Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organiser of major conference
Description
How much control do we exercise over our thoughts, behaviours and actions? Join historians, psychologists and artists for a day-long event that traces the connections between power, self-control and agency by examining the automatic and unwilled aspects of human experience.
Automatism, the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention, has been held by some as a route to the more obscure regions of the mind, others have recognised paranormal and spiritual potentials in automatic states, and through history writers and artists have experimented with the unique creative promise of automaticity. Discussing the history of techniques like mesmerism and hypnotism, alongside contemporary research, this symposium investigates the questions of suggestion and volition in regard to our perceptions, emotions and memories.
This event is produced in collaboration with historian and curator Elsa Richardson.