Conscious Objects, Infinite Capacity: A Personal Case Study With Collaborative Dialogue From Art, Neuroscience and Theology

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Cole McInturff, Cecilia

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Abstract

This thesis catalog chronologically records in-studio aspects of design, construction, and a substantive major edit of a 2015 sculptural exhibition completing MFA requirements for graduation. Also, it is a case study of incremental alterations in personal consciousness experienced throughout the 2011-2015 studio process. In the style of a collaborative dialogue, alternating my own text with excerpts of thesis research from art, neuroscience and theology, it examines ways the state of an individual‘s consciousness during creating holds larger societal impact. While not seeking nor required to prove theory, I conclude that creative works conceptually based on the less defined and the more innate, which though not religious are consciously and affirmatively belief-based in some way, impact culture distinctly from art made for other (totally legitimate) reasons, including political, economic, aesthetic ones. Further, I observe such art’s impact is critical to the serious and sustained cultural commitment – or belief in commitment - necessary in a culture for creativity itself to exist.

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Consciousness, Art, Neuroscience, Sculpture, Theology

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