Biennale Danza 2023

Wayne McGregor, a true pioneer of modern dance, has chosen the theme Altered States for this year’s Biennale Danza. This is a highly appropriate theme, given the rapidly changing world in which we live, which can be aptly described as a mosaic of globally altering states. As a neuroscientist, altered states bring to mind some other topics – topics which are also reflected in the body of work presented at Biennale Danza 2023, in one way or another. These topics have to do with altered states of consciousness.
Consciousness is one of the defining features of our lives, if not the defining feature. It is what makes us different from mere objects. Although precise definitions are surprisingly hard to come by, intuitively we all know what consciousness is. It is what goes away when we fall into a dreamless sleep, or undergo general anaesthesia – and it is what returns when we wake up in the morning, or come round in the recovery room. (...)

Taken from Anil Seth, Altered States: Varieties of Consciousness
Catalogue of the Biennale Danza 2023 Altered States

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Programme on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and an advanced investigator of the European Research Council. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (Faber & Faber, 2021).