British artist Stuart Middleton consistently touches in his artistic practice upon the fields of psychology, raises questions on interpersonal relationships, social environments and human behavior. For his current exhibition “Motivation and Personality”, theories, which are applicable in the area of pedagogy, and an interest in familial education and connected processes of learning are fundamental. Due to this facet in Middleton’s work and his presentation at Künstlerhaus, Prof. Dr. Anja Ischebeck lectures on the topic “Homo Ludens – Learning through Play?” In her talk she will discuss the role of games in the learning process from a psychological perspective. Thereby, she will explore the potential and boundaries of games in the acquisition of abilities.

Prof. Dr. Anja Ischebeck is professor at the Institute for Psychology at the University of Graz. Her interests lie in the area of number- and language-processing and the acquisition of these abilities. She studied psychology at the FU Berlin and wrote her dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in Holland. Afterwards, she worked at the Max-Planck Institute for Cognitive- and Neurosciences in Leipzig. Since 2010 she lives and works in Graz.