Anders Essom-Stenz defends his PhD thesis

Anders Essom Stenz. Foto: Privat.

Title

'Imagination, subjectivity and visual art: A study in phenomenological psychology'.

Time and place

11th October 2023 at 2 pm (CEST).

The defence will take place in Auditorium 1, The Faculty Library, Gothersgade 140, 1353 Copenhagen.

Assessment committee

  • Professor Brady Wagoner, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chair)

  • Professor Lene Tanggaard, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark

  • Professor emeritus Frederick Wertz, Department of Psychology, Fordham University, United States

Supervisors

  • Associate Professor Tone Roald, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 

Abstract

This thesis explores imagination's workings, structures, and meanings as it takes part in visual art experiences within the framework of phenomenological psychology. The thesis draws from interviews as well as phenomenological theory, especially the work of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Mikel Dufrenne and Edward Casey. The study is developed on the assumption that visual art experiences provide a well-suited space for studying the workings of imagination. It is shown that visual art experiences are characterized by going beyond the concrete art artifact, thereby showing the dynamics between the real and the imaginative. This dynamic is especially evident within the aesthetic domain, but also characterizes the way that we apprehend ourselves and the world in general. Specifically, imagination is shown to be structured in three distinct variations, each contributing to form coherent imaginary structures or 'worlds' that influence the subjective meaning of a visual art experience. Thus, the study places imagination within the heart of aesthetics and provides arguments why imaginings are phenomena that hold a central position within the field of psychology.