Search Results (27)

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education offers novel opportunities to enhance critical thinking while also posing challenges to independent cognitive development. In particular, Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) in education aims to enhance human experience by providing a supportive and collaborative learning environment. Rather than replacing the educator, HCAI serves as a tool that empowers both students and teachers, fostering critical thinking and autonomy in learning. This study investigates the potential for AI to become a collaborative partner that assists learning and enriches academic engagement. The research was conducted during the 2024–2025 winter semester within the Pedagogical and Teaching Sufficiency Program offered by the Audio and Visual Arts Department, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece. The research employs a hybrid ethnographic methodology that blends digital interactions—where students use AI tools to create artistic representations—with physical classroom engagement. Data was collected through student projects, reflective journals, and questionnaires, revealing that structured dialog with AI not only facilitates deeper critical inquiry and analytical reasoning but also induces a state of flow, characterized by intense focus and heightened creativity. The findings highlight a dialectic between individual agency and collaborative co-agency, demonstrating that while automated AI responses may diminish active cognitive engagement, meaningful interactions can transform AI into an intellectual partner that enriches the learning experience. These insights suggest promising directions for future pedagogical strategies that balance digital innovation with traditional teaching methods, ultimately enhancing the overall quality of education. Furthermore, the study underscores the importance of integrating reflective practices and adaptive frameworks to support evolving student needs, ensuring a sustainable model. Full article

Drawing from the philosophies of pragmatism and somaesthetics, as developed by Richard Shusterman, this inquiry argues that performance holds a unique ontological status, one that emphasizes participation, shared meaning making, and the aesthetic qualities of ordinary, lived experience. As a philosopher trained as a dancer, I share some insights from my own experience as a performer offering a first-person aesthetic experience as a tool for conceptual inquiry. This experience allows the inquiry to explore the distinction between “scene” and “spectacle”, positioning the scene as a space of co-creation, in contrast to the distant, objectifying gaze encouraged by spectacle. By examining participatory projects and firsthand artistic experiences, I try to illustrate how performance can dissolve the boundaries between art and life, proposing a model of art that is shared, embodied, deeply connected to the rhythms of the everyday and gives foundation to a political transformation. Full article

The article examines my artist’s struggle for inner freedom in practice-led artistic research through the medium of drawing. This inquiry, framed within a Catholic perspective, investigates the idea that the quest for inner freedom is vital for artistic work that aims to create and communicate the ineffable. This article focuses on my strive to reach deeper levels of spiritual experience and to work from that state of consciousness. I explore the artist’s role as a mediator, connecting the invisible, intuitively understood dimensions, and making them visible through artistic creations. I conducted research by closely observing the artmaking process and the conditions in which it is undertaken. Research methodologies specific to the artistic field (visual arts) and the qualitative narrative research method were predominantly used. The process of preparation for the drawing by engaging in contemplative practice is also a subject of inquiry. The article highlights contemplative practices as tools for achieving inner freedom and unlocking creative potential. Full article

Meteorites have intrigued humanity for centuries, representing our enduring pursuit of knowledge and exploration of the cosmos’ enigmas. These celestial objects have not only influenced artistic expression and the formation of myths but have also fostered scientific inquiry. In this regard, meteorites are crucial to space research, offering valuable information about the early solar system, the formation of planets, and the development of organic compounds. Their analysis aids in deciphering cosmic processes and identifying resources that may support future space missions, making them essential for advancing planetary sciences. Meteorites are also cultural heritage items, with most known samples preserved in natural history museums. This paper deals with the Martian meteorites collected to date, focusing on NWA 16788, the largest individual Martian meteorite recovered so far. Full article

