A conversation with the eminent scholar of neuroesthetics Professor Semir Zeki (UCL), and neuroscientist and Noh practitioner Professor Atsushi Iriki (Riken Institute, Japan). At this talk, they discussed the relationship between the mechanisms of the brain that create illusions, the arts, and the 650-year-old tradition of Noh.
In addition, Professor Reiko Yamanaka of the Noh Theatre Research Institute of Hosei University talked about ‘Mugen Noh’, conceived by the fourteenth-century Noh playwright and actor Zeami. In these plays, after an interlude, a restless spirit emerges in a dream of a travelling monk, telling the story of its unfulfilled life, transporting audiences to a world of illusion.
