VISUAL PHENOMENOLOGY SEM

This three-week seminar explores how vision is experienced, constructed, and transformed through the interaction of perception, imagination, and memory. Bringing phenomenology into dialogue with contemporary neuroscience, cognitive science, and artistic practice, the course examines seeing as an embodied and predictive process rather than passive observation. Through readings, discussions, and studio workshops, participants investigate vision itself as both the subject and method of artistic inquiry.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the seminar, participants will:

Understand major concepts in phenomenology and visual perception

Relate contemporary neuroscience to theories of visual experience

Investigate imagination, memory, and predictive processing through artistic practice

Develop drawing and observational practices as forms of phenomenological inquiry.

David Dempewolf is a Philadelphia-based video artist, animator, and gallerist whose work explores the complexities of perception through experimental animation and video. With formal training in sculpture from PAFA, a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MFA from Columbia University, Dempewolf has participated in the Whitney Independent Studio Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. As a co-founder of Marginal Utility and a former member of the collaborative space Basekamp, Dempewolf is deeply engaged in collective and curatorial practices. David's singular work investigates vision's nuanced mechanics, mimicking stereopsis, peripheral sight, global optic shifts, and mental imagery, while collaborations with Jazz musicians such as Jason Moran, Miguel Zenon, and Immanuel Wilkins demonstrate an expansive, interdisciplinary approach. Projects have been exhibited at venues including Greene Naftali, CAC Cincinnati, Locks Gallery, and international film festivals in Oberhausen and London.

Visual Phenomenology Seminar with David Dempewolf