This review explores how intuitive processes drive innovation, which we define as novel ideas, inventions, or artistic creations that cannot be logically derived from existing knowledge or sensory data. Although intuitive processes are not yet fully recognized as a formal area of scientific research, this paper examines current approaches to their study and modeling. It highlights the necessity of integrating unconventional modeling methods with neuroscience to gain deeper insights into these processes. Key experimental studies investigating extrasensory abilities—such as remote viewing, precognition, and telepathy—are reviewed, emphasizing their potential relevance to innovation. We propose that combining these unconventional modeling approaches with insights from systems neurology can provide new perspectives on the neural mechanisms underpinning intuition and creativity. This review emphasizes the critical need for further research into intuitive processes to address complex global challenges. It calls for a more open, interdisciplinary approach to scientific inquiry, promoting the exploration of unconventional forms of knowledge generation and their neural correlates. Full article

In the mid-seventeenth century, Chinese Chan master Yinyuan Longqi 隱元隆琦 (Jp. Ingen Ryūki, 1592–1673), accompanied by several disciples, traveled to Japan and established Ōbaku Zen, a new sect of Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan. Ōbaku art, particularly portrait paintings of Ōbaku abbots and their spiritual predecessors, became critical representations of the sect and greatly influenced later Japanese Buddhist art. While much of the existing scholarship focuses on the artistic and stylistic aspects of Ōbaku portraiture, this paper emphasizes its religious context and doctrinal dimensions. Building on Elizabeth Horton Sharf’s inquiry into the “meaning and function” of Ōbaku portrait painting, the paper investigates how Ōbaku doctrine is expressed through these images. Using the Triptych of Three Zen Masters: Linji, Bodhidharma, and Deshan as a case study, this paper explores the role of portraiture in visually conveying Ōbaku teachings and the religious aspirations of those Chinese immigrant monks. By examining the integration of image, inscription, and seal as a unified “pictorial trinity”, the paper argues that Ōbaku portraiture embodies the sect’s distinct doctrine, rooted in Ming-era Chan practices such as beating, shouting, and strict dharma transmission. Moreover, the prominence of Bodhidharma in Ōbaku portraits, as illustrated in the triptych, reflects these Chinese immigrant monks’ desire to emulate Bodhidharma in spreading the dharma and expanding their sect’s influence in a new land. Full article

Approaches that are transdisciplinary and participatory can help to address complex socio-ecological issues by integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives while taking into account the different needs and experiences of community members and other stakeholders. Despite this promise, such approaches are rarely applied within the scientific community, as researchers and public actors often lack the training, practice and reference cases required to handle the working relationships and translations of terminology, ideas and values across multiple bodies of knowledge. A case study described in this manuscript depicts a group of researchers, artists and citizens consciously engaged in the construction of a transdisciplinary process as part of a 40-day ‘citizen science’ experiment focussed on assessing soil fertility in the urban area of Milan, Italy. The group drew from recognised scientific approaches, applied agronomic methodologies, artistic practices and technological tools, integrating them into a hybrid process of collective and participatory inquiry. As a quantitative outcome of the experiment, a dataset of bio-chemical parameters was generated, which was enriched by agronomic interpretations but also by artistic and reflective materials. Importantly, the process developed transdisciplinary and participatory skills, as it created a potentially replicable procedure of engagement, analysis and presentation for use in other citizen science settings. This article presents the context, the multiple objectives of the research and the applied approach and its timeline. Described in detail are the process of designing and conducting the experiment by involving an extended research community—including both junior and senior researchers—in progressive steps. Quantitative and qualitative results are provided. The findings are meant to contribute case material and methods to inform the advancement of transdisciplinary research approaches within the scientific community as well as examples of ways to transcend the boundaries of science to include artists and community stakeholders. The aspiration is to inform and inspire concrete application of transdisciplinary and participatory methods in concert to address complex socio-environmental challenges. Full article

We argue that an epistemology of martial arts is at least as complex as advanced epistemological positions available to the philosophy of science. Part of the complexity is a product of the epistemic relation between the knower and known, or the scientist and the object of inquiry. In science, we measure things without changing them and, sometimes, complex systems can change as we measure them; but, in the epistemology of sport that we are interested in, each measurer is also an object of inquiry. As such, each martial arts practitioner has to use various epistemic tools to measure a responsive system. We proceed in three steps. First, we discuss three epistemological frameworks in the philosophy of science—perspectivism, productivism, and distributed cognition. Second, we develop an epistemology of martial arts that features components from each of those epistemic frameworks. Third, we close the paper with a brief discussion about the unique complexity available to the martial artist, focusing on the responsive measurements that occur between two systems. Full article

