Elaborated intrusion theory : a cognitive-emotional theory of food craving

A clear understanding of the cognitive-emotional processes underpinning desires to overconsume foods and adopt sedentary lifestyles can inform the development of more effective interventions to promote healthy eating and physical activity. The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desires offers a framework that can help in this endeavor through its emphases on the roles of intrusive thoughts and elaboration of multisensory imagery. There is now substantial evidence that tasks that compete for limited working memory resources with food-related imagery can reduce desires to eat that food, and that positive imagery can promote functional behavior. Meditation mindfulness can also short-circuit elaboration of dysfunctional cognition. Functional Decision Making is an approach that applies laboratory-based research on desire, to provide a motivational intervention to establish and entrench behavior changes, so healthy eating and physical activity become everyday habits.

Effect of mobile phone-based psychotherapy in suicide prevention : a randomized controlled trial in Sri Lanka

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test whether a Brief Mobile Treatment (BMT) intervention could improve outcomes relative to usual care among suicide attempters. The intervention included training in problem solving therapy, meditation, a brief intervention to increase social support as well as advice on alcohol and other drugs, and mobile phone follow-up. The effect of the intervention was measured in terms of a reduction in suicidal ideation, depression and self-harm at Baseline, six and 12 months. A wait-list control group received usual care. A total of 68 participants was recruited from a Sri Lankan hospital following a suicide attempt. Participants who received the intervention were found to achieve significant improvements in reducing suicidal ideation and depression than those receiving usual care. The BMT group also experienced a significant improvement of social support when compared to the control group. However, the BMT group did not demonstrate a significant effect in reducing actual self-harm and most substance use, and differential effects on alcohol use were restricted to men. Although the present study was limited in revealing which component of the intervention was more effective in preventing suicide, it showed its efficacy in reducing suicide as a whole.

Dark Cartographies

‘Dark Cartographies’ is a slowly evolving meditation upon seasonal change, life after light and the occluding shadows of human influence. Through creating experiences of the many ‘times of a night’ the work allows participants to experience deep engagement with rich spectras of hidden place and sound. By amplifying and shining light upon a myriad of lives lived in blackness, ‘Dark Cartographies’ tempts us to re-understand seasonal change as actively-embodied temporality, inflected by our climate-changing disturbances. ‘Dark Cartographies’ uses custom interactive systems, illusionary techniques and real time spatial audio that draw upon a rich array of media, including seasonal, nocturnal field recordings sourced in the Far North Queensland region and detailed observations of foliage & flowering phases. By drawing inspiration from the subtle transitions between what Europeans named ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’, and by including the body and its temporal disturbances within the work, ‘Dark Cartographies’ creates compellingly immersive environments that wrap us in atmospheres beyond sight and hearing. ‘Dark Cartographies’ is a dynamic new installation directed & choreographed by environmental cycles; alluding to a new framework for making works that we call ‘Seasonal’. This powerful, responsive & experiential work draws attention to that which will disappear when biodiverse worlds have descended into an era of permanent darkness – an ‘extinction of human experience’. By tapping into the deeply interlocking seasonal cycles of environments that are themselves intimately linked with social, geographical & political concerns, participating audiences are therefore challenged to see the night, their locality & ecologies in new ways through extending their personal limits of perception, imagery & comprehension.

Loss Control

A exhibition of sculptural assemblages that continue my exploration of self-portraiture and the sculptural object. The work specifically extends the formal vocabulary of my studio to incorporate smaller composite arrangements with an emphasis on the sculptural support. Small objects that are either modelled or cast from life are assembled into four tableaux that respond to the object-relations that arise through the production process. The resulting exhibiton thus acts a meditation on the ontology of art practice, conceived as a topology of objects.

Haven

In Haven, a female voice guides a meditation while an abstract animated form progressively morphs from geometric to irregular on screen. As the video develops, the tone shifts from relaxation to seduction and, eventually, to hints of mild contempt. Through its subtle shifts in tone and form, the work plays with the relationships between self-help, self-absorption and self-pity. Its verbal and visual references gently suggest a disjunction between internalised thoughts and external realities. In doing so, it also alludes to the ways that desire and doubt can inform quests for inner peace.

Regards, the Pit

A solo exhibition by Joseph Breikers included in the MetroArts 2011 galleries Program. The exhbition comprised a series of predominantly sculptural works that reflected the artists ongoing interest in medieval, gothic and death metal visual motifs. The exhibition thus acted as a ironic meditation on ritual, belonging and cultural identity.

I fucking love you

A solo show by Courtney Coombs held at MetroArts in Brisbane as part of the 2011 Allies Program. The exhibtion comprised a series of sculptural, photographic, text and video works that each employed motifs evocative of romantic love combined with the artist self-effacing and ambivalent relationship to the art world and its male canon. The resulting exhibition acted as a meditation of female authorship in the studio and the contradictory impulses of critique and adoration.

Shifting intimacies

Our world is literally and figuratively turning to ‘dust’. This work acknowledges decay and renewal and the transitional, cyclical natures of interrelated ecologies. It also suggests advanced levels of degradation potentially beyond reparation. Dust exists both on and beneath the border of our unaided vision. Dust particles are predominantly forms of disintegrating solids that often become the substance or catalyst of future forms. Like many tiny forms, dust is an often unnoticed residue with ‘planet-size consequences’. (Hanna Holmes 2001) The image depicts an ethereal, backlit body, continually circling and morphing, apparently floating, suggesting endless cycles of birth, life and death and inviting differing states of meditation, exploration, stillness and play. This never ending video work is taken from a large-scale interactive/media artwork created during a six-month research residency in England at the Institute of Contemporary Art London and at Vincent Dance Theatre Sheffield in 2006. It was originally presented on a raised floor screen made of pure white sand at the ICA in London (see). The project involved developing new interaction, engagement and image making strategies for media arts practice, drawing on the application of both kinetic and proprioceptive dance/performance knowledges. The work was further informed by ecological network theory that assesses the systemic implications of private and public actions within bounded systems. The creative methodology was primarily practice-led which fomented the particular qualities of imagery, generated through cross-fertilising embodied knowledge of Dance and Media Arts. This was achieved through extensive workshopping undertaken in theatres, working ‘on the floor’ live, with dancers, props, sound and projection. And eventually of course, all this dust must settle. (Holmes 2001, from Dust Jacket) Holmes, H. 2001, The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things, p.3

Temporal

An evolving meditation upon the complex, periodic processes that mark Australia’s seasonality, and our increasing ability to disturb them. By amplifying and shining light upon a myriad of mysterious lives lived in blackness, the work presents a sensuous, deep engagement with the rich, irregular spectras of seasonal forms: whilst hinting at a far less comforting background increasingly framed by anthropogenic climate change. ’Temporal’ uses custom interactive systems, illusionary techniques and real time spatial audio processes that draw upon a rich array of media, including seasonal, nocturnal field recordings sourced in the Bundaberg region and detailed observations of foliage & flowering phases from that region. By drawing inspiration from the subtle transitions between what Europeans once named ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’ and the multiple seasons recognised by other cultures, whilst also including bodily disturbances within the work, ’Temporal’ creates a compellingly immersive environment that wraps audiences in luscious yet ominous atmospheres beyond sight and hearing. This work completes a two year long project of dynamic mediated installations that have been presented in Sydney, Beijing, Cairns and Bundanon, that have each been somehow choreographed by environmental cycles; alluding to a new framework for making works that we named ‘Seasonal’. These powerful, responsive & experiential works each draw attention to that which will disappear when biodiverse worlds have descended into an era of permanent darkness – an ‘extinction of human experience’. By tapping into the