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CALL for PARTICIPATION

AN INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM :



The Arts in the context of today's Darwinian Theory of Evolution



Dates : Marseille, France, Oct 22-24 2009

Proposals : Abstracts due March 31 2009, 400 words plus cv
to e-mail address : [log in to unmask]

or at postal address :

MIM

Cité de la musique – 4, rue Bernard du Bois

BP 62042

F-13201 MARSEILLE cedex 1





Colloquium organized by MIM and in partnership with IMéRA,
LEONARDO/Olats, Alphabetville and ZINC-ECM



Since its publication, Darwin's Origin of the Species, has
been widely debated in its cultural context. In this
colloquium we wish to re examine cultural activity and the
arts in the context of the Theory of Evolution as it is
understood today. We solicit proposed papers from
scientists, artists and composers, scholars in the
humanities and social sciences.



Invited Speakers Include:



Jean-Pierre Changeux in his book "Raison et Plaisir "
(Reason and pleasure) published in 1994  by Odile Jacob
suggested a Darwinian theory of pictorial creation and of
the way paintings are perceived. The brain of an artist
creates shapes, colors, gestures, etc.and only survive those
shapes etc which can enter long-term memory. This
combination of chance and survival are characteristic of a
Darwinian theory. Those elements which survive are called
memes. The memes of an artist constitute his style…when they
are shared by several artists they constitute an artistic
movement…



Another approach is espoused by Dominique Lestel who argues
that cultural activity is not specific to humans but emerges
progressively during the evolution of life forms. In books
such as Les origines animales de la culture, Flammarion,
2001 - L'animal singulier, Seuil 2004 he examines the
origins, nature and evolutionary effects of cultural
activity in non humans.



Another evolutionary theory of artistic creation has been
developed by Pierre Mounoud and Jacques Mandelbrojt  who
analysed artistic creation with the concepts of assimilation
and accommodation introduced by Piaget both to describe the
evolution of living organisms in their environment and the
evolution of science.


MIM has been developing for several years research on the
shortest element of music able to transmit a meaning such an
element is called a UST (Semantic Time Unit). A piece of
music can in general be analysed as a succession of such
units, each one lasting a few seconds.A composer usually has
preference for certain USTs which he uses in his
compositions.USTs can be considered as musical memes .
Several composers and members of MIM will present including:
Marcel Fremiot, composer and musicologist, Martine
Timsit-Berthier, psychophysiologist, Philippe Bootz (poet,
specialized in Hypermedia, Maitre de Conference University
of Paris 8). Frank Dufour (Member of MIM, Assistant
Professor at the Sound Design Department of the University
of Texas, Dallas USA) autres noms ?



Authors interested in presenting a paper should send an
abstract of no more than 400 words together with a link to
their CV by March 31, 2009 to e-mail address :
[log in to unmask]

or postal address :

MIM

Cité de la musique – 4, rue Bernard du Bois

BP 62042

13201 MARSEILLE cedex 1

Proposals for video presentation will be considered

Presentation may be in French or English. Presentation in
English should be accompanied by a full written translation
in French

Further details on the symposium can be found at
http://www.labo-mim.org



Scientific Committee :

Jacques Mandelbrojt, physicien-théoricien, plasticien, MIM

Roger Malina, directeur de recherche CNRS (Laboratoire
d'Astrophysique de Marseille), rédcteur en chef de la revue
Leonardo

Emmanuel Girard-Reydet, IMéRA

Marcel Formosa, compositeur, MIM

Marcel Frémiot, compositeur, musicologue, MIM



Free registration.

====
Paul Brown - based in the UK Aug-Dec 2008
mailto:[log in to unmask] == http://www.paul-brown.com
UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
Skype paul-g-brown
====
Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====