-held paradigm of art gradually developing from crude beginnings during the Aurignacian proved to be wrong. We must now admit that among Aurignacians as among their successors, there might have been great artists and also that art, all through the Palaeolithic did know -as in later times- a number of highs and lows.
Consequences of the Discovery and Study of the Chauvet Cave
Since 1998 the Chauvet Cave is being studied by a multidisciplinary scientific team, first directed by Jean Clottes, then by Jean-Michel Geneste. The cave soon became famous because of the aesthetic quality of its art, the sophistication of its techniques (stump-drawing for internal shadind, detouring, research of spatial perspective) and its ancient age. Two main periods of frequentation by humans were evidenced, thanks to very numerous radiocarbon datings (82 in all), nearly all by accelerator. The oldest –with apparently most of the art- is dated to between 29,000 and 33,000BP (uncalibrated), i.e. to the Aurignacian, and the most recent to the Gravettian between 25,000 and 27,000BP. Converging results from various lines of research (paleontology, geology, archaeology, other dating methods) have confirmed those results. An intercomparison program was carried out on three big lumps of charcoal dated by several laboratories; the available results from 4 of them (29 dates) are coherent with again Aurignacian dates.
The aesthetic quality of such ancient images has upset our conceptions about the origins and the development of art. The long-held paradigm of art gradually developing from crude beginnings during the Aurignacian proved to be wrong. We must now admit that among Aurignacians as among their successors, there might have been great artists and also that art, all through the Palaeolithic did know -as in later times- a number of highs and lows.
Learning to See: Enactive Discovery and the Prehistory of Pictorial Skill
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
12:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
In this paper, I will use several archaeological and anthropological examples to propose a view of human perception as an 'open' process of active exploration and material engagement. Building upon the enactive paradigm and the hypothesis of extended mind I will be arguing that perception should be seen as the concerted embodied activity of the whole person that collapses the boundaries between the mind and the material world. Moreover, I will extend this embodied view further to argue that perception is a highly contextualized bio-cultural construct. An implication of that may be that image and perception are continuous; in changing the one you affect the other and thus you cannot understand them in isolation.
Learning to See: Enactive Discovery and the Prehistory of Pictorial Skill
In this paper, I will use several archaeological and anthropological examples to propose a view of human perception as an 'open' process of active exploration and material engagement. Building upon the enactive paradigm and the hypothesis of extended mind I will be arguing that perception should be seen as the concerted embodied activity of the whole person that collapses the boundaries between the mind and the material world. Moreover, I will extend this embodied view further to argue that perception is a highly contextualized bio-cultural construct. An implication of that may be that image and perception are continuous; in changing the one you affect the other and thus you cannot understand them in isolation.
Prehistoric Face Representation as a Pictorial Archetype of Ahistorical Dimensions
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
14:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
Early representations of human figures seem to neglect facial elaboration as a sign of personal identity. This might be explained by historico-cultural reasons of ritual veiling and disguising,(i.e. indiffernece of person) or spiritual meaning (indeternability of represented character). Rudimentary schematic representation of the human face however is not bound to prehistory, but portrays a worldwide motive of pictorial tradition up to the present in many different cultures. What can explain the persistent emblematic use of this potentially rich subject and make it seem meaningful? There is some neuropsychological evidence for selective processing of schematized human faces in the human brain and some precursors in the primate brain. The archaic type of face representation would hence be the earliest representative of a general species-specific perceptive archetype underlying the pictorial theme. And culture would take the role of a modulating selective factor in the evolution of art.
Prehistoric Face Representation as a Pictorial Archetype of Ahistorical Dimensions
Early representations of human figures seem to neglect facial elaboration as a sign of personal identity. This might be explained by historico-cultural reasons of ritual veiling and disguising,(i.e. indiffernece of person) or spiritual meaning (indeternability of represented character). Rudimentary schematic representation of the human face however is not bound to prehistory, but portrays a worldwide motive of pictorial tradition up to the present in many different cultures. What can explain the persistent emblematic use of this potentially rich subject and make it seem meaningful? There is some neuropsychological evidence for selective processing of schematized human faces in the human brain and some precursors in the primate brain. The archaic type of face representation would hence be the earliest representative of a general species-specific perceptive archetype underlying the pictorial theme. And culture would take the role of a modulating selective factor in the evolution of art.
Born to Artify: The Universal Origin of Pictures
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
14:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
One difficulty in approaching a study of the origins of pictures (whether one is an evolutionary biologist, an archaeologist or prehistorian, or a researcher in child development) is that the terms “art” or even “picture” are almost axiomatically associated with the concept of “symbol.” That is, they are assumed to arise from and be dependent on a prior, broader ability to make and use symbols. I question this premise and suggest that, on the contrary, symbolic art is to be understood as a subset of a broader ability that I call artification. Artification—intentionally making parts of the natural and manmade environment (shelters, tools, utensils, weapons, clothing, bodies, surroundings, and other paraphernalia) extraordinary or special by marking, shaping, and embellishing them beyond their ordinary functional appearance—is a heretofore undescribed (or overlooked) human universal that can be considered as biologically distinctive, adaptive, and noteworthy in itself, not simply a subset or byproduct of symbolizing ability, intelligence, or cultural level. The artification hypothesis, which addresses evolutionary antecedents, evolutionary design, motivation, and adaptive advantages, provides a new direction to the study of the origins of art and picture-making in human evolution.
One difficulty in approaching a study of the origins of pictures (whether one is an evolutionary biologist, an archaeologist or prehistorian, or a researcher in child development) is that the terms “art” or even “picture” are almost axiomatically associated with the concept of “symbol.” That is, they are assumed to arise from and be dependent on a prior, broader ability to make and use symbols. I question this premise and suggest that, on the contrary, symbolic art is to be understood as a subset of a broader ability that I call artification. Artification—intentionally making parts of the natural and manmade environment (shelters, tools, utensils, weapons, clothing, bodies, surroundings, and other paraphernalia) extraordinary or special by marking, shaping, and embellishing them beyond their ordinary functional appearance—is a heretofore undescribed (or overlooked) human universal that can be considered as biologically distinctive, adaptive, and noteworthy in itself, not simply a subset or byproduct of symbolizing ability, intelligence, or cultural level. The artification hypothesis, which addresses evolutionary antecedents, evolutionary design, motivation, and adaptive advantages, provides a new direction to the study of the origins of art and picture-making in human evolution.
Concessions of a Conventionalist
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
15:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
In their extremely well-argued essay "Homo pictor and the Linguistic Turn" Jörg R.J. Schirra and Klaus Sachs-Hornbach show how an anthropological approach to the use of pictures may very well go hand in hand with an approach from analytical and act-theoretic philosophy. At one spectacular point, however, they still promote an anthropological dogma that makes adherents to a more radical analytic approach, i.e. a conventionalist or constructivist one – like me! – see red: They still put up "resemblance" as a necessary condition for pictorial representation.<p>
In my talk I want to remind the audience of all the usual arguments against the concept of "resemblance" – anything resembles anything else at some point or another, etc. But after that I shall (more or less reluctantly) make some concessions to the anthropological side of the discussion. Nelson Goodman famously formulated his "Seven Strictures on Similarity". Maybe we fellow and following conventionalists have to formulate some restrictions on what may function as representational conventions if pictorial communication should be possible at all.
In their extremely well-argued essay "Homo pictor and the Linguistic Turn" Jörg R.J. Schirra and Klaus Sachs-Hornbach show how an anthropological approach to the use of pictures may very well go hand in hand with an approach from analytical and act-theoretic philosophy. At one spectacular point, however, they still promote an anthropological dogma that makes adherents to a more radical analytic approach, i.e. a conventionalist or constructivist one – like me! – see red: They still put up "resemblance" as a necessary condition for pictorial representation.<p>
In my talk I want to remind the audience of all the usual arguments against the concept of "resemblance" – anything resembles anything else at some point or another, etc. But after that I shall (more or less reluctantly) make some concessions to the anthropological side of the discussion. Nelson Goodman famously formulated his "Seven Strictures on Similarity". Maybe we fellow and following conventionalists have to formulate some restrictions on what may function as representational conventions if pictorial communication should be possible at all.
The Dark Ages of Picturing - Does Art Originate from Caves?
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
15:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
The most common experience with Upper Palaeolithic (parietal) art is an encounter in caves. Recently, however, consciousness is growing that a lot of art in the open may simply have fallen victim to taphonomic processes so that we do not see it any more. In this paper I want to argue that if there has been a corpus of art in caves and another corpus in the open they would have been quite distinct in context an accordingly also in meaning. Obviously light and darkness carry strongly differentiating implications. Yet it is only light that grants visual art its existence. Therefore I postulate that cave art is a narrowly specialized derivation from art in the open and to understand human picturing behaviour we have to free ourselves from the cave perspective and think about art from the "bright side".
The Dark Ages of Picturing - Does Art Originate from Caves?
The most common experience with Upper Palaeolithic (parietal) art is an encounter in caves. Recently, however, consciousness is growing that a lot of art in the open may simply have fallen victim to taphonomic processes so that we do not see it any more. In this paper I want to argue that if there has been a corpus of art in caves and another corpus in the open they would have been quite distinct in context an accordingly also in meaning. Obviously light and darkness carry strongly differentiating implications. Yet it is only light that grants visual art its existence. Therefore I postulate that cave art is a narrowly specialized derivation from art in the open and to understand human picturing behaviour we have to free ourselves from the cave perspective and think about art from the "bright side".
The First Pictorial Games
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
16:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
My talk has two parts. In the first methodological part, the concept of a pictorial game is introduced and explicated. I argue for the following research strategy: In order to find the first pictures you have to look for the first pictorial games. In the second part, I offer some conjectures as to what the first pictorial games might have been like.
