Kinæsthetic Empathy
In the last weeks I am working on an essay on Cinematic Empathies, in which I try to trace the theoretical roots of kinaesthetic empathy in the film experience (reading Freeburg, Epstein, Balázs, Arnheim, Eisenstein, and Michotte). This essays will be published as a chapter of refereed book Kinesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices, edited by Matthew Reason and Dee Reynolds. The book is related to the Kinesthetic Empathy: Concepts and Contexts, organized by The Watching Dance Project team and held at University of Manchester on 22-23 April 2010. The conference aimed to “bring together researchers and practitioners in fields including neuroscience, dance, film, music, and contemporary embodied practices, to explore the nature and role of kinesthetic empathy. The conference provided a focus for “the growing body of research and the increasing number of scholars and practitioners who are engaging with kinesthesia, empathy and kinesthetic empathy as pivotal concepts across different disciplines and media. This impetus is connected with current concern with ‘affect’ as an object of enquiry, interrogation of notions of presence, embodiment and the senses, re-examination of phenomenology, and widespread interest in neuroscientific investigation (notably in the ‘mirror neuron’ system).” Videos of keynote speeches and delegate contributions can be watched at this web page.