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| Semir Zeki |
Semir Zeki is a professor of neuroesthetics at University College, London. He is well known for a lifetime's work in neuroscience and in particular for his research on the relationship between art and the physical brain.
At a current exhibition on Ice Age Art (British Museum, London) he is quoted as saying that our visual sense is much more primitive and much older than language, and that our response to visual stimuli is deeper, (and presumably often below the conscious radar). Language has become our primary means of communication, according to him (debatable..??)
I am including a short post on this topic now because I wonder if we also have a cortical response to inhabiting different kinds of space. This relates to Christopher Alexander's later work on architecture:
The Timeless Way of Building (1979) described the perfection of use to which buildings could aspire:
"There is one timeless way of building. It is a thousand years old, and the same today as it has ever been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are". quote from wikipedia
Here is a link to a blog about architecture and neuroscience
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