My talk has two parts. In the first methodological part, the concept of a pictorial game is introduced and explicated. I argue for the following research strategy: In order to find the first pictures you have to look for the first pictorial games. In the second part, I offer some conjectures as to what the first pictorial games might have been like.
Cave Art Interpretation by Backstairs
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
16:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
Pictorial and sculptural artifacts, as part of cultural expression, are first visible in archaeological records in the Aurignacian. Even today, in spite of the long-standing research tradition in this field, the meaning of these representations and the interpretation of the surrounding context are still extremely speculative and influenced by the intuition of the researcher. This deficit is due not least to the prevalent approaches, whereby individual figures are first described in great detail and subsequently interpreted on the basis of highly personal levels of experience.
The implementation of these graphical expressions into a wider frame of human behavior in caves is still pending, although the significance of caves as spaces with frequent human activities and cave art has been stressed by several Paleolithic researchers. Research needs an integrative approach linking pictorial and sculptural artifacts with other forms of human activities embedded into the natural space of the entire cave site.
Under this perspective the well preserved cave of Tuc d'Audoubert including a diverse spectrum of prehistoric remains will be presented. The results improve the importance of such approach: cave topography, images and archaeological objects are considered as equal source of information to study human behavior in caves. This approach reveals repeated behavioral patterns and leads to a more stable fundament for the interpretation of cave art.
Pictorial and sculptural artifacts, as part of cultural expression, are first visible in archaeological records in the Aurignacian. Even today, in spite of the long-standing research tradition in this field, the meaning of these representations and the interpretation of the surrounding context are still extremely speculative and influenced by the intuition of the researcher. This deficit is due not least to the prevalent approaches, whereby individual figures are first described in great detail and subsequently interpreted on the basis of highly personal levels of experience.
The implementation of these graphical expressions into a wider frame of human behavior in caves is still pending, although the significance of caves as spaces with frequent human activities and cave art has been stressed by several Paleolithic researchers. Research needs an integrative approach linking pictorial and sculptural artifacts with other forms of human activities embedded into the natural space of the entire cave site.
Under this perspective the well preserved cave of Tuc d'Audoubert including a diverse spectrum of prehistoric remains will be presented. The results improve the importance of such approach: cave topography, images and archaeological objects are considered as equal source of information to study human behavior in caves. This approach reveals repeated behavioral patterns and leads to a more stable fundament for the interpretation of cave art.
Philosophical Aspects of a Picture Anthropology
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
17:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
There has been a long tradition of characterizing man as the animal that talks. However, the remarkable ability of using pictures also only belongs to human beings, after all we know empirically so far. Are there conceptual reasons for that coincidence? Our talk is dedicated to a philosophical programme of concept-genetic considerations dealing in particular with the dependencies between those two abilities: The conceptual relation between the competence to use assertive language and the faculty of employing pictures must be conceived of as being much closer than usually expected. Indeed we conclude there cannot be
creatures with only one of them.
There has been a long tradition of characterizing man as the animal that talks. However, the remarkable ability of using pictures also only belongs to human beings, after all we know empirically so far. Are there conceptual reasons for that coincidence? Our talk is dedicated to a philosophical programme of concept-genetic considerations dealing in particular with the dependencies between those two abilities: The conceptual relation between the competence to use assertive language and the faculty of employing pictures must be conceived of as being much closer than usually expected. Indeed we conclude there cannot be
creatures with only one of them.
Archeo-Therio-Iconology or "Homo: Nosce te ipsum !"
Datum
2011.03.30
Uhrzeit
17:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
Already at the very beginnings of picture production, man chiefly depicted two groups of objects: the mammal species surrounding him, and his own taxon, which is in fact a mammalian one, too. By and large the study of prehistoric art thus may be seen as principally an archeotherioiconology, i.e. the science of archeological mammal depictions. Obviously, such a discipline must be premised on the knowledge of both the humanities such as archeology and the life-sciences such as zoology. Only a multidisciplinary approach of this type ensures a sound investigation of prehistoric pictures. The paper provides some examples of recent such studies from the Ancient Orient and North Africa. They show how archeotherioiconological analyses help to reconstruct ancient mammal faunas as well as the way man managed to incorporate these animals into his world-views or early “religion”. This evidence also contributes substantially towards an understanding of cultural and ethnic history.
Archeo-Therio-Iconology or "Homo: Nosce te ipsum !"
Already at the very beginnings of picture production, man chiefly depicted two groups of objects: the mammal species surrounding him, and his own taxon, which is in fact a mammalian one, too. By and large the study of prehistoric art thus may be seen as principally an archeotherioiconology, i.e. the science of archeological mammal depictions. Obviously, such a discipline must be premised on the knowledge of both the humanities such as archeology and the life-sciences such as zoology. Only a multidisciplinary approach of this type ensures a sound investigation of prehistoric pictures. The paper provides some examples of recent such studies from the Ancient Orient and North Africa. They show how archeotherioiconological analyses help to reconstruct ancient mammal faunas as well as the way man managed to incorporate these animals into his world-views or early “religion”. This evidence also contributes substantially towards an understanding of cultural and ethnic history.
Thursday, March 31
2011.03.31
Symbols and Signs of the Earliest Art of Ancient Europe
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
09:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
From its beginnings, the earliest art of Ancient Europe was skillful, both formally and technically. Tentative, naïve attempts, whose existence has often been postulated, have not been discovered to date. The depictions are not an unreflected representation of the environment. We rather have to assume that the subjects were chosen with a certain intention because from the beginning, the animal depictions were accompanied by “abstract” symbols or signs that can be derived from real beings or objects.
Cup marks, discs, lines, grooves etc. are difficult to interpret with certainty. Counting or calendrical connotations are imaginable or even probable. A large group of complex signs in cave art can be traced back to the Venus figurines of the Gravettian, which means they have a female character. Hook and arrow signs are probably based on real weapons of the time. Hand prints give evidence of the presence of humans in a cave, but at the same time, they may also represent a more complex sign language.
The variety of subjects that were common and valid for certain time periods and across wide areas makes clear that simple, generalizing explanations do not do justice to the complexity of Paleolithic art.
Symbols and Signs of the Earliest Art of Ancient Europe
From its beginnings, the earliest art of Ancient Europe was skillful, both formally and technically. Tentative, naïve attempts, whose existence has often been postulated, have not been discovered to date. The depictions are not an unreflected representation of the environment. We rather have to assume that the subjects were chosen with a certain intention because from the beginning, the animal depictions were accompanied by “abstract” symbols or signs that can be derived from real beings or objects.
Cup marks, discs, lines, grooves etc. are difficult to interpret with certainty. Counting or calendrical connotations are imaginable or even probable. A large group of complex signs in cave art can be traced back to the Venus figurines of the Gravettian, which means they have a female character. Hook and arrow signs are probably based on real weapons of the time. Hand prints give evidence of the presence of humans in a cave, but at the same time, they may also represent a more complex sign language.
The variety of subjects that were common and valid for certain time periods and across wide areas makes clear that simple, generalizing explanations do not do justice to the complexity of Paleolithic art.
Anthropomorphic Pillars, Various Beasts, and the Creation of Sacred Space at Göbekli Tepe (Southeastern Turkey)
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
10:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
The early Holocene hunter-gatherers of Göbekli Tepe in Upper Mesopotamia confront us with the emergence of the first monumental architecture and extraordinarily rich symbolism. But Göbekli Tepe is not a place for people to live, the artificial mound consists of sanctuaries in the form of round megalithic enclosures with diameters of 10 to 30 m. The main features are the T-shaped monolithic pillars, often elusively decorated with reliefs mainly showing animals. The pillars stand in a circle, looking towards a pair of similar, but always taller pillars in the centre. At some of these pillars carved depictions of human arms and hands are visible, providing evidence that the pillars were more than mere architectural elements: These were rather sculptures representing stylised humans, the horizontal part being the head and the vertical shaft being the body and legs. The circular arrangement of the T-shapes can be understood as a meeting, the animals depicted in relief on the anthropomorphic beeings seem to be attributs belonging to them. Whereas the symbolic world of the Upper Palaeolithic of Eurasia includes a wide range of animals without an visible hierarchy, now at the beginning of the Neolithic the anthropomorphic T-shapes are the dominating power of the spiritual world.
Anthropomorphic Pillars, Various Beasts, and the Creation of Sacred Space at Göbekli Tepe (Southeastern Turkey)
The early Holocene hunter-gatherers of Göbekli Tepe in Upper Mesopotamia confront us with the emergence of the first monumental architecture and extraordinarily rich symbolism. But Göbekli Tepe is not a place for people to live, the artificial mound consists of sanctuaries in the form of round megalithic enclosures with diameters of 10 to 30 m. The main features are the T-shaped monolithic pillars, often elusively decorated with reliefs mainly showing animals. The pillars stand in a circle, looking towards a pair of similar, but always taller pillars in the centre. At some of these pillars carved depictions of human arms and hands are visible, providing evidence that the pillars were more than mere architectural elements: These were rather sculptures representing stylised humans, the horizontal part being the head and the vertical shaft being the body and legs. The circular arrangement of the T-shapes can be understood as a meeting, the animals depicted in relief on the anthropomorphic beeings seem to be attributs belonging to them. Whereas the symbolic world of the Upper Palaeolithic of Eurasia includes a wide range of animals without an visible hierarchy, now at the beginning of the Neolithic the anthropomorphic T-shapes are the dominating power of the spiritual world.
