Seattle, WA – August 6, 2010 – Continuing its mission to serve as a cultural engine, ACT – A Contemporary Theatre announces InterACTions, a new annual forum of explorations designed to probe themes of the mind, being, and culture, featuring leading experts as guest speakers.
How does theatre raise our consciousness and the issues that confront us? Where does novelty emerge and how is society killing innovation? What is consciousness? And how are biomedicine and cybernetics contributing to the alteration, enhancement, and evolution of the human? Starting August 29, InterACTions 2010 will focus on these questions and more with Mindscapes: Art, Imagination and the Posthuman Future, led and moderated by ACT Artistic Director Kurt Beattie, with 60-minute presentations by Beattie, historian Mott Greene, neurosurgeon Dr. George Ojemann, and philosopher Paul Loeb.
“The art form of the theatre has always been a means of cultural investigation, and at ACT the annual InterACTions series is a fascinating and fun way to explore ACT’s role in creating a deeper conversation with our audiences concerning a new exploration of humanism and issues central to the rapidly changing landscape of how we live today,” said Kurt Beattie. “A lecture series of this caliber, designed to trigger audiences and the community at large to think more deeply about what they see, is a longtime dream come true for me, and I’m thrilled we can finally bring this vision to life starting in just a few short weeks!”
Mindscapes: Art, Imagination and the Posthuman Future will be comprised of the following lectures as part of the 2010 InterACTions series:
Kurt Beattie, Theatre and Consciousness
Sunday, August 29 at 4:00 p.m.
Kurt Beattie will kick off the 2010 InterACTions series, discussing theatre as a means of cultural investigation and as a catalyst to raising our consciousness to the issues we live today.
Mott Greene, The Physiology of Imagination and the Aesthetics of Stability
Sunday, September 26 at 4:00 p.m.
Join Historian Mott Greene as he investigates how it is becoming increasingly evident that the pace of fundamental novelty and imagination, at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, is actually slowing down. He will share how an explosion of a variety of cultural products acts as a brake on the creative process and the acceptance of change within our social and technical structures – and our artistic creations.
Dr. George Ojemann, Human Brain Mechanisms for ‘Consciousness’
Sunday, October 24 at 4:00 p.m.
Neurosurgeon Dr. George Ojemann discusses what is commonly called ‘consciousness’ and how the brain responds to external stimulus and different states of awareness, and overlays it with deeply encoded memory that can influence a conscious experience.
Paul Loeb, New Values for the Posthuman Future
Sunday, November 21 at 4:00 p.m.
Philosopher Paul Loeb concludes the 2010 InterACTion series with a fascinating look at how rapid advances in science and technology are contributing to the alteration, enhancement, and evolution of the human into the posthuman. Should parents design their children? Is human cloning immoral? Is radical life extension desirable? Should humans take control of their own evolution? Should humans aim to transcend their bodies through artificial intelligence and virtual reality?
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