This article explores the implementation of Connected Art Practice in diverse learning environments, serving as an immersive entry point for students and researchers to develop collaborative transdisciplinary skills. This innovative approach integrates audio, educational, and sustainability research, employing sound-interaction methods applied to tangible objects. Participants engage in exploring the interplay between objects representing interests or values, fostering the creation of a visual and linguistic network of interconnectedness. Inspired by artistic research, particularly Dérive, the practice provides experiences of connectedness to others and the environment, intertwined with reflections and discussions that foster a community of inquiry. This community collaboratively designs shared practices or projects, encouraging a holistic approach to transformative learning, addressing heterogeneity, complexity, authenticity, critical awareness, and emotional connectedness. All three case studies utilized qualitative analysis in artistic and academic settings. Datasets were collected in case study two from group discussion, participant observation, press releases and documentary photographs. In case studies one and three, audio–visual recordings, participant observation, field notes, and photo-documentation were collected. This study demonstrates that “Connected Art Practice” enhances competences in artistic expression, communication, and collaboration across disciplinary, social, and cultural boundaries. Specifically, it contributes to creative reinvention, personal sharing, self-reflection, and the capacity to co-design diverse projects. The paper concludes by discussing findings and pointing out the essential qualities of Connected Art, providing insights and resources for educational and research institutions seeking to foster transdisciplinary engagement and transformative learning in their curricular activities. Full article

The inquiry into whether food can be classified as “art” has long been a subject of debate. From its roots tracing back to Plato, this question has attracted the attention of both artistic movements and philosophers, especially throughout the twentieth century. In this paper, I aim to revisit this contentious issue by exploring the realm of pastry making as a form of art. Within the broader discourse on this topic, pastry emerges as a distinctive medium. Since sweets have historically transcended their mere nutritive functions, pastry may establish an immediate connection between art and food. Simultaneously, it reiterates the persistent challenges of encompassing the edible domain within conventional aesthetic theories. Throughout various contexts and periods, confectionery has evolved through the reproduction or imitation of visual arts, often reflecting the prevailing artistic climate of its flourishing periods. Moreover, due to its intimate association with rituals and celebratory occasions, pastry carries a profound cognitive and metaphorical framework that enhances its expressive potential, capturing the attention of many artists. By exploring the intersection of pastry and various artistic genres, drawing on illustrative examples ranging from modern European pièce montées to American cake design and Japanese wagashi, I critically examine the possibility and potential aesthetic qualities of this marginal genre, thereby opening up broader inquiries into the loose categorizations and fluctuations within the intricate domain of art. Full article

In this essay, I discuss the art of Missionary Mary Proctor, a contemporary folk artist from Tallahassee, Florida, in the context of the literary aesthetics of the renowned twentieth-century anthropologist and writer Zora Neale Hurston. In comparing these Southern-born African American women artists, I argue that both are rooted in an aesthetic praxis deriving from their shared womanist ethics. My goal in this inquiry is to highlight the faith-based aesthetic traditions of African American women and reveal the manner in which discourses of freedom intertwine with literary and visual aesthetics and faith-based practices in African American folk art and literature. To that end, I analyze the prevalence of themes of liberation within the spiritual discourses of Southern African American women artists such as Missionary Mary Proctor and theorize the manner in which a landscape of Black female liberation is envisioned within their works. Full article