The Earliest Three Dimensional Depictions: Aurignacian Art from the Swabian Jura of Southwest Germany
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
11:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
Four sites in the Swabian Jura: Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels have produced a total of roughly 50 figurines from the Aurignacian dating to between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. These depictions are remarkably sophisticated and in many cases masterpieces from the Ice Age. For decades scholars argued that figurative art developed gradually. Based on new dates and the discovery of new finds in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that several classes of finds including sculptures, musical instruments, three dimensionally formed personal ornaments and mythical imagery appear rather suddenly in the course of human evolution. These innovations in symbolic representation arise in the archaeological record at the time when modern humans expanded across Europe at the expense of the indigenous Neanderthals. The best early evidence for these classes of finds comes from the excavations of the University of Tübingen in the Lone and Ach Valleys of Swabian Jura. We will address the evolutionary context in which these pictorial innovations developed and consider explanations for their success and spread.
The Earliest Three Dimensional Depictions: Aurignacian Art from the Swabian Jura of Southwest Germany
Four sites in the Swabian Jura: Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels have produced a total of roughly 50 figurines from the Aurignacian dating to between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. These depictions are remarkably sophisticated and in many cases masterpieces from the Ice Age. For decades scholars argued that figurative art developed gradually. Based on new dates and the discovery of new finds in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that several classes of finds including sculptures, musical instruments, three dimensionally formed personal ornaments and mythical imagery appear rather suddenly in the course of human evolution. These innovations in symbolic representation arise in the archaeological record at the time when modern humans expanded across Europe at the expense of the indigenous Neanderthals. The best early evidence for these classes of finds comes from the excavations of the University of Tübingen in the Lone and Ach Valleys of Swabian Jura. We will address the evolutionary context in which these pictorial innovations developed and consider explanations for their success and spread.
The Road to Iconicity in the Archaic Rock Art of the American West
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
12:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
In the Western United States, all earliest paleoart, including rock art, attributable to the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition is lumped together here as Western Archaic Tradition (WAT). Consisting of abstract-geometric designs, both painted and engraved, it is consistent with the universally observable pattern that noniconic imagery distinguishes all earliest marking traditions. While in the American West a "representational revolution" with an emphasis on lifeforms such as humans, animals, and plants is generally not found until Middle Holocene times, the first occurrences of figurative elements in WAT imagery display a seemingly restricted vocabulary of animal and bird tracks as well as human hand- and footprints. Examples of similar proto-iconic precursors in Australia and South America seem to indicate that this evolutionary path to full iconicity is also evident in other parts of the world.
The Road to Iconicity in the Archaic Rock Art of the American West
In the Western United States, all earliest paleoart, including rock art, attributable to the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition is lumped together here as Western Archaic Tradition (WAT). Consisting of abstract-geometric designs, both painted and engraved, it is consistent with the universally observable pattern that noniconic imagery distinguishes all earliest marking traditions. While in the American West a "representational revolution" with an emphasis on lifeforms such as humans, animals, and plants is generally not found until Middle Holocene times, the first occurrences of figurative elements in WAT imagery display a seemingly restricted vocabulary of animal and bird tracks as well as human hand- and footprints. Examples of similar proto-iconic precursors in Australia and South America seem to indicate that this evolutionary path to full iconicity is also evident in other parts of the world.
The ‚Birth‘ of Art: Mythos of the Origin of Art in Childhood
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
14:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
The ‚Birth‘ of Art: Mythos of the Origin of Art in Childhood
The Picture between Mirror and Mind - From Phenomenology to Empirical Studies in Pictorial Semiotics
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
14:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
Pictorial semiotics, as I understand it, is the study of the specificity of the picture sign, which involves its being a sign (like words, but unlike, for instance, perception), its being iconic, and its being, more particularly, pictorial. As I suggested on a purely phenomenological basis in Pictorial concepts (1989), there is a conflict between the sign character and iconicity: for the sign to exist, there must be a similarity but also a difference. Unaware of my writings, as I was of hers, Judy Deloache at more or less the same time started conducting a series of experiments showing the difficulty of small children for seeing, not so much the similarity, as the difference between the picture and the scene depicted. Starting out from my framework, students of primates as well as of children have since then confirmed the difficulty of discovering the difference between sign and reality, but also, more subtly, of perceiving difference and similarity at the same time, that is, the picture as a sign. I will use this example to illustrate the interaction of phenomenology and empirical work. In particular, I will suggest that revised phenomenological model of the picture sign allows us to understand the specificity of pictures, as opposed to imagery and mirrors, and this can then be researched empirically.
The Picture between Mirror and Mind - From Phenomenology to Empirical Studies in Pictorial Semiotics
Pictorial semiotics, as I understand it, is the study of the specificity of the picture sign, which involves its being a sign (like words, but unlike, for instance, perception), its being iconic, and its being, more particularly, pictorial. As I suggested on a purely phenomenological basis in Pictorial concepts (1989), there is a conflict between the sign character and iconicity: for the sign to exist, there must be a similarity but also a difference. Unaware of my writings, as I was of hers, Judy Deloache at more or less the same time started conducting a series of experiments showing the difficulty of small children for seeing, not so much the similarity, as the difference between the picture and the scene depicted. Starting out from my framework, students of primates as well as of children have since then confirmed the difficulty of discovering the difference between sign and reality, but also, more subtly, of perceiving difference and similarity at the same time, that is, the picture as a sign. I will use this example to illustrate the interaction of phenomenology and empirical work. In particular, I will suggest that revised phenomenological model of the picture sign allows us to understand the specificity of pictures, as opposed to imagery and mirrors, and this can then be researched empirically.
Starting from Scratch. The Origin and Development of Expression, Representation, and Symbolism in Human and Non-Human Primates
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
15:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
This paper compares the beginning of symbolic thought in human infancy with that of our close primate relatives, the chimpanzees. I investigate the precursors of symbolism by studying the actions and interactions of a small group of these intelligent, non-human primates who live in Singapore Zoo.<p>
Adding to my many years of studying representation and symbolism in early childhood, I will give an in-depth analysis and interpretation of the precursors of representational and symbolic thought in chimpanzees. The paper will offer evidence that the actions the chimpanzees perform have structural and semantic similarities with the actions of emergent expression and representation we find in human infancy. Of great importance is the finding that chimpanzee mark-making activity is not an artefact of human interference, but part of chimpanzee culture. Young chimpanzees seem to be introduced to acts of pretence and imagination by older and more experienced ones and taught the rudiments of expression, representation and symbolism.<p>
The implications for our understanding of symbolism, language, art and education are enormous, as are those about our origins and our place within nature. The talk will be illustrated with my drawings, photographs and movies.
Starting from Scratch. The Origin and Development of Expression, Representation, and Symbolism in Human and Non-Human Primates
This paper compares the beginning of symbolic thought in human infancy with that of our close primate relatives, the chimpanzees. I investigate the precursors of symbolism by studying the actions and interactions of a small group of these intelligent, non-human primates who live in Singapore Zoo.<p>
Adding to my many years of studying representation and symbolism in early childhood, I will give an in-depth analysis and interpretation of the precursors of representational and symbolic thought in chimpanzees. The paper will offer evidence that the actions the chimpanzees perform have structural and semantic similarities with the actions of emergent expression and representation we find in human infancy. Of great importance is the finding that chimpanzee mark-making activity is not an artefact of human interference, but part of chimpanzee culture. Young chimpanzees seem to be introduced to acts of pretence and imagination by older and more experienced ones and taught the rudiments of expression, representation and symbolism.<p>
The implications for our understanding of symbolism, language, art and education are enormous, as are those about our origins and our place within nature. The talk will be illustrated with my drawings, photographs and movies.
Dis/simulation – Inventing the Social Face
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
15:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
The human face in its natural state is a physical given fact. During his ontogenesis every individual learns to use the formal peculiarity of his face in order to develop his own identity and socialization. My talk deals with the highly complex relationship between the individual and its social face under the following aspects: How and in which stages of development the child will be aware of the malleability of its face? When does it learn to invent a ‘social face’ in order to play a perfect role for instance in achieving a goal ? In my present research I am dealing with the invented face in early modern paintings: How does art represent the invented or dissimulated social face? Which are the visual signs given by the painting that helps to differentiate between the hidden and the undisguised face?
The human face in its natural state is a physical given fact. During his ontogenesis every individual learns to use the formal peculiarity of his face in order to develop his own identity and socialization. My talk deals with the highly complex relationship between the individual and its social face under the following aspects: How and in which stages of development the child will be aware of the malleability of its face? When does it learn to invent a ‘social face’ in order to play a perfect role for instance in achieving a goal ? In my present research I am dealing with the invented face in early modern paintings: How does art represent the invented or dissimulated social face? Which are the visual signs given by the painting that helps to differentiate between the hidden and the undisguised face?
The Development of Children’s Emotional Inference Generation Skills
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
16:30 Uhr
Raum
N111
While reading a text, watching a movie or listening to an audio book the recipient is confronted with a vast amount of information that needs to be processed, linked to other relevant information and to be understood in context. Research in narrative text comprehension has shown that readers draw various kinds of inferences during reading in order to manage this information flow. While many studies examined adult’s inferences during reading, relatively little scientific information exists concerning audiovisual and auditory texts or the developmental perspective of inference generation. However, there is evidence that even five year olds make certain types of inferences when watching movies or listening to stories.<br>
Our investigations focus on the development of a certain type of inference: emotional inferences. This type of inference concerns the emotional state of the main protagonist of a story. We present the results of several of our studies that show that children from the age of four years build emotional inferences when watching movies or listening to audio books. We will also report our results concerning developmental progress, differences in presentation mode (audiovisual vs. auditory) and which of the child’s skills/characteristics influence inference generation, e.g. children’s media literacy, emotional knowledge or theory of mind.
