Descendants of Fungi: NEUROPLASTICITY

Programme of the Group III.: NEUROPLASTICITY within the third annual symposium in forest and meadow lands between the villages of Hnátnice and Písečná in the Orlické Mountains, 23 – 25.7.2021.

Group III: NEUROPLASTICITY

This working seminar is based on the ability of the brain to change itself and works with methods such as daydreaming, concentration, controlled rest, mirroring and repetition, which trigger the creation of new neurons and switch existing connections in our mind. The seminar shall feature practices and lectures presented by experts and artistic inputs such as curated cinema, performance, writing and virtual reality.

>> Friday 23.7. <<
17:15 Zuzana Blochová and Tereza Porybná: Introduction and presentation of the workshop’s programme. / Zuzana Blochová and Tereza Porybná are cultural producers and members of the WOODS community.
18:00 David Fesl: Adaptation. Anonymous writing and group reading. / David Fesl is an artist and member of the WOODS community.
20:30–21:30 Nina Nohejlová: From Ego to Ecology. Lecture on relational ecology and relationship to oneself and others. To accompany sunset. / Nina Nohejlová helps people find their way to better health through a deeper understanding of themselves. She studied homeopathy, various methods of working with emotions and psychoneuroimmunology – an integrative field based on evolutionary biology.
22:30 Curated projection prepared by the artist Vladimír Skrepl for the Neuroplasticity seminar:
Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Show (director John Kricfalusi, 1993)
Poppy: A plant (director Titanic Sinclair, 2016)
Post Tenebras Lux (excerpt from the film, director Carlos Reygadas, 2012)
Lickerish Bear Stories: A Masterpiece (directors Kateřina Karhánková and Alexandra Májová, 2020)
23:00 Dance projection of Neuroplasticity seminar: Game of Masks (director Carlos Amorales, 2021)

>> Saturday 24.7. <<
5:20 Habima Fuchs: Death as Birth. A contribution on the theme of death as an enhancement of life. To accompany sunset. / Habima Fuchs is an artist engaged in the study of deep phenomena of life and their expression via artistic activity.
7:00 Tereza Porybná: Forest Cleansing. Meditation through movement, breath and taste.
8:00 Anne-Claire Barriga: Return. Audio-recording of a fictional letter. To accompany sunset. / Anne-Claire Barriga is an artist engaging with text and video. At present she works as an organiser of hiking trips.
10:00 Zuzana Blochová: Preparation for daydreaming. Exercise based on a method enabling neuroplasticity and the switching of existing neuron connections, which heals injuries of the limbic system.
12:00 Tomáš Vaněk: Particip No. 224, Mapping an individual visual field. A number of drawing activities in which all the participants attempt to draw something that few people have ever drawn. / Tomáš Vaněk is an artist creating objects, gestures, events for specific places and situations.
14:30 Markus Selg: Mind in the Cave. Journey into a space between meditation and Virtual Reality, where fundamental questions can be experienced through one’s own bodily perception. / Markus Selg is a multi-media artist exploring the dynamics between archaic myth, digital technology and consciousness.
15:30 Andrea Scheansová: Controlled imagination in deep relaxation for self-empowerment. Tuning of the mind to brainwaves, in which we are capable of experiences that transcend the state of alertness. / Andrea Scheansová is an analytically oriented psychologist. She combines Jungian oriented psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and also focuses on clinical-psychological diagnosis.
16:30 David Fesl: Trigger (When our thoughts escape to places where they’re forbidden). Anonymous writing and group reading.
17:30 Zuzana Blochová: Daydreaming. Exercise based on a method enabling neuroplasticity and the switching of existing neuron connections, which heals injuries of the limbic system.
18:00 Palo Fabuš: Neurodiversity and Artificial Intelligence. Lecture on radically new, machine forms of subjectivity, the conception of which via the concept and practice of neurodiversity represent the potential of machines to redefine humanity.
20:30–21:30 Habima Fuchs: Death as Birth. A shared narrative about death as an enhancement of life. To accompany sunset.

>> Sunday 25. 7. <<
5:20 Seiko Hihara: Circle in Red. Sharing time and personal space through the process of embroidery during sun rise. / Seiko Hihara is an artist who works on the theme of intimate interaction and cooperative processes.
8:00 Zuzana Blochová: Daydreaming. Exercise based on a method enabling neuroplasticity and the switching of existing neuron connections, which heals injuries of the limbic system.
10:00 Tomáš Vaněk: Particip No. 225, Drawing gestures we don’t make with our head. A number of drawing activities in which all the participants attempt to draw something that few people have ever drawn.
11:00 Alice Najmanová: BodyTalk System. Therapy and lecture on a method of treatment established by the Australian doctor John Veltheim, which balances the brain and stimulates the self-healing potential of the body. / Alice Najmanová is the first BodyTalk therapist in the Czech Republic. She helps people and animals regain balance and health.
14:30 Andrea Scheansová: Controlled imagination in deep relaxation for self-empowerment. Tuning of the mind to brainwaves, in which we are capable of experiences that transcend the state of alertness.

Group realisation team: Zuzana Blochová, David Fesl, Tereza Porybná

Photodocumentation (c) Johana Pošová

This program is realized within the program of summer sympozium Descendants of Fungi supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, State Cultural Fund, Waterrain.