Center for Phenomenological Psychology and Aesthetics
The primary purpose of the Center for Phenomenological Psychology and Aesthetics is to carry out phenomenological studies of how people experience works of art. We seek to describe and understand the nature of intense experiences with art and their psychological consequences.
The aim of the Center is to carry out research within the area of phenomenological psychology with a specific focus on phenomenological aesthetics. Phenomenological psychology has soon a hundred year long history at the Department of Psychology in Copenhagen, and primary to our method is an insistence on descriptions of the appearance of the phenomenon in question in conjunction with the development of explanatory theories.
The primary purpose of the Center is to carry out phenomenological studies of how people experience works of art. We seek to describe and understand the nature of intense experiences with art and their psychological consequences. Such inquiries involve working systematically on topics such as sensation, affectivity, emotion, and perception, all deeply embedded in general and individual psychological processes.
The Center is founded to encourage a deepened understanding of art as a phenomenon which provide for personal and cultural development and enrichment.
Article in Indput by stud.psych. Casper Schact Lund:
Æstetisk erfaring og det præ-refleksive selv (in Danish).
'Studerende i Babelsbiblioteket' podcast episode with PhD student Anders Essom-Stenz
Fænomenologi og kunstoplevelser (in Danish).
Kandinsky's Swing
Chris Corcoran, composer and PhD student at Cambridge University, has created a musical piece for the conference, Moving Art, held on 31st of August and 1st of September 2018.
Listen to it here.
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
An empirical investigation in phenomenological psychology
Aesthetic experiences can be profoundly meaningful. They can offer new perspectives on the way we feel about ourselves and the world in which we live even though they can be diffuse, complex, and difficult to describe. In this project, we investigate imaginary aspects of such experiences as they unfold in the work of art. We also study how an encounter with a work of art holds the possibility of a deep experience of beauty. By empirically investigating both beauty and the imaginary via interviews in dialogue with theory, we will develop a new framework of understanding the power of art.
Funding: Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Fellowship Prize
Period: May 2020 – May 2023
Principal investigator: Associate Professor Tone Roald
Participating Researchers: PhD student Anders Essom-Stenz, PhD student Benedikte Kudahl, Research assistant Frederik M Bjerregaard-Nielsen, Research assistant Isabel Sidenius Botwel and Associate Professor Tone Roald
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE AND THE PRE-REFLECTIVE SELF
An investigation in phenomenological psychology
Art has the capacity to shape and alter who we are. As part of the research center on the psychology of aesthetics, it is the aim of this project to show how experiences with art influence the so-called “pre-reflective” part of who we are. The pre-reflective self has frequently been proposed as particularly present in experiences with art. It refers to the intertwined bodily and affective dimensions of subjectivity, and will be investigated through empirical studies at major art museums based on well-established methods in phenomenological psychology. Through qualitative descriptions of experience (obtained via interviews and observation) and theoretical analyses, we will formulate a theory about the complex combinations of movements, gestures, facial expressions, and emotions as components of aesthetic experience. This way we will explain the psychological importance of art on the pre-reflective self.
Funding: Danish Council for Independent Research
Period: March 2017 – September 2020
Principal investigator: Associate Professor Tone Roald
Participating Researchers: Associate Professor Bjarne S. Funch, Postdoc Simon Høffding, Professor Simo Køppe, Postdoc Kasper Levin, PhD student Jannik Mosekjær Hansen and Associate Professor Tone Roald
The Psychology of Artistic Creativity - An Existential-Phenomenological Study / Funch, Bjarne Sode.
Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2021.
The Subject of Aesthetics : A psychology of art and experience / Roald, Tone.
Leiden : Brill, 2015.
Art and Identity : Essays on the Aesthetic Creation of Mind / Roald, Tone (Editor); Lang, Johannes (Editor).
Amsterdam/New York : Brill | Rodopi, 2013.
Matissekapellet : Et jordisk paradis / Funch, Bjarne Sode.
Cognition in emotion : An investigation through experiences with art / Roald, Tone.
Livstemaer i eksistenspsykologisk perspektiv / Funch, Bjarne Sode (Editor); Jacobsen, Bjarne (Editor); la Cour, Peter (Editor).
København : Hans Reitzels Forlag, 2006.
Conferences
ICNAP XIV: Affect in Dialogue. A conference on phenomenology of affect
29 May - 2 June 2023
Affect has been a central theme of inquiry throughout the history of phenomenology. As the colouring of our experiences, it relates to aesthetics, ethics, psychopathology, social justice and many other areas of investigation. Submission of abstracts and registration are now open for the 2023 international conference on the phenomenology of affect hosted by Center for Phenomenological Psychology and Aesthetics.