The Development of Children’s Emotional Inference Generation Skills
While reading a text, watching a movie or listening to an audio book the recipient is confronted with a vast amount of information that needs to be processed, linked to other relevant information and to be understood in context. Research in narrative text comprehension has shown that readers draw various kinds of inferences during reading in order to manage this information flow. While many studies examined adult’s inferences during reading, relatively little scientific information exists concerning audiovisual and auditory texts or the developmental perspective of inference generation. However, there is evidence that even five year olds make certain types of inferences when watching movies or listening to stories.<br>
Our investigations focus on the development of a certain type of inference: emotional inferences. This type of inference concerns the emotional state of the main protagonist of a story. We present the results of several of our studies that show that children from the age of four years build emotional inferences when watching movies or listening to audio books. We will also report our results concerning developmental progress, differences in presentation mode (audiovisual vs. auditory) and which of the child’s skills/characteristics influence inference generation, e.g. children’s media literacy, emotional knowledge or theory of mind.
Early Pictures in Ontogeny and Phylogeny - Preiliminaries to a Comparison
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
16:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
There is a long tradition of comparing the early development of pictures in ontogeny with picture development in prehistory. However, a related uniform view determining to what extent early pictures in ontogeny and phylogeny are comparable – or if they have even developed in a parallel manner – did not emerge. There are reasons for this, and there is a demand in particular for a clarification of the criteria of such a comparison.<br>
Drawing upon extensive studies of early pictures in ontogeny – morphology, picture process, cultural comparison – the present contribution focuses on the question of a picture concept that categorically considers, indeed is based upon, the genetic character of pictures, and looks at the reliability and suitability of existing empirical fundamentals. The central theme of the illustrations is the call for a critical examination of the ‘syntactic aspect’ of pictures, combined with deliberations on the possible proximity of graphic and phonetic expressions.
Early Pictures in Ontogeny and Phylogeny - Preiliminaries to a Comparison
There is a long tradition of comparing the early development of pictures in ontogeny with picture development in prehistory. However, a related uniform view determining to what extent early pictures in ontogeny and phylogeny are comparable – or if they have even developed in a parallel manner – did not emerge. There are reasons for this, and there is a demand in particular for a clarification of the criteria of such a comparison.<br>
Drawing upon extensive studies of early pictures in ontogeny – morphology, picture process, cultural comparison – the present contribution focuses on the question of a picture concept that categorically considers, indeed is based upon, the genetic character of pictures, and looks at the reliability and suitability of existing empirical fundamentals. The central theme of the illustrations is the call for a critical examination of the ‘syntactic aspect’ of pictures, combined with deliberations on the possible proximity of graphic and phonetic expressions.
Understanding of Pictures in Early Childhood as one of the first Competences in Symbol Use
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
17:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
Human cognition is structured by the understanding and use of symbols, which enabled the human species to externalize memory content and therefore allow contrafactual and abstract thinking. This core ability called symbol understanding followed by symbol use is prerequisite to participating in social environments and producing cultural goods. The main cognitive ability in symbol understanding is to form dual representations including a symbol and the real-world referent at the same time. This cognitive ability develops between 9 and 19 months of age (DeLoache et al., 1998). Previous research results indicate that 9-month old infants use pictures in the same way how they would use real objects. This shows in actions like grasping the objects in the picture or for instance sucking at a bottle depicted. A behavioural change can be observed in 15-month-old toddlers. So besides using the depicted objects as if they were real, children start pointing at the objects. At the age of 19-months children reach the level where they begin only to point at the objects in picture. This alteration of handling pictures as symbols is a fundamental change in cognitive abilities during the development of children. But when is the cognitive architecture of children able to realize dual representations for the first time? In 2008 this question was focused in the Study Thinking in Symbols at the Chemnitz University of Technology. 92 children between 9- and 24 months were monitored while handling pictures and real objects. The habituation paradigm and the analysis of facial expressions should give answers to the question, when infants understand pictures as pictures and what parameters are responsible for the construction of dual representations.
Understanding of Pictures in Early Childhood as one of the first Competences in Symbol Use
Human cognition is structured by the understanding and use of symbols, which enabled the human species to externalize memory content and therefore allow contrafactual and abstract thinking. This core ability called symbol understanding followed by symbol use is prerequisite to participating in social environments and producing cultural goods. The main cognitive ability in symbol understanding is to form dual representations including a symbol and the real-world referent at the same time. This cognitive ability develops between 9 and 19 months of age (DeLoache et al., 1998). Previous research results indicate that 9-month old infants use pictures in the same way how they would use real objects. This shows in actions like grasping the objects in the picture or for instance sucking at a bottle depicted. A behavioural change can be observed in 15-month-old toddlers. So besides using the depicted objects as if they were real, children start pointing at the objects. At the age of 19-months children reach the level where they begin only to point at the objects in picture. This alteration of handling pictures as symbols is a fundamental change in cognitive abilities during the development of children. But when is the cognitive architecture of children able to realize dual representations for the first time? In 2008 this question was focused in the Study Thinking in Symbols at the Chemnitz University of Technology. 92 children between 9- and 24 months were monitored while handling pictures and real objects. The habituation paradigm and the analysis of facial expressions should give answers to the question, when infants understand pictures as pictures and what parameters are responsible for the construction of dual representations.
The Role of Communication in Pictorial Art
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
17:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
A picture is a visible concrete object with at least one solid flat side displaying a permanent constellation of colors and forms that causes configurations of other objects to be seen in it. Can the perception of a picture be conceived as part of an act of communication?
In the present contribution this question is answered by means of a set of distinctions based on the intentionality of pictures. Pictures as artifacts are distinguished from natural phenomena (such as a frozen water surface mirroring a building, a shadow showing the profile of a face, or a cloud embodying an animal). Among artifacts, those which have been produced to cause the perceiver to see a configuration of other objects in them (sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause such an effect accidentally (receiver pictures). Among sender pictures, those which have been produced to show this intention openly (communicative sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause the perceiver to see other objects in them but conceil this intention (manipulative sender pictures). While communicative sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content (i.e., states of affairs) as well as illocutionary forces (such as instructions, warnings, and assertions), manipulatory sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content only.
In communicative sender pictures the perceiver has to deal both with a constellation of colors and forms and with assumptions about the sender`s intention, which may contradict one another. The present contribution ends by examining the way in which such contradictions are dissolved. The result is that pictures produced for the purposes of everyday life are systematically treated in a way which is different from works of art in exactly this respect.
A picture is a visible concrete object with at least one solid flat side displaying a permanent constellation of colors and forms that causes configurations of other objects to be seen in it. Can the perception of a picture be conceived as part of an act of communication?
In the present contribution this question is answered by means of a set of distinctions based on the intentionality of pictures. Pictures as artifacts are distinguished from natural phenomena (such as a frozen water surface mirroring a building, a shadow showing the profile of a face, or a cloud embodying an animal). Among artifacts, those which have been produced to cause the perceiver to see a configuration of other objects in them (sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause such an effect accidentally (receiver pictures). Among sender pictures, those which have been produced to show this intention openly (communicative sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause the perceiver to see other objects in them but conceil this intention (manipulative sender pictures). While communicative sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content (i.e., states of affairs) as well as illocutionary forces (such as instructions, warnings, and assertions), manipulatory sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content only.
In communicative sender pictures the perceiver has to deal both with a constellation of colors and forms and with assumptions about the sender`s intention, which may contradict one another. The present contribution ends by examining the way in which such contradictions are dissolved. The result is that pictures produced for the purposes of everyday life are systematically treated in a way which is different from works of art in exactly this respect.
Speakers Dinner (Turmbrauhaus)
Datum
2011.03.31
Uhrzeit
20:30 Uhr
Raum
N112
Speakers Dinner (Turmbrauhaus)
Friday, April 1
When Do Pictures Come into Being? On the Relationship between Imagination, Empirical Knowledge, and Tradition with respect to Religious Picture Types in the Medieval Period
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
09:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
Departing from concrete examples this contribution wants to elucidate the empirical conditions for the origin of pictures, i.e., the temporal, spatial, social, emotional, and material preconditions for the creation and perception of pictures. This presupposes reflections on the phenomenology of the picture and of the various types of pictures. When does a visual image become a picture, when is it not (yet) a picture? Where exactly are the borderlines of pictures? The focus is on the numerous (particularly religious) pictures embedded in everyday life, on pictorial manifestations which are of great importance for large sections of the population. The central question is: what is the significance of collective traditions for the perception of, and the experience with, pictures by “ordinary people”?
When Do Pictures Come into Being? On the Relationship between Imagination, Empirical Knowledge, and Tradition with respect to Religious Picture Types in the Medieval Period
Departing from concrete examples this contribution wants to elucidate the empirical conditions for the origin of pictures, i.e., the temporal, spatial, social, emotional, and material preconditions for the creation and perception of pictures. This presupposes reflections on the phenomenology of the picture and of the various types of pictures. When does a visual image become a picture, when is it not (yet) a picture? Where exactly are the borderlines of pictures? The focus is on the numerous (particularly religious) pictures embedded in everyday life, on pictorial manifestations which are of great importance for large sections of the population. The central question is: what is the significance of collective traditions for the perception of, and the experience with, pictures by “ordinary people”?
Disappearance and Emergence of the Visual Language in Early Greece
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
09:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
The use of figurative images does not constitute an anthropological constant but an intrinsic element of various cultures. Whereas the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization in early Greece is an indicative of a disappearance of a differentiated visual language, the emergence of the figurative vase painting nearly ten generations later, in turn, represents an example of a new visual medium with far-reaching consequences. As far as the socio-political context is concerned it can be inferred from both cases in its fundamental principles. The purpose of this lecture deals mainly with the second case: The emergence of the figurative vase painting in the years around 760 BC in Athen in order to demonstrate the social and cultural elements that contribute to this development.
Disappearance and Emergence of the Visual Language in Early Greece
The use of figurative images does not constitute an anthropological constant but an intrinsic element of various cultures. Whereas the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization in early Greece is an indicative of a disappearance of a differentiated visual language, the emergence of the figurative vase painting nearly ten generations later, in turn, represents an example of a new visual medium with far-reaching consequences. As far as the socio-political context is concerned it can be inferred from both cases in its fundamental principles. The purpose of this lecture deals mainly with the second case: The emergence of the figurative vase painting in the years around 760 BC in Athen in order to demonstrate the social and cultural elements that contribute to this development.
