Department of Fine and Studio Arts - Research Articles

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    Making present the absent other: Anamnesis and the work of Kiefer, Boltanski, Cruise and Coetzee.
    (South African Journal of Art History, 2010-01-01) Redelinghüys, Ian; Stevens, Ingrid
    It is possible that artists, in the making of memorials and monuments, might aid in the process of national healing after a traumatic national era or event. This, it is argued, is more likely to be achieved through the ‘counter-monument’, where a process of anamnesis might occur because of viewer participation, encouraged by certain kinds of contemporary approaches to memorials. Having established motivations for such a process, this article then examines selected examples of post-war German art and post-apartheid South African art, to show that visual representations might have a healing function. It concludes that psychology can learn from art, which can activate the instinct of reflection and act as a psychic mover.
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    Creativity, the flow state and brain function.
    (Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2010-01-01) Van Heerden, Ariana
    There are various concepts of optimal human functioning such as creativity, flow, peak experience and self-actualization. With suggestions that creativity and flow are interrelated, and possibly even interchangeable, at first glance the metaphor of flow and the concept of creativity seem to be entangled. Rich descriptions of creativity and the flow experience exist, especially in psychological literature, yet very little is understood of the brain mechanisms that govern such human functioning. This article investigates flow, creativity, and the brain mechanisms that elicit such unusual human functioning, and what brain processes ground these psychological constructs. The intention is to distinguish the concept of flow from creativity, and expand the heuristic understanding and value of flow within the creative disciplines.