Renowned Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio to Visit REDCAT to Discuss 'Art and the Conscious Brain', 3/3

On Monday, March 3, 2010, internationally renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio visits REDCAT to discuss what we now know about the emotions and the conscious mind, particularly as both relate to creativity and the arts. The event begins at 8:30 pm.

In a lecture introduced by CalArts President Steven D. Lavine, Damasio sheds light on the relationship between reason and emotion and the nature of creativity which has remained a mystery for millennia. As founding director of USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, Damasio has been employing state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques as well as developing new research methods in collaboration with artists and social scientists to elucidate the neural basis of the emotions and the central role of emotions in social cognition and decision-making.

Wednesday, March 3 at 8:30 pm
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater
631 W Second Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tickets: $10 [Students $5]
213-237-2800 or www.redcat.org

ABOUT ANTONIO DAMASIO

Damásio was born in Lisbon and studied medicine at the University of Lisbon Medical School in Portugal, where he also did his medical residency rotation and completed his doctorate. Later, he moved to the United States as a research fellow at the Aphasia Research Center in Boston. His work there on behavioral neurology was done under the supervision of Norman Geschwind.

As a researcher, Dr. Damásio's main interest is the neurobiology of the mind, especially neural systems which subserve memory, language, emotion, and decision-making. His research has helped to elucidate the neural basis for the emotions and has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. Damásio has formulated the somatic markers hypothesis.

As a clinician, he and his collaborators study and treat the disorders of behavior and cognition, and movement disorders.

Damásio's books deal with the relationship between emotions and feelings, and what their bases are in the brain. His 1994 book, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain, was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and is translated in over 30 languages. His second book, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, was named as one of the ten best books of 2001 by New York Times Book Review, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and has thirty foreign editions. Damásio's most recent book, Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, was published in 2003. In it, Damásio explores philosophy and its relations to neurobiology, suggesting that it might provide guidelines for human ethics.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Damásio has received many awards including the Prince of Asturias Award in Science and Technology, Kappers Neuroscience Medal, the Beaumont Medal from the American Medical Association and the Reenpaa Prize in Neuroscience. He is also in the editorial board of many important journals in the field.

ABOUT REDCAT

Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT)
Opened by CalArts in 2003, REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse. For more information, visit www.redcat.org.