The article investigates attempts in contemporary art to convey transcendent realities through the lens of the artist. This study examines three key moments of the artistic creative process: intuition, asceticism, and silence. The article assesses silence or stillness as a specific mental state that enables us to evaluate reality with a heightened awareness of our own length, fragility, and the infinite that awaits us on the other side of existence. In artistic practice, silence is a prerequisite for authenticity, believability, and creativity. The article explores the possibility of uncovering and revealing the transcendent via matter through the author’s own artistic inquiry. It discusses art as a master of transforming material, psychological, and physical facts into shapes that hint at what is beyond what the eye or ear can perceive. Art can lead to the sublime and open the mind, eyes, and heart to that which is beyond. The expression of the transcendent through artistic action is observed by analyzing the relationship between the artist and intuitive knowledge in the artistic practices of contemporary and modern artists. Along with the qualitative method of narrative research, research methodologies specific to the artistic field (visual arts) were predominately used, expanding the boundaries of qualitative research by taking a holistic approach closer to the very nature of the artistic process and allowing for a more complete understanding of the process itself. Full article

The topics of intergenerational trauma, resilience, and wellbeing as they relate to forced migration are receiving more attention in the arts and health literature. Yet, we know very little about how refugee-background young adults manage their psychosocial wellbeing when they grow up surrounded by stories of conflict, loss, and trauma. Achol has been writing poetry to represent and amplify the narratives of those around her (parents, family, and the South Sudanese community in Sydney, Australia). These stories are central elements of her lived experience and the diverse experiences of her community. Using collaborative poetic inquiry, this paper identifies key themes in one of her poems, My dad was, is a soldier, to illustrate how poetry is an important artistic mode of expression that can improve our understanding of intergenerational trauma, resilience, and wellbeing. Rather than conveying interview data through research poems, we place Achol’s poem at the centre of our collaborative poetic inquiry to gain new insights into refugee lived experiences. This paper contributes to contemporary debates on how artistic means enrich our knowledge of psychosocial wellbeing through trauma-informed, culturally safe, and decolonial research methods. Full article

In response to the absence of a critical discussion of race within his historiography, this essay focuses on José Campeche (1751–1809) as an artist of African descent and argues that the socially and culturally inscribed constructs of race and Campeche’s lived experiences of them in late eighteenth-century Puerto Rico shaped and informed his participation in the arts. Campeche lived both as an artist and as a free man of color within a racialized colonial society, and as such, inquiries regarding how race affected Campeche’s life and artistic practice, and particularly how his immersion in the community of free people of color in San Juan possibly impacted the manner in which he was trained and worked, allow for a more comprehensive understanding of his art production. Using comparable examples of African descendant artists and artisans active in other colonial centers, such as Mexico City and Havana, this article elucidates connections between Campeche’s socioracial reality, his artistic career, and his work through an examination of the relationship between race and art making in Puerto Rico, the broader Caribbean region, and the greater Spanish Empire during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This analysis of Campeche’s career and work prompts new questions about the artist that have not been asked in previous scholarship, such as how the structures of race would have defined his position and interactions within colonial society and also how his complex multiracial identity may have allowed him access to the different kinds of artistic exposure, training, and opportunities he likely had in San Juan. Full article

Since the nineteenth century, the history of colonial Brazilian art has highlighted the work of Afro-Brazilian men, specifically those with a white father and Black or parda mother. Antonio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho, is the subject of countless books, exhibitions, television shows, and films. In addition to such famous men, dozens of other Afro-Brazilian artists are known and much scholarship has examined iconography and style with ties to African cultures. This extensive and important work has led to major exhibitions demonstrating Afro-Brazilian contributions as central to Brazil’s past and present. Although intended as celebratory, the language and framing structures scholars use to discuss Afro-Brazilian artists from the colonial period are founded in white supremacy. The conception of Brazil as a nation where everyone is of mixed race, and therefore devoid of racism, is partly responsible for Aleijadinho’s fame. This essay will clarify how this narrative of harmonious racial mixing and the focus on the visibly African perpetuates white supremacist interpretations of colonial Brazilian art and limits the study of Afro-Brazilian artists’ work. I will propose ways to reframe workshop practice and improve connoisseurship using, among other cases, the lawsuit directed toward the white painter Manoel da Costa Ataíde that named the Afro-Brazilian artists who created one of his commissions. The essay builds on existing scholarship, acknowledging the violence of enslaving artists and promoting lines of inquiry that consider the agency and cultural positioning of Afro-Brazilian artists and patrons as subtle, ubiquitous, and heterogeneous. Full article