01224 263607
Lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice
http://thoughtsonartandteaching.blogspot.co.uk/
https://rgu.academia.edu/JimHamlyn
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jim_Hamlyn/publications
CURRENT RESEARCH
From a background in photography, installation and digital art I have become increasingly interested in representation theory and the role of nonverbal representation in particular in cultural evolution. This research is informed by current debates within Analytic Philosophy and cognitive science and develops a causal account of perception in which representation takes centre stage. I take the view that representations rely upon necessary and sufficient conditions of evolutionary emergence and utilisation. Moreover, I argue that these conditions are impossible within bodily organs (the brain being the obvious example) because organs are not organisms in need of communicative mediation. Representations are articles and actions of culture, not biology. If this is correct, then the widespread assumption throughout much cognitive science, philosophy and other related fields, that brains produce their own representations, is unfounded.
The explanatory challenges presented by perception and consciousness are well known in philosophy and many contrasting theories have been developed to explain and overcome them. It cannot be the case that all the available theories are correct. However, if everyone is making the same foundational error, as the work of Hacker and Bennett (2007), Hutto and Myin (2013), Brook (2008) or Ramsey (2007) suggests, then perhaps a principled alternative is required.
AREAS OF INTEREST / EXPERTISE
Fine Art Photography, Digital art, Sculpture, Installation, Nonverbal Representation, Cultural Evolution, Perceptual theory, Depiction, Philosophy of Action.
PUBLICATIONS
Conference presentation “Networks of Attribution: The Cultural Origins of Meaning” at the 10th International Conference on Arts in Society, Imperial College, London 22-24 July 2015. This article is soon to be published in the International Journal of the Arts in Society
Conference Presentation “How Images Actually Work: Settling a Longstanding Debate” at the at the University of California Berkeley 29th – 30th October 2015: plus a 5000 word article (as of January 2016) “How Images Actually Work: Settling a Longstanding Debate” published in the International Journal of the Image”
“Ambient Interaction – Interactivity as a creative medium” 7000 word article for the online journal: Digital Creativity; co-authored with Jiun-Jhy Her, Assistant Professor at the Department of Digital Multimedia Arts, Shih Hsin University, Taiwan.
RESEARCH STUDENTS SUPERVISED (where applicable)
2013: PhD successful completion of Yuan Chu Chu, “Negotiation-as-Active-Knowing: an Approach Evolved from Relational Art Practice” (2nd supervisor)
2011: Juin Jer Her: “Interactive art in public space: a case study using Taipei MRT stations” (2nd supervisor)
CAN SUPERVISE / INTERESTED IN SUPERVISING THE FOLLOWING AREAS
Fine art photography, Photo theory, Installation, Representation theory, Digital art, Art and Perception, Cultural Evolution.
Gray's Research 