The official launch of the ‘Health Humanities’ module within the Master’s Plus programme was celebrated with a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Interoception: Artistic Explorations of Loneliness, Aging, Grief, and Death’ at the Forum Stadtpark. Building on the concept of interoception – the perception of internal bodily states – Garry Barker (Leeds Arts University), Katja Heitmann (Tilburg, NL), Iza Kavedzija (University of Cambridge) and Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl (University of Graz) examined, in a discussion moderated by Nina De Bettin Padolin (University of Graz), how ageing, disability, loneliness, grief and death can be made visible through artistic and academic practices.
The roundtable followed a workshop in which students on the Master’s module engaged with the theme of ‘embodied knowledge and kinetic empathy’ in practice-oriented workshop sessions with Katja Heitmann and Eleni Ploumi, as well as with Garry Barker, whose approach focuses on the ‘visualisation of bodily sensations’.
By bringing together different disciplines as well as artistic and media perspectives on loneliness, ageing, grief and death, the discussion roundtable highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of the Health Humanities. The evening also provided an opportunity to celebrate the successful first semester of the Master’s Plus module in Health Humanities.
This event is generously supported by the Research Network “Heterogeneity and Cohesion”, the faculty research focus area “Perception: Episteme, Aesthetics, Politics” and the City of Graz.