Welcome everyone to the last New Media Doctoral Seminar of the year!

Thursday 12.12.2019 / 16:30-19:30 / Väre / R113

PRESENTATIONS:

Virtual Embodiment and the Transformation of the Self

Daniel Landau

Abstract:

Self-reflection is the capacity of humans to exercise introspection and the willingness to learn more about their fundamental nature, purpose, and essence. Between the internal process of Self-reflection to the external observation of one’s reflection – runs a thin line marking the relationship between the private-self and the public-self.

From Narcissus’s pond, through reflective surfaces and mirrors, to current day selfies, the concepts of self, body-image and self-awareness have been strongly influenced by the human interaction with physical reflections. In fact, one can say that the evolution of technologies reproducing images of ourselves has played a major role in the evolution of the Self as a construct. With the current wave of Virtual-Reality (VR) technology making its early steps as a consumer product, we set out to explore the new ways in which VR technology may impact our concept of self and self-awareness. ‘Self Study’ aims to critically explore VR as a significant and novel component in the history and tradition of the complex relationship between technology and the Self.

Bio:

Daniel Landau – is a media artist, researcher, and lecturer. He is the founder and co-director of the Mediated Body Lab at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.  The lab’s activities reside at the intersection of Art, Science, and Technology – critically exploring the Human-Technology co-evolution.

Daniel’s work has been presented in major venues, museums, and festivals worldwide. He was recently invited to teach at UCLA’s Media Arts department and he is currently a Doctoral candidate at Aalto University’s Media Lab.

Guest lecture: 

Using VR to build an empathic brain in times of Conflict

Johnathan Levi

Bio:

Yoni (Jonathan) Levy is a social neuroscientist at Aalto University and in IDC Herzliya.

He studies mechanisms in our brain that govern the way we perceive and relate to social groups, for instance, Locals vs Immigrants, Israelis vs Palestinians, Rightists vs Leftists.