13 – 14 June 2008

 

The theme

One of the simplest but most profound questions that we might ask of ourselves is ‘Who am I?’ It leads to many others – ‘Am I the same person I was a year ago – or even a day ago?’ ‘Am I really just one person, one personality? Do I not become different people in different situations? Do we have many ‘identities’ all existing in each of our brains?

Which of the masks we wear in our social round represents our true identity? Or is it that the masks are our true selves – and that there is nothing behind them?

Our sense of identity is of such importance that it would seem impossible to move around in the world without having a distinct sense of ‘self’.

But does the ‘self’ exist – or is it an illusion?

This is our theme.

Garry Kennard, Director, Art and Mind

The programme

Friday 13 June 
Session One
The truth of masks

7.30pm   Welcome
Garry Kennard
Founding Director,  Art and Mind

7.35         Key note address
Personal Identity: Mind, Body, Community
                 Professor Raymond Tallis
Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester, novelist, poet and philosopher
Raymond Tallis will try to pin down the basis of that elusive feeling that we have a robust and continuing identity

8.30                Mask, Actor and Identity
                        Dr Margaret Coldiron (and actors)
Freelance theatre director, performer and researcher specialising in Asian performance and masks.
What happens when an actor puts on a mask? What becomes of his identity?  While the mask may be seen to conceal the identity of the performer, it is also true that the performer reveals the identity of the mask. Sometimes, through the  mask, the multiple identities emerge, identities perceived by the viewer of which the performer may not be aware. This presentation will explore issues surrounding masks and identity through a variety of mask traditions – Greek Tragedy,  Balinese Topeng, Japanese Noh, and contemporary European neutral and character masks.

Saturday 14 June
Session Two
Self perception

11.00am         Art, mind and identity
                        Garry Kennard
Founding Director,  Art and Mind
Beginning with an review of current thinking on art and the brain this wide ranging presentation will argue that the telling of tales which ‘identify’ us as individuals is the at the core of art and culture.

12.00pm        Experiment in 12 parts
                        David Dixon 
Artist and lecturer. What happened when two community groups were asked to examine their ideas of identity.  Can exposing a person to different ways of thinking affect their notions of self, and what happens when the inherent values of the individual are laid bare to the uncertainties of the creative process?

Session Three
Anyone there?

2.15                Think you are alone? Think again
                        Rita Carter
Author of ‘Mapping the Mind’, ‘Exploring Consciousness’ and her remarkable new book ‘Multiplicity – the new science of personality’.
Rita Carter argues that each of us consists of a group of personalities, and explains why our sense of a  singular or ‘authentic’ self is an illusion.

3.30                Juggling
                        Professor June Boyce-Tillman
Professor of Applied Music, University of Winchester
An entertaining interdisciplinary exploration based on the notion that we are not a single self but that the self is multiple and consists of performances which are learned.4.35                Panel
Your chance to ask questions of our guests:  Rita Carter, Dr. Paul Broks, June Boyce-Tillman and Professor Raymond Tallis

.

Session Four
My music!

7.30                Martino Unstrung
                        A Tale of Memory, Music and Identity.
                        Dr. Paul Broks
Neuropsychologist and writer at Pymouth University.  Author of ‘Into the Silent Land’.
In 1980 the legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino was brutally silenced by memory stripping brain surgery.  The film ‘Martino Unstrung’ tells the story of Pat’s remarkable return to the peak of his art. This is the story of an unlikely hero whose remarkable experiences hold wider meaning for us all. Paul Broks will show pre-release excerpts and tell the story behind the making of the film.

8.45                Samay
                        Cultural identity?  
Mix and marvel with this wonderful fusion band
Samay is a unique collective of musicians exploring new ways of understanding and making music.  Taking the traditional music of India as a base for constructing original arrangements and improvisation as well as using their previous experience in jazz and various world folk styles, the musicians create a distinctive sound so far unknown to the western or eastern world.
A great sound to end the Festival.
9.45                Close

Samay

Samay is a unique collective of musicians exploring new ways of understanding and making music. Taking the traditional music of India as a base for constructing original arrangements and improvisation as well as using their previous experience in jazz and various world folk styles the musicians create a distinctive sound so far unknown to the western or eastern world.

At the heart of Samay is a unique blend of merging styles and instruments. The band features highly accomplished musicians from India and Europe. Each brings their own culture and unique style:

Jesse Bannister (uk) saxophone Giuliano Modarelli (Italy) guitar Bhupinder Singh Chaggar (India -Punjab-) tabla Soumik Datta (India -Bengal-) sarod

This young and talented collective combines traditional forms with a range of contemporary influences to reinvent the sound of Indian Music. Jazz, Flamenco, Samba, Funk and chill out are effortlessly combined to create powerful and dynamic arrangements. Highly developed melodies, fierce improvisation and driving grooves fuel these pieces.The result is a colourful and seamlessly woven blend creating the unique sound that is SAMAYÉ and the listener is lead on a journey that spans continents and decades into the timeless.

This festival is supported by

Some of our speakers and performers

Professor Raymond Tallis

Our key note speaker.

Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and a consultant physician in Health Care of the Elderly in Salford (1987-2006).  He had responsibility for acute and rehabilitation patients and took part in the on call rota for acute medical emergencies.  He also ran a unique specialist epilepsy service for older people.

In 2004 he was identified in Prospect magazine as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the United Kingdom.

In 2008, he has books coming out on Parmenides (Continuum), the head (Atlantic) and hunger (Acumen).

He has also published fiction, three volumes of poetry, and over a dozen books and 150 articles on the philosophy of the mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism.

Rita Carter

One of the founders of Art and Mind who has made some memorable appearances at past festivals.

Rita has a new book on the shelves at present – ‘Multiplicity – the new science of personality’. She will be speaking about it at the Festival.

Rita writes –

The book is about human personality – or rather, the many personalities that inhabit each of us. I argue that each individual is actually made up of a “family” of personalities, and that we slip and slide form one to the other as we encounter different situations.

I believe that our natural multiplicity, far from being abnormal or pathological, allows us to live fuller, more effective lives – providing we recognise it and learn to know our inner selves and teach them to work together for the benefit of them all.

My book explains exactly how multiplicity arises in the human brain, how to discover it in yourself and how to make it work for you.

Dr Paul Broks

Paul will be introducing and discussing his new film –

MARTINO UNSTRUNG – A Tale of Memory, Music and Identity.

In 1980 the legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino was brutally silenced by memory stripping brain surgery. The forthcoming documentary feature film “Martino Unstrung” tells the story of Pat’s remarkable return from the depths of amnesia once more to the peak of his art. Directed by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Ian Knox, and written and narrated by neuropsychologist and author Paul Broks, the film explores the nature of memory, creativity and the brain systems underlying personal identity. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and produced by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, the film features Les Paul, Carlos Santana, Pete Townshend, Joe Pesci, John Patitucci, Delmar Brown, and Red Holloway… and, of course, the enigmatic Pat Martino. This is the story of an extraordinary musician and an unlikely hero whose remarkable experiences hold wider meaning for us all. Paul Broks will show pre-release excerpts and tell the story behind the making of the film.

Margaret Coldiron

Margaret Coldiron trained as an actress at the Drama Centre, London, received her MA in Text and Performance Studies from King’s College and RADA and her PhD in Drama from Royal Holloway. She is a freelance theatre director, performer and researcher specialising in Asian performance and masks. She is currently a member of the research team for the AHRC project on The Body and the Mask in Ancient Theatre Space and of the Centre for Mask Research of the Dramatiska Institutet, Stockholm. She is the author of ‘Trance and Transformation of the Masked Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Dance Drama’ (Mellen 2004) and Associate Director of Thiasos, a theatre company specializing in intercultural productions of ancient Greek plays.

Publications include: Trance and Transformation of the Masked Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Dance Drama (Edwin Mellen Press, 2004), Who’s Who in Contemporary World Theatre (Indonesia entriesÑRoutledge 2000) and the Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre (Greenwood Press, 2007)as well as various articles and reviews in Asian Theatre Journal, Indonesia and the Malay World, New Theatre Quarterly, Women and Performance, Seleh Notes and the online journal Consciousness, Literature and the Arts.

Professor June Boyce-Tilman

June Boyce-Tilman, Professor of Applied Music at the University of Winchester, read Music at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She pioneered work in introducing composing activities into the classroom and completed a PhD at the Institute of Education entitled Towards a model of the musical development of children. The results of this research have been translated into Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese and Polish and she has lectured, given papers and led workshops in many parts of the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the US.

June has a particular interest in Music and Theology including Religious Education and regularly writes and takes workshops linking these areas together. She has done pioneering work in Interfaith dialogue, writing articles and speaking on interfaith and intercultural links in Britain and abroad.

She has written and spoken on women’s role in church music and music in general, encouraging the promotion of music by women and holding workshops for women on composing. Her research is into the medieval abbess, Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) and she is founder of the Hildegard Network which stretches over three continents and is concerned with bringing together the areas of healing, the arts and theology.

David Dixon

David Dixon is an installation artist interested in the nature of perception and  uncertainty. His work refers to the research of modern physics, and philosophical dialogues of  impermanence, drawing on concepts that harness uncertainty.

This is a selection of his work over the last two years:

2008
Collaborative Artist, Design Charette, Tate Modern
Visiting Artist, Fareham College
Exhibition, Experiment in 12 Parts, Hansard Gallery,  Southampton
Participating Artist, InsideOut,  University of Sussex
Workshop with Young Offenders, Hansard Gallery, Southampton
Exhibition, FloorSpace, Millais Gallery, Southampton
Visiting Lecturer, Discursive Spaces project, Brighton University
Go Make! Residency, Southampton

2007
DADA South, Critical Skills Seminar, Visiting speaker
DADA South, Living Newsletter Event, Visiting Speaker.
Exhibition, group show, Southampton.
Freelance Artist Advisor, DADA South (ongoing to 2011)
Final Intervention Project, Co-collaborator (ongoing)
Exhibition, The World Is Ours? Southampton

Back to Festivals page