QUESTIONS AND DISCIPLINES
Is the world fundamentally spatial?
Is space made of space? Can space emerge from non-spatial entities? Are there metrological frameworks that can probe the continuous vs discrete nature of physical reality? Are metaphysical propositions such as the simulation hypothesis incompatible with a fundamentally spatial (continuous, smooth, non-atomic…) observed physical reality? Is the experience of time fundamentally spatial?
What is the role of space in art?
How do visual artists, sculptors, modellers and architects conceptualize space in order to articulate their compositions? How is the concept of dimension explored and exploited in audiovisual arts? Particularly, what are suggestive artistic interpretations of the notion of non-integer dimension, i.e. fractals, and higher dimensions, i.e. 4D hyperspace? Are there any overarching patterns in the diverse dimensionality of media for audiovisual arts, i.e. flat shapes on 2D surface (canvas, screen…), implied 3D shapes on 2D surface, 3D objects composed on top of a 2D surface, 3D objects in space (sculpture, building…), virtual reality, etc.? What formal or mathematical aspects of space, such as topological properties, curvature, torsion, etc., may be relevant for artistic creation?
How formally special is our notion of space?
What is space? How mathematically special is the 3-dimensional Euclidean space that accurately captures our perceived spatial experience? Are there foundations of mathematics that take spatial concepts as primitive? Can generalized notions of space, such as non-euclidean geometries or topologically non-trivial manifolds, provide effective models for the natural sciences?
What cognitive systems process spatial information?
What general informational structures can support spatial processing? Many systems of varying nature seem to process spatial information in some capacity. Is there evidence of minimal structural requirements linked to this ability? What adaptive systems select for spatial information in their evolutionary histories? What perceptual channels are compatible with spatial notions such as location, relative position and distance? Visual and auditory perception in animals seem to fit well but what about other senses such as touch or smell? How does human spatial cognition develop in infancy and how do children experience, process and conceptualize space and geometry? To what extent are these cognitive abilities innate or acquired?
How can we abstract, extend or apply the concept of space?
What modes of thought are particularly suited to be articulated and conceptualized via spatial reasoning? What are the fundamental operational properties of space and related notions such as distance, location or symmetry? When is the extension or application of spatial ideas to a non-spatial context merely a metaphor or an accurate model? Are there examples of non-space-like concepts that may have similar abstraction power?