See more information here: https://eventsignup.ku.dk/icnap2023/conference
Moving Art
This conference was held on the 31st of August-1st of September 2018 and was about psychological consequences of aesthetic experiences. Guest speakers were Professors Brian Massumi (University of Montreal), Erin Manning (Concordia University) Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (Stanford University), Mark Freeman (College of the Holy Cross) and Richard Shusterman (Florida Atlantic University).
Art & Identity
This conference was held on 7th-8th of May, 2010 and was about how art affects identity. Guest speakers were Professors Ciarán Benson (University College Dublin), Andrew Bowie (University of London), Gerald Cupchik (University of Toronto), Judy Gammelgaard (University of Copenhagen), Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (Stanford University) and Mark Johnson (University of Oregon).
Activities
PhD Course in Phenomenological Psychology
Tone Roald (Organizer)
7 - 9 June 2022
Seminar on Reading Experiences with Professor Rita Felski (University of Virginia)
Lea Isabel Sidenius (Organizer)
31 May 2022
Seminar on the experience of beauty in art with Professor Frederick Wertz (Fordham University)
Tone Roald (Organizer)
14 December 2021
Seminar on the imaginary with Professor Frederick Wertz (Fordham University)
Tone Roald (Organizer)
12 December 2021
Seminar on beauty and the imaginary with Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (Stanford University)
Tone Roald (Organizer)
1 December 2021
Seminar with cand.psych. Kirsten Bertelsen on aesthetic experiences and participatory art
Anders Essom-Stenz (Organizer)
24 August 2020
Seminar with Dr. Joel Kruger on music and empathy
Tone Roald (Organizer)
9 January 2020
Seminar with Jörgen Pind on Edgar Rubin
Bjarne Sode Funch (Organizer)
PhD course: Descriptive phenomenology. Theory and Method
Tone Roald (Organizer)
28 - 30 October 2019
Seminar with Dr. Frederick Wertz on Phenomenological Psychology
Tone Roald (Organizer)
6 September 2019
Seminar with artist Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld on affect and time
Tone Roald (Organizer)
24 May 2019
Seminar with Associate Professor Susanne Ravn on Qualitative methods
Tone Roald (Organizer)
4 November 2018
Aesthetics seminar with Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht
Tone Roald (Organizer)
4 - 6 September 2018
Swing Psychology: Empirically assessing aesthetic issues in swing music performance. Talk by composer and ph.d.-student Chris Corcoran
Simon Høffding (Organizer)
25 April 2018
Phenomenological and Qualitative Psychological Research. Talk by Professor James Morley & Associate Professor Magnus Englander
Tone Roald (Organizer)
2 March 2018
Recognizing motives. Talk by Professor Morten Nissen
Tone Roald (Organizer)
29 November 2017
Seminar with Assistant Professor Gonzalo Obelleiro on John Dewey's Art as experience
Simon Høffding (Organizer)
28 November 2017
The primacy of movement. Seminar with Courtesy Professor Maxine Sheets-Johnstone
Tone Roald (Organizer)
21 September 2015
Presence. Talk by Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht
Tone Roald (Organizer)
8 May 2015
The embodied mind. Talk by Professor Mark Johnson
Tone Roald (Organizer)
2 March 2015
Aesthetics of the embodied mind. Seminar with Professor Mark Johnson
Tone Roald (Organizer)
2015
Research staff at the center
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Tone Roald Associate Professor tone.roald@psy.ku.dk Phone: +45 35 32 48 47 Orcid: 0000-0002-0932-6934 |
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Simo Køppe Professor simo.koeppe@psy.ku.dk Phone: +45 35 32 48 72 |
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Bjarne Sode Funch Affiliate Professor bjarne.sode.funch@psy.ku.dk Phone: +45 35 33 53 58 Orcid: 0000-0002-8999-5299 |
| Benedikte Kudahl Postdoc bku@psy.ku.dk |
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| Siyuan Liu PhD student sli@psy.ku.dk |
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Lea Isabel Sidenius Research assistant isabel.sidenius@psy.ku.dk |
Collaborators
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Birgit Ærenlund Bundesen Chief physician and Director of Center for Art and Mental Health |
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João Pedro Fróis Senior Researcher Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal simurg@mail.telepac.pt |
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Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Professor Department of Comparative Literature Stanford University |
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Mark Johnson Professor Department of Philosophy University of Oregon |
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Albert A. Johnstone Courtesy Professor Department of Philosophy University of Oregon |
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Inge Merete Kjeldgaard Director of Esbjerg Art Museum |
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James Morley Professor of Clinical Psychology Ramapo College, |
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Mette Houlberg Rung Kunstformidler Statens Museum for Kunst |
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Richard Schusterman Professor Department of English Florida Atlantic University |
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Maxine Sheets-Johnstone Courtesy Professor Department of Philosophy University of Oregon |
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Frederick Wertz Professor Department of Psychology Fordham University |