Ambiguity, Perception, and the First Representations
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
10:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
Representation in pictures is regarded as a threshold event in human
history. As this ability appears to have occurred suddenly without
obvious precursors, such as in the depictions of Chauvet, this has
presented a challenge to accounts that have sought to explain
derivation. Although the status accorded to the ability to represent
objects in two-dimensions may be justified, this has tended to obscure
the precursors involved. In this respect, two dimensional
representations may be part of a suite of other closely related
abilities that exploited ambiguity in a number of different ways. It
was probably the interaction of these latter criteria which, in tandem
with the attraction to and the skills required for the production of
repetitive abstract marks, led to the appearance of two-dimensional
representation. In order to understand the processes involved in
these developments, it is necessary to consider both perceptual
mechanisms and the way the brain is organized. This presentation will
therefore show how these various factors played a crucial role in the
creation of the first two-dimensional pictures.
Ambiguity, Perception, and the First Representations
Representation in pictures is regarded as a threshold event in human
history. As this ability appears to have occurred suddenly without
obvious precursors, such as in the depictions of Chauvet, this has
presented a challenge to accounts that have sought to explain
derivation. Although the status accorded to the ability to represent
objects in two-dimensions may be justified, this has tended to obscure
the precursors involved. In this respect, two dimensional
representations may be part of a suite of other closely related
abilities that exploited ambiguity in a number of different ways. It
was probably the interaction of these latter criteria which, in tandem
with the attraction to and the skills required for the production of
repetitive abstract marks, led to the appearance of two-dimensional
representation. In order to understand the processes involved in
these developments, it is necessary to consider both perceptual
mechanisms and the way the brain is organized. This presentation will
therefore show how these various factors played a crucial role in the
creation of the first two-dimensional pictures.
Rock Art as Media: Constituting Cultural Semantics in Non-Literate, Prehistoric Cultures
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
10:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
In cultural studies oral and literal cultures are generally divided into different medial dispositions:
the transitional-performative “communicational memory” and the durative “cultural
memory” (Assmann/Livingstone 2006). Thus they deny the ability of oral cultures to memorise
semantics objectively and over long time distances (Assmann/Livingstone 2006; Assmann
1999). The German linguist Ludwig Jäger challenged the dogma that writing is the main information
memory. He beliefs cultural knowledge to be consolidated only if the durative
memory is reprocessed (transkibed) again, mainly linguistical. The central term of the his media
theory is the “recursive transcriptivity” (“rekursive Transkriptivität”, Jäger 2001, 2002a,
2002b, 2004, 2005) which describes intra- and inter-medial processes by referencing reciprocal
from media to media or from symbolic structures to symbolic structures (Jäger 2004, 3).
Jäger's theory becomes highly plausible by applying it to rock art: Depictions of musical instruments
at the Ennedi mountains (Northern Africa, roughly dated to c. 5000 to 3000 BC,
Bailloud 1997) display an auditive media symbolized in a pictorial one. Here, discrete playing
techniques, cultural contexts and belief systems are recognizable in a highly durative media.
But because the related culture has vanished, the duratively stored musical contents are not
transcribed linguistically and reprocessed in a transitional-performative way today (and vice
versa). Therefore, the prehistoric cultural semantics can only be revealed by interdisciplinary
ethnomusicological and archaeological work.
Applying “mediality” to prehistory and humanisation opens up a powerful framework for a
discussion about the human faculty of speech, music and pictorial art and the need to constitute
these abilites in terms of “culture”.
Rock Art as Media: Constituting Cultural Semantics in Non-Literate, Prehistoric Cultures
In cultural studies oral and literal cultures are generally divided into different medial dispositions:
the transitional-performative “communicational memory” and the durative “cultural
memory” (Assmann/Livingstone 2006). Thus they deny the ability of oral cultures to memorise
semantics objectively and over long time distances (Assmann/Livingstone 2006; Assmann
1999). The German linguist Ludwig Jäger challenged the dogma that writing is the main information
memory. He beliefs cultural knowledge to be consolidated only if the durative
memory is reprocessed (transkibed) again, mainly linguistical. The central term of the his media
theory is the “recursive transcriptivity” (“rekursive Transkriptivität”, Jäger 2001, 2002a,
2002b, 2004, 2005) which describes intra- and inter-medial processes by referencing reciprocal
from media to media or from symbolic structures to symbolic structures (Jäger 2004, 3).
Jäger's theory becomes highly plausible by applying it to rock art: Depictions of musical instruments
at the Ennedi mountains (Northern Africa, roughly dated to c. 5000 to 3000 BC,
Bailloud 1997) display an auditive media symbolized in a pictorial one. Here, discrete playing
techniques, cultural contexts and belief systems are recognizable in a highly durative media.
But because the related culture has vanished, the duratively stored musical contents are not
transcribed linguistically and reprocessed in a transitional-performative way today (and vice
versa). Therefore, the prehistoric cultural semantics can only be revealed by interdisciplinary
ethnomusicological and archaeological work.
Applying “mediality” to prehistory and humanisation opens up a powerful framework for a
discussion about the human faculty of speech, music and pictorial art and the need to constitute
these abilites in terms of “culture”.
Rhetoric of the Body in Images
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
11:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
The Renaissance historian Aby M. Warburg has named several bodily expressions that often appear in the art of the renaisssance "the ancient superlative of body language (Gebärdensprache)" or "Pathosformeln". For Warburg such figures were "imigrated Rhetoricians in the style of classical antiquity (eingewanderte antikische Rhetoriker)" to German art of that period. What did he mean by this? Fritz Saxl, a staff member at the 'Warburg Libraray' has taken Warburg's impulse and developed an elementary theory on the origins of gestures in images. What does such a theory have to do with rhetoric?
The Renaissance historian Aby M. Warburg has named several bodily expressions that often appear in the art of the renaisssance "the ancient superlative of body language (Gebärdensprache)" or "Pathosformeln". For Warburg such figures were "imigrated Rhetoricians in the style of classical antiquity (eingewanderte antikische Rhetoriker)" to German art of that period. What did he mean by this? Fritz Saxl, a staff member at the 'Warburg Libraray' has taken Warburg's impulse and developed an elementary theory on the origins of gestures in images. What does such a theory have to do with rhetoric?
The Images of the Dead
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
11:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
The lecture deals with early death cults in the Middle East and in the Iatmul in New Guinea. The paper attempts to show how the members make a picture of the deceased, as they celebrated the worship of the dead and interceded with the deceased. On the pictures of the deceased, for the first time in the history of the images it becomes clear that pictures are always pictures of something absent and that they are pictures for collective recollection.
The lecture deals with early death cults in the Middle East and in the Iatmul in New Guinea. The paper attempts to show how the members make a picture of the deceased, as they celebrated the worship of the dead and interceded with the deceased. On the pictures of the deceased, for the first time in the history of the images it becomes clear that pictures are always pictures of something absent and that they are pictures for collective recollection.
Death as the Origin of Images. (The Function of) Religion as a Foundational Background for the Emergence and Application of Images
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
12:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
"Death" can be described as the ultimate disruption of communication and interaction, as it is often indicated by speechlessness and similar problems. For a system of communication, death is merely a kind of handicap - a malfunction that may result in challenging or even stimulating effects. Death (whose death?) is in this respect a semiotic impetus for the development of language. Might the same be said about the origin of images?
There are a number of theoretical approaches one might adopt to argue for this claim, including Hans Belting's "anthropology of images", Georges Didi-Huberman's "symptomatological" visual studies, Bernhard Waldenfels? phenomenology, or the "negativistic" media studies of Dieter Mersch. If death does release a sort of "iconic energy",questions regarding the relevance of religion for the contexts in question isto be expected. The use and handling of images throughout Church history (especially in the field of sepulchral art) seem to confirm that expectation.
Consequently, the question of the origin of images has to be developed in a twofold perspective: in a diachronic-historical and in a synchronic-systematical way.
Death as the Origin of Images. (The Function of) Religion as a Foundational Background for the Emergence and Application of Images
"Death" can be described as the ultimate disruption of communication and interaction, as it is often indicated by speechlessness and similar problems. For a system of communication, death is merely a kind of handicap - a malfunction that may result in challenging or even stimulating effects. Death (whose death?) is in this respect a semiotic impetus for the development of language. Might the same be said about the origin of images?
There are a number of theoretical approaches one might adopt to argue for this claim, including Hans Belting's "anthropology of images", Georges Didi-Huberman's "symptomatological" visual studies, Bernhard Waldenfels? phenomenology, or the "negativistic" media studies of Dieter Mersch. If death does release a sort of "iconic energy",questions regarding the relevance of religion for the contexts in question isto be expected. The use and handling of images throughout Church history (especially in the field of sepulchral art) seem to confirm that expectation.
Consequently, the question of the origin of images has to be developed in a twofold perspective: in a diachronic-historical and in a synchronic-systematical way.
Why Pictures? Functional Hypotheses about the Emergence of Art
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
12:00 Uhr
Raum
N111
The question concerning the meaning of prehistoric art can only partly be answered because the written evidence of prehistoric art is rare. In the last 100 years, there are different hypotheses circulating concerning the issue. Inspired by different scientific disciplines and coined by the historic developments, these hypotheses catch different functional aspects of art. The presentations gives an chronological review of the important views and their authors.
Why Pictures? Functional Hypotheses about the Emergence of Art
The question concerning the meaning of prehistoric art can only partly be answered because the written evidence of prehistoric art is rare. In the last 100 years, there are different hypotheses circulating concerning the issue. Inspired by different scientific disciplines and coined by the historic developments, these hypotheses catch different functional aspects of art. The presentations gives an chronological review of the important views and their authors.
