Workshop on Exploring Artistic Engagements: Art, Cognition and Social Change

Art and Embodied Knowledge: The Bodily Origins of Aesthetic Cognitivism

In September 2024, the University of Rijeka hosted the workshop Exploring Artistic Engagements: Art, Cognition and Social Change, as part of the AEtNA research project, supported by the Croatian Science Foundation (UIP-2020-02-1309) and the University of Rijeka grant Stimulativne potpore human-sp-24-47.

The event featured talks by Vid Simoniti (University of Liverpool) and Maarten Coëgnarts (University of Antwerp), who explored the role of art in shaping cognitive and social understanding. Coëgnarts presented a defense of aesthetic cognitivism—the view that engaging with art fosters knowledge and insight—drawing on embodied cognition and art psychology to show how visual and cinematic artworks structure meaning through perceptual experience.