Your Brain on Art | UPenn's Anjan Chatterjee on the neuroscience behind artistic experiences

The Art and Happiness Project

"It's not obvious how or why art meets a need. We don't eat it, we don't have sex with it. Yet we are drawn to it and we've been making art since the begining of civilization"

Today's guest is Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, Neurology professor at the University of Pennlysvania. He is a prominent neurologist, former Chief of Neurology at the Pennsylvania Hospital. He is currently the founder and director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, which studies the neural impact of aesthetic and artistic experiences.

In his book “The Aesthetic Brain: how we evolved to desire beauty and enjoy art” he makes a compelling case for the intimate links between art and science and their common goal of getting insight into the human experience.

For all his scientific pedigree Anjan also has an artist’s sensibility. He teaches architecture, has a deep love for street art, and he moonlights as a photographer.

In this conversation Anjan and I discussed:

• how our brain reacts to art and beauty, and how we process and assign meaning.
• the role of art in human experience and social change.
• art's potential for becoming an recognized medical treatment.
• the challenges of scientific research and evidence on a subject so vast and subjective as art.

There’s no way to cover the full extent of these questions in under 40mn but I hope you’ll get enough food for thought!

Thanks for listening ✨

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👉 Find Anjan's bio and work here and follow him on Twitter.

📝 Anjan's latest book, Brain, Beauty and Art.

🔳 The International Association of Empirical Easthetics is hosting a Biennale at the Barnes Foundation this Summer. Tickets and info here.

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Sound Engineering: Raphael Pazoumian 🌷🎧