Panel Discussion - Arguments concerning Homo Pictor
Datum
2011.04.01
Uhrzeit
13:00 Uhr
Raum
N112
Panel Discussion - Arguments concerning Homo Pictor
When Do Pictures Come into Being? On the Relationship between Imagination, Empirical Knowledge, and Tradition with respect to Religious Picture Types in the Medieval Period
Why Pictures? Functional Hypotheses about the Emergence of Art
13:00 Uhr
Poster Presentation:
Klaus Bente, Alexandra Franz, Robert J. Gordon Sobott
Wolfgang Bergrande
Irena Breuer
Marcel Heinz
Martina Sauer
Tobias Schöttler
Panel 1 - Methodological Aspects of Picture Anthropology
Panel 2 - Relation between Empirical Anthropological Investigations and Synthetic Philosophical Investigations
Panel 3 - Archeological and Paleoanthropological Perspectives on the "First" Pictures
Panel 4 - Picture Competence in Developmental Psychology and the Role of Gestures and Facial Expressions
Panel 5 - Cultural Anthropology. On the Origins of Pictures and Picture-Free Societies
Lunch
Young Academics Day
Miscellaneous
Dietrich Boschung Disappearance and Emergence of the Visual Language in Early Greece
Abstract
The use of figurative images does not constitute an anthropological constant but an intrinsic element of various cultures. Whereas the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization in early Greece is an indicative of a disappearance of a differentiated visual language, the emergence of the figurative vase painting nearly ten generations later, in turn, represents an example of a new visual medium with far-reaching consequences. As far as the socio-political context is concerned it can be inferred from both cases in its fundamental principles. The purpose of this lecture deals mainly with the second case: The emergence of the figurative vase painting in the years around 760 BC in Athen in order to demonstrate the social and cultural elements that contribute to this development.
Jean Clottes Consequences of the Discovery and Study of the Chauvet Cave
Abstract
Since 1998 the Chauvet Cave is being studied by a multidisciplinary scientific team, first directed by Jean Clottes, then by Jean-Michel Geneste. The cave soon became famous because of the aesthetic quality of its art, the sophistication of its techniques (stump-drawing for internal shadind, detouring, research of spatial perspective) and its ancient age. Two main periods of frequentation by humans were evidenced, thanks to very numerous radiocarbon datings (82 in all), nearly all by accelerator. The oldest –with apparently most of the art- is dated to between 29,000 and 33,000BP (uncalibrated), i.e. to the Aurignacian, and the most recent to the Gravettian between 25,000 and 27,000BP. Converging results from various lines of research (paleontology, geology, archaeology, other dating methods) have confirmed those results. An intercomparison program was carried out on three big lumps of charcoal dated by several laboratories; the available results from 4 of them (29 dates) are coherent with again Aurignacian dates.
The aesthetic quality of such ancient images has upset our conceptions about the origins and the development of art. The long-held paradigm of art gradually developing from crude beginnings during the Aurignacian proved to be wrong. We must now admit that among Aurignacians as among their successors, there might have been great artists and also that art, all through the Palaeolithic did know -as in later times- a number of highs and lows.
Nicholas J. Conard The Earliest Three Dimensional Depictions: Aurignacian Art from the Swabian Jura of Southwest Germany
Abstract
Four sites in the Swabian Jura: Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels have produced a total of roughly 50 figurines from the Aurignacian dating to between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. These depictions are remarkably sophisticated and in many cases masterpieces from the Ice Age. For decades scholars argued that figurative art developed gradually. Based on new dates and the discovery of new finds in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that several classes of finds including sculptures, musical instruments, three dimensionally formed personal ornaments and mythical imagery appear rather suddenly in the course of human evolution. These innovations in symbolic representation arise in the archaeological record at the time when modern humans expanded across Europe at the expense of the indigenous Neanderthals. The best early evidence for these classes of finds comes from the excavations of the University of Tübingen in the Lone and Ach Valleys of Swabian Jura. We will address the evolutionary context in which these pictorial innovations developed and consider explanations for their success and spread.
Iain Davidson How Art Emerged from the Incidental Making of Signs of Hominin Activity to Become Self-Conscious Human Making of Meaning Through Signs
Abstract
In previous papers I have discussed the importance of signs of hominin activity in shaping future actions of other hominins. I argue in this presentation that in order to understand the origins of art we need to define what we mean by “art”. I define art as the marking and making of surfaces which becomes a means to mark difference and to make identity. In tracing the emergence of this practice I will look at several aspects of behaviour which contribute to what we recognise as art but are not the same as it, including Pattern, Indexicality, Design, Decoration, Display, Convention, Iconicity, Ritual and Symbol. I will consider examples of these concepts as they can be seen in the archaeological record.
Iain Davidson Panel Discussion - Arguments concerning Homo Pictor
While reading a text, watching a movie or listening to an audio book the recipient is confronted with a vast amount of information that needs to be processed, linked to other relevant information and to be understood in context. Research in narrative text comprehension has shown that readers draw various kinds of inferences during reading in order to manage this information flow. While many studies examined adult’s inferences during reading, relatively little scientific information exists concerning audiovisual and auditory texts or the developmental perspective of inference generation. However, there is evidence that even five year olds make certain types of inferences when watching movies or listening to stories.<br>
Our investigations focus on the development of a certain type of inference: emotional inferences. This type of inference concerns the emotional state of the main protagonist of a story. We present the results of several of our studies that show that children from the age of four years build emotional inferences when watching movies or listening to audio books. We will also report our results concerning developmental progress, differences in presentation mode (audiovisual vs. auditory) and which of the child’s skills/characteristics influence inference generation, e.g. children’s media literacy, emotional knowledge or theory of mind.
One difficulty in approaching a study of the origins of pictures (whether one is an evolutionary biologist, an archaeologist or prehistorian, or a researcher in child development) is that the terms “art” or even “picture” are almost axiomatically associated with the concept of “symbol.” That is, they are assumed to arise from and be dependent on a prior, broader ability to make and use symbols. I question this premise and suggest that, on the contrary, symbolic art is to be understood as a subset of a broader ability that I call artification. Artification—intentionally making parts of the natural and manmade environment (shelters, tools, utensils, weapons, clothing, bodies, surroundings, and other paraphernalia) extraordinary or special by marking, shaping, and embellishing them beyond their ordinary functional appearance—is a heretofore undescribed (or overlooked) human universal that can be considered as biologically distinctive, adaptive, and noteworthy in itself, not simply a subset or byproduct of symbolizing ability, intelligence, or cultural level. The artification hypothesis, which addresses evolutionary antecedents, evolutionary design, motivation, and adaptive advantages, provides a new direction to the study of the origins of art and picture-making in human evolution.
Harald Floss The Earliest Three Dimensional Depictions: Aurignacian Art from the Swabian Jura of Southwest Germany
Abstract
Four sites in the Swabian Jura: Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels have produced a total of roughly 50 figurines from the Aurignacian dating to between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. These depictions are remarkably sophisticated and in many cases masterpieces from the Ice Age. For decades scholars argued that figurative art developed gradually. Based on new dates and the discovery of new finds in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that several classes of finds including sculptures, musical instruments, three dimensionally formed personal ornaments and mythical imagery appear rather suddenly in the course of human evolution. These innovations in symbolic representation arise in the archaeological record at the time when modern humans expanded across Europe at the expense of the indigenous Neanderthals. The best early evidence for these classes of finds comes from the excavations of the University of Tübingen in the Lone and Ach Valleys of Swabian Jura. We will address the evolutionary context in which these pictorial innovations developed and consider explanations for their success and spread.
Helge Gerndt When Do Pictures Come into Being? On the Relationship between Imagination, Empirical Knowledge, and Tradition with respect to Religious Picture Types in the Medieval Period
Abstract
Departing from concrete examples this contribution wants to elucidate the empirical conditions for the origin of pictures, i.e., the temporal, spatial, social, emotional, and material preconditions for the creation and perception of pictures. This presupposes reflections on the phenomenology of the picture and of the various types of pictures. When does a visual image become a picture, when is it not (yet) a picture? Where exactly are the borderlines of pictures? The focus is on the numerous (particularly religious) pictures embedded in everyday life, on pictorial manifestations which are of great importance for large sections of the population. The central question is: what is the significance of collective traditions for the perception of, and the experience with, pictures by “ordinary people”?
Derek Hodgson Ambiguity, Perception, and the First Representations
Abstract
Representation in pictures is regarded as a threshold event in human
history. As this ability appears to have occurred suddenly without
obvious precursors, such as in the depictions of Chauvet, this has
presented a challenge to accounts that have sought to explain
derivation. Although the status accorded to the ability to represent
objects in two-dimensions may be justified, this has tended to obscure
the precursors involved. In this respect, two dimensional
representations may be part of a suite of other closely related
abilities that exploited ambiguity in a number of different ways. It
was probably the interaction of these latter criteria which, in tandem
with the attraction to and the skills required for the production of
repetitive abstract marks, led to the appearance of two-dimensional
representation. In order to understand the processes involved in
these developments, it is necessary to consider both perceptual
mechanisms and the way the brain is organized. This presentation will
therefore show how these various factors played a crucial role in the
creation of the first two-dimensional pictures.
The lecture deals with early death cults in the Middle East and in the Iatmul in New Guinea. The paper attempts to show how the members make a picture of the deceased, as they celebrated the worship of the dead and interceded with the deceased. On the pictures of the deceased, for the first time in the history of the images it becomes clear that pictures are always pictures of something absent and that they are pictures for collective recollection.
