The Art of Distributed Cognition

Nowadays, the mind is often equated with the brain. But 'distributed' cognition - the idea that cognition is distributed across not only the brain, but also body and the world - is also widely considered in philosophy and cognitive science. Our AHRC-funded History of Distributed Cognition (2014-8) project showed that distributed cognition is not a new idea. The project revealed the diversity of ways in which distributed cognition has been expressed in beliefs and practices from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. We collaborated with National Museum of Scotland (NMS) to illustrate the way in which artefacts in their collections could extend thinking; we created a series of online seminars and lectures; we gathered scholars from across the humanities to create a four-volume landmark series on the History of Distributed Cognition (Edinburgh University Press, 2018-19).

In the Art of Distributed Cognition project we will create an exhibition that challenges participants' beliefs about, and sense of, where their minds end and the world begins. The History of Distributed Cognition showed how different periods, traditions and scientific and technological innovations, led to different beliefs and practices of distributed cognition. Renaissance workshops trained apprentices to think 'with the hand' and to be able adopt the style and perspective of the master painter, with drawings circulating and often collaboratively created. Surrealists aimed to escape the confines of rational thought by employing materials and methods which took over parts of the creative process from their brains. In collaboration with Talbot Rice Gallery, we have designed an exhibition that explores the ways in which artworks can explore how our body, objects, language, ideas, other people and environments extend our capacity to think. The Extended Mind art exhibition will demonstrate how artworks enable spectators to undergo new perceptual, emotional, physical and other cognitive experiences.

Distributed cognition raises questions about the interpretation of galleries and museums, demonstrating ways in which artefacts and artworks extend our biological cognitive capacities and draw physical culture into the creative process. The 12 international artists we have chosen reflect different ways in which human cognition extends across brain, body and world. For instance, Gianfranco Baruchello's works explore connections between industrial and natural processes, between flows of matter and flows of thought, revealing a thoroughly connected and distributed world. Myriam Lefkowitz offers visitors the opportunity to experience the city of Edinburgh in a completely different way - with eyes closed, individuals will be led by the hand by trained guides, who take them out of the Gallery and into the streets, awakening to embodied, sensorial experience. The mounds in Agnieszka Kurant's artworks were created for her by termite colonies, which plays on the ways in which we unwittingly contribute to social media multinationals without knowing our 'playbour' is being harvested for their profit. Magali Reus makes sculptures that reconfigure familiar objects, such as enlarged padlocks, to make us rethink their function and make us aware of the ways in which such mechanisms effectively organise aspects of our lives - they are things that when unlocked, enact pre-defined patterns of thought. Through a diverse range of contemporary artworks we will illustrate distributed cognition, particularly focusing on the themes brought to the fore by HDC, and so open new ways of interpreting the exhibition. The Extended Mind exhibition will demonstrate the applicability of distributed cognition not only to art, but to our ways of understanding the value of the arts and humanities for society.

The exhibition will lead to new commissioned works, foster national and international discussion, lead to diverse kinds of knowledge exchange and reflect the vibrant diversity of research and culture in Scotland. The following groups will directly benefit from this research with our projected impacts tracked using the methods outlined in the DMP:

1 Crisis in Scotland: A drop-in lunch will be followed by a 2-hour workshop for people who have been affected by homelessness. Along with providing a friendly atmosphere and nourishing meal, the workshop will particularly benefit attendees who are taking SQA (Scottish Qualifications Agency) classes. The workshop will involve small groups discussing and then presenting their ideas about the art works, which will help develop critical thinking and communication skills. As well as considering questions in the CfS, we will focus on environments, resources and social networks shaping of identity and thinking, and allow space to consider coping mechanisms in situations of precarity - where stable environment is unreliable.

2. HMP Shotts: We will work closely with HMP Shotts art tutor Alan Stanners to develop a 6-hour workshop that contributes to the course he teaches to long-term male prisoners. The workshop will involve a presentation and discussion of the project themes as illustrated by the art works, followed by hands-on creative activities and will culminate in prisoners using a show and tell format to discuss the artworks they have created as a response to the session. The workshop will allow space for reflection on the nature of thinking and how different resources and environments aid (or impede) thinking. It will help develop prisoners creative and critical thinking skills and their capacity to communicate and present ideas.

3. The Rugged University (RU): We will hold an informal discussion event, during which we will explore links between HDC ideas and RU's interests in co-operative movements, deliberative societies, argumentation, experimental educationalists and mental health care. We will provide a broader basis for interpretation and understanding of RU's aims in terms of our project's research as illustrated through the exhibition.

4. Royal Mile Primary School: These three 2-hour workshops with a local school will involve pupils being tasked with designing their own tour and discussing the ways in which the artworks in the exhibition, and other people, our bodies and resources and environments can extend the mind's capacities. We will collaborate with Nicky Jessop to ensure our workshop fulfills objectives in the Curriculum for Excellence for this age group, such as creative and social skills.

5. Visually Impaired (VI) Community in Edinburgh: We will liaise with artist educator Juliana Capes on the themes of our research in order to tailor a 2-hour workshop to the experiences and needs of people with visual impairment. A descriptive tour will help visually impaired people to explore the exhibition. Then a discussion and creative practice session will allow space for attendees to discuss alternative methods and resources that help compensate for visual impairment, how other cognitive processes can be heightened, and on exploring tactility, embodiment and the sonic components of the exhibition. This workshop will enable the VI community the opportunity to get together to discuss challenges and creative responses to challenges.

6. Queen Margaret University (QMU): These two 3-hour workshops will impact the international trainees in art therapy who attend the workshops, by contributing to their understanding of the capacity of viewing and creating art to change people's mindset. The workshops will contribute to the trainee therapists understanding of the relevance of distributed cognition to the theory and practice of art therapy and impact the individuals and communities around the world that the art therapists go on to work with when they have graduated.