Ekkehard Jürgens Why Pictures? Functional Hypotheses about the Emergence of Art
Abstract
The question concerning the meaning of prehistoric art can only partly be answered because the written evidence of prehistoric art is rare. In the last 100 years, there are different hypotheses circulating concerning the issue. Inspired by different scientific disciplines and coined by the historic developments, these hypotheses catch different functional aspects of art. The presentations gives an chronological review of the important views and their authors.
In their extremely well-argued essay "Homo pictor and the Linguistic Turn" Jörg R.J. Schirra and Klaus Sachs-Hornbach show how an anthropological approach to the use of pictures may very well go hand in hand with an approach from analytical and act-theoretic philosophy. At one spectacular point, however, they still promote an anthropological dogma that makes adherents to a more radical analytic approach, i.e. a conventionalist or constructivist one – like me! – see red: They still put up "resemblance" as a necessary condition for pictorial representation.<p>
In my talk I want to remind the audience of all the usual arguments against the concept of "resemblance" – anything resembles anything else at some point or another, etc. But after that I shall (more or less reluctantly) make some concessions to the anthropological side of the discussion. Nelson Goodman famously formulated his "Seven Strictures on Similarity". Maybe we fellow and following conventionalists have to formulate some restrictions on what may function as representational conventions if pictorial communication should be possible at all.
Søren Kjørup Panel Discussion - Arguments concerning Homo Pictor
The Renaissance historian Aby M. Warburg has named several bodily expressions that often appear in the art of the renaisssance "the ancient superlative of body language (Gebärdensprache)" or "Pathosformeln". For Warburg such figures were "imigrated Rhetoricians in the style of classical antiquity (eingewanderte antikische Rhetoriker)" to German art of that period. What did he mean by this? Fritz Saxl, a staff member at the 'Warburg Libraray' has taken Warburg's impulse and developed an elementary theory on the origins of gestures in images. What does such a theory have to do with rhetoric?
The human face in its natural state is a physical given fact. During his ontogenesis every individual learns to use the formal peculiarity of his face in order to develop his own identity and socialization. My talk deals with the highly complex relationship between the individual and its social face under the following aspects: How and in which stages of development the child will be aware of the malleability of its face? When does it learn to invent a ‘social face’ in order to play a perfect role for instance in achieving a goal ? In my present research I am dealing with the invented face in early modern paintings: How does art represent the invented or dissimulated social face? Which are the visual signs given by the painting that helps to differentiate between the hidden and the undisguised face?
The most common experience with Upper Palaeolithic (parietal) art is an encounter in caves. Recently, however, consciousness is growing that a lot of art in the open may simply have fallen victim to taphonomic processes so that we do not see it any more. In this paper I want to argue that if there has been a corpus of art in caves and another corpus in the open they would have been quite distinct in context an accordingly also in meaning. Obviously light and darkness carry strongly differentiating implications. Yet it is only light that grants visual art its existence. Therefore I postulate that cave art is a narrowly specialized derivation from art in the open and to understand human picturing behaviour we have to free ourselves from the cave perspective and think about art from the "bright side".
Lambros Malafouris Learning to See: Enactive Discovery and the Prehistory of Pictorial Skill
Abstract
In this paper, I will use several archaeological and anthropological examples to propose a view of human perception as an 'open' process of active exploration and material engagement. Building upon the enactive paradigm and the hypothesis of extended mind I will be arguing that perception should be seen as the concerted embodied activity of the whole person that collapses the boundaries between the mind and the material world. Moreover, I will extend this embodied view further to argue that perception is a highly contextualized bio-cultural construct. An implication of that may be that image and perception are continuous; in changing the one you affect the other and thus you cannot understand them in isolation.
Ekkehart Malotki The Road to Iconicity in the Archaic Rock Art of the American West
Abstract
In the Western United States, all earliest paleoart, including rock art, attributable to the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition is lumped together here as Western Archaic Tradition (WAT). Consisting of abstract-geometric designs, both painted and engraved, it is consistent with the universally observable pattern that noniconic imagery distinguishes all earliest marking traditions. While in the American West a "representational revolution" with an emphasis on lifeforms such as humans, animals, and plants is generally not found until Middle Holocene times, the first occurrences of figurative elements in WAT imagery display a seemingly restricted vocabulary of animal and bird tracks as well as human hand- and footprints. Examples of similar proto-iconic precursors in Australia and South America seem to indicate that this evolutionary path to full iconicity is also evident in other parts of the world.
John S. Matthews Starting from Scratch. The Origin and Development of Expression, Representation, and Symbolism in Human and Non-Human Primates
Abstract
This paper compares the beginning of symbolic thought in human infancy with that of our close primate relatives, the chimpanzees. I investigate the precursors of symbolism by studying the actions and interactions of a small group of these intelligent, non-human primates who live in Singapore Zoo.<p>
Adding to my many years of studying representation and symbolism in early childhood, I will give an in-depth analysis and interpretation of the precursors of representational and symbolic thought in chimpanzees. The paper will offer evidence that the actions the chimpanzees perform have structural and semantic similarities with the actions of emergent expression and representation we find in human infancy. Of great importance is the finding that chimpanzee mark-making activity is not an artefact of human interference, but part of chimpanzee culture. Young chimpanzees seem to be introduced to acts of pretence and imagination by older and more experienced ones and taught the rudiments of expression, representation and symbolism.<p>
The implications for our understanding of symbolism, language, art and education are enormous, as are those about our origins and our place within nature. The talk will be illustrated with my drawings, photographs and movies.
Dieter Maurer Early Pictures in Ontogeny and Phylogeny - Preiliminaries to a Comparison
Abstract
There is a long tradition of comparing the early development of pictures in ontogeny with picture development in prehistory. However, a related uniform view determining to what extent early pictures in ontogeny and phylogeny are comparable – or if they have even developed in a parallel manner – did not emerge. There are reasons for this, and there is a demand in particular for a clarification of the criteria of such a comparison.<br>
Drawing upon extensive studies of early pictures in ontogeny – morphology, picture process, cultural comparison – the present contribution focuses on the question of a picture concept that categorically considers, indeed is based upon, the genetic character of pictures, and looks at the reliability and suitability of existing empirical fundamentals. The central theme of the illustrations is the call for a critical examination of the ‘syntactic aspect’ of pictures, combined with deliberations on the possible proximity of graphic and phonetic expressions.
While reading a text, watching a movie or listening to an audio book the recipient is confronted with a vast amount of information that needs to be processed, linked to other relevant information and to be understood in context. Research in narrative text comprehension has shown that readers draw various kinds of inferences during reading in order to manage this information flow. While many studies examined adult’s inferences during reading, relatively little scientific information exists concerning audiovisual and auditory texts or the developmental perspective of inference generation. However, there is evidence that even five year olds make certain types of inferences when watching movies or listening to stories.<br>
Our investigations focus on the development of a certain type of inference: emotional inferences. This type of inference concerns the emotional state of the main protagonist of a story. We present the results of several of our studies that show that children from the age of four years build emotional inferences when watching movies or listening to audio books. We will also report our results concerning developmental progress, differences in presentation mode (audiovisual vs. auditory) and which of the child’s skills/characteristics influence inference generation, e.g. children’s media literacy, emotional knowledge or theory of mind.
Prof. Dr. Peter Ohler Understanding of Pictures in Early Childhood as one of the first Competences in Symbol Use
Abstract
Human cognition is structured by the understanding and use of symbols, which enabled the human species to externalize memory content and therefore allow contrafactual and abstract thinking. This core ability called symbol understanding followed by symbol use is prerequisite to participating in social environments and producing cultural goods. The main cognitive ability in symbol understanding is to form dual representations including a symbol and the real-world referent at the same time. This cognitive ability develops between 9 and 19 months of age (DeLoache et al., 1998). Previous research results indicate that 9-month old infants use pictures in the same way how they would use real objects. This shows in actions like grasping the objects in the picture or for instance sucking at a bottle depicted. A behavioural change can be observed in 15-month-old toddlers. So besides using the depicted objects as if they were real, children start pointing at the objects. At the age of 19-months children reach the level where they begin only to point at the objects in picture. This alteration of handling pictures as symbols is a fundamental change in cognitive abilities during the development of children. But when is the cognitive architecture of children able to realize dual representations for the first time? In 2008 this question was focused in the Study Thinking in Symbols at the Chemnitz University of Technology. 92 children between 9- and 24 months were monitored while handling pictures and real objects. The habituation paradigm and the analysis of facial expressions should give answers to the question, when infants understand pictures as pictures and what parameters are responsible for the construction of dual representations.
Pictorial and sculptural artifacts, as part of cultural expression, are first visible in archaeological records in the Aurignacian. Even today, in spite of the long-standing research tradition in this field, the meaning of these representations and the interpretation of the surrounding context are still extremely speculative and influenced by the intuition of the researcher. This deficit is due not least to the prevalent approaches, whereby individual figures are first described in great detail and subsequently interpreted on the basis of highly personal levels of experience.
The implementation of these graphical expressions into a wider frame of human behavior in caves is still pending, although the significance of caves as spaces with frequent human activities and cave art has been stressed by several Paleolithic researchers. Research needs an integrative approach linking pictorial and sculptural artifacts with other forms of human activities embedded into the natural space of the entire cave site.
Under this perspective the well preserved cave of Tuc d'Audoubert including a diverse spectrum of prehistoric remains will be presented. The results improve the importance of such approach: cave topography, images and archaeological objects are considered as equal source of information to study human behavior in caves. This approach reveals repeated behavioral patterns and leads to a more stable fundament for the interpretation of cave art.
A picture is a visible concrete object with at least one solid flat side displaying a permanent constellation of colors and forms that causes configurations of other objects to be seen in it. Can the perception of a picture be conceived as part of an act of communication?
In the present contribution this question is answered by means of a set of distinctions based on the intentionality of pictures. Pictures as artifacts are distinguished from natural phenomena (such as a frozen water surface mirroring a building, a shadow showing the profile of a face, or a cloud embodying an animal). Among artifacts, those which have been produced to cause the perceiver to see a configuration of other objects in them (sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause such an effect accidentally (receiver pictures). Among sender pictures, those which have been produced to show this intention openly (communicative sender pictures) are distinguished from those which cause the perceiver to see other objects in them but conceil this intention (manipulative sender pictures). While communicative sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content (i.e., states of affairs) as well as illocutionary forces (such as instructions, warnings, and assertions), manipulatory sender pictures are capable of conveying propositional content only.
In communicative sender pictures the perceiver has to deal both with a constellation of colors and forms and with assumptions about the sender`s intention, which may contradict one another. The present contribution ends by examining the way in which such contradictions are dissolved. The result is that pictures produced for the purposes of everyday life are systematically treated in a way which is different from works of art in exactly this respect.
There has been a long tradition of characterizing man as the animal that talks. However, the remarkable ability of using pictures also only belongs to human beings, after all we know empirically so far. Are there conceptual reasons for that coincidence? Our talk is dedicated to a philosophical programme of concept-genetic considerations dealing in particular with the dependencies between those two abilities: The conceptual relation between the competence to use assertive language and the faculty of employing pictures must be conceived of as being much closer than usually expected. Indeed we conclude there cannot be
creatures with only one of them.
There has been a long tradition of characterizing man as the animal that talks. However, the remarkable ability of using pictures also only belongs to human beings, after all we know empirically so far. Are there conceptual reasons for that coincidence? Our talk is dedicated to a philosophical programme of concept-genetic considerations dealing in particular with the dependencies between those two abilities: The conceptual relation between the competence to use assertive language and the faculty of employing pictures must be conceived of as being much closer than usually expected. Indeed we conclude there cannot be
creatures with only one of them.
Klaus Schmidt Anthropomorphic Pillars, Various Beasts, and the Creation of Sacred Space at Göbekli Tepe (Southeastern Turkey)
Abstract
The early Holocene hunter-gatherers of Göbekli Tepe in Upper Mesopotamia confront us with the emergence of the first monumental architecture and extraordinarily rich symbolism. But Göbekli Tepe is not a place for people to live, the artificial mound consists of sanctuaries in the form of round megalithic enclosures with diameters of 10 to 30 m. The main features are the T-shaped monolithic pillars, often elusively decorated with reliefs mainly showing animals. The pillars stand in a circle, looking towards a pair of similar, but always taller pillars in the centre. At some of these pillars carved depictions of human arms and hands are visible, providing evidence that the pillars were more than mere architectural elements: These were rather sculptures representing stylised humans, the horizontal part being the head and the vertical shaft being the body and legs. The circular arrangement of the T-shapes can be understood as a meeting, the animals depicted in relief on the anthropomorphic beeings seem to be attributs belonging to them. Whereas the symbolic world of the Upper Palaeolithic of Eurasia includes a wide range of animals without an visible hierarchy, now at the beginning of the Neolithic the anthropomorphic T-shapes are the dominating power of the spiritual world.
My talk has two parts. In the first methodological part, the concept of a pictorial game is introduced and explicated. I argue for the following research strategy: In order to find the first pictures you have to look for the first pictorial games. In the second part, I offer some conjectures as to what the first pictorial games might have been like.
Göran Sonesson The Picture between Mirror and Mind - From Phenomenology to Empirical Studies in Pictorial Semiotics
Abstract
Pictorial semiotics, as I understand it, is the study of the specificity of the picture sign, which involves its being a sign (like words, but unlike, for instance, perception), its being iconic, and its being, more particularly, pictorial. As I suggested on a purely phenomenological basis in Pictorial concepts (1989), there is a conflict between the sign character and iconicity: for the sign to exist, there must be a similarity but also a difference. Unaware of my writings, as I was of hers, Judy Deloache at more or less the same time started conducting a series of experiments showing the difficulty of small children for seeing, not so much the similarity, as the difference between the picture and the scene depicted. Starting out from my framework, students of primates as well as of children have since then confirmed the difficulty of discovering the difference between sign and reality, but also, more subtly, of perceiving difference and similarity at the same time, that is, the picture as a sign. I will use this example to illustrate the interaction of phenomenology and empirical work. In particular, I will suggest that revised phenomenological model of the picture sign allows us to understand the specificity of pictures, as opposed to imagery and mirrors, and this can then be researched empirically.
Prof. Dr. Philipp Stoellger Death as the Origin of Images. (The Function of) Religion as a Foundational Background for the Emergence and Application of Images
Christa Sütterlin Prehistoric Face Representation as a Pictorial Archetype of Ahistorical Dimensions
Abstract
Early representations of human figures seem to neglect facial elaboration as a sign of personal identity. This might be explained by historico-cultural reasons of ritual veiling and disguising,(i.e. indiffernece of person) or spiritual meaning (indeternability of represented character). Rudimentary schematic representation of the human face however is not bound to prehistory, but portrays a worldwide motive of pictorial tradition up to the present in many different cultures. What can explain the persistent emblematic use of this potentially rich subject and make it seem meaningful? There is some neuropsychological evidence for selective processing of schematized human faces in the human brain and some precursors in the primate brain. The archaic type of face representation would hence be the earliest representative of a general species-specific perceptive archetype underlying the pictorial theme. And culture would take the role of a modulating selective factor in the evolution of art.
Oliver Vogels Rock Art as Media: Constituting Cultural Semantics in Non-Literate, Prehistoric Cultures
Sabine Völkel Understanding of Pictures in Early Childhood as one of the first Competences in Symbol Use
Abstract
Human cognition is structured by the understanding and use of symbols, which enabled the human species to externalize memory content and therefore allow contrafactual and abstract thinking. This core ability called symbol understanding followed by symbol use is prerequisite to participating in social environments and producing cultural goods. The main cognitive ability in symbol understanding is to form dual representations including a symbol and the real-world referent at the same time. This cognitive ability develops between 9 and 19 months of age (DeLoache et al., 1998). Previous research results indicate that 9-month old infants use pictures in the same way how they would use real objects. This shows in actions like grasping the objects in the picture or for instance sucking at a bottle depicted. A behavioural change can be observed in 15-month-old toddlers. So besides using the depicted objects as if they were real, children start pointing at the objects. At the age of 19-months children reach the level where they begin only to point at the objects in picture. This alteration of handling pictures as symbols is a fundamental change in cognitive abilities during the development of children. But when is the cognitive architecture of children able to realize dual representations for the first time? In 2008 this question was focused in the Study Thinking in Symbols at the Chemnitz University of Technology. 92 children between 9- and 24 months were monitored while handling pictures and real objects. The habituation paradigm and the analysis of facial expressions should give answers to the question, when infants understand pictures as pictures and what parameters are responsible for the construction of dual representations.
Pictorial and sculptural artifacts, as part of cultural expression, are first visible in archaeological records in the Aurignacian. Even today, in spite of the long-standing research tradition in this field, the meaning of these representations and the interpretation of the surrounding context are still extremely speculative and influenced by the intuition of the researcher. This deficit is due not least to the prevalent approaches, whereby individual figures are first described in great detail and subsequently interpreted on the basis of highly personal levels of experience.
The implementation of these graphical expressions into a wider frame of human behavior in caves is still pending, although the significance of caves as spaces with frequent human activities and cave art has been stressed by several Paleolithic researchers. Research needs an integrative approach linking pictorial and sculptural artifacts with other forms of human activities embedded into the natural space of the entire cave site.
Under this perspective the well preserved cave of Tuc d'Audoubert including a diverse spectrum of prehistoric remains will be presented. The results improve the importance of such approach: cave topography, images and archaeological objects are considered as equal source of information to study human behavior in caves. This approach reveals repeated behavioral patterns and leads to a more stable fundament for the interpretation of cave art.
Already at the very beginnings of picture production, man chiefly depicted two groups of objects: the mammal species surrounding him, and his own taxon, which is in fact a mammalian one, too. By and large the study of prehistoric art thus may be seen as principally an archeotherioiconology, i.e. the science of archeological mammal depictions. Obviously, such a discipline must be premised on the knowledge of both the humanities such as archeology and the life-sciences such as zoology. Only a multidisciplinary approach of this type ensures a sound investigation of prehistoric pictures. The paper provides some examples of recent such studies from the Ancient Orient and North Africa. They show how archeotherioiconological analyses help to reconstruct ancient mammal faunas as well as the way man managed to incorporate these animals into his world-views or early “religion”. This evidence also contributes substantially towards an understanding of cultural and ethnic history.
Christian Züchner Symbols and Signs of the Earliest Art of Ancient Europe
Abstract
From its beginnings, the earliest art of Ancient Europe was skillful, both formally and technically. Tentative, naïve attempts, whose existence has often been postulated, have not been discovered to date. The depictions are not an unreflected representation of the environment. We rather have to assume that the subjects were chosen with a certain intention because from the beginning, the animal depictions were accompanied by “abstract” symbols or signs that can be derived from real beings or objects.
Cup marks, discs, lines, grooves etc. are difficult to interpret with certainty. Counting or calendrical connotations are imaginable or even probable. A large group of complex signs in cave art can be traced back to the Venus figurines of the Gravettian, which means they have a female character. Hook and arrow signs are probably based on real weapons of the time. Hand prints give evidence of the presence of humans in a cave, but at the same time, they may also represent a more complex sign language.
The variety of subjects that were common and valid for certain time periods and across wide areas makes clear that simple, generalizing explanations do not do justice to the complexity of Paleolithic art.
Arrival at "Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof" (Marker A), 5min walk to bus stop "Theaterplatz" (Marker B), bus line 51 or E51 to bus stop "TU Campus" (7 stops, 12min drive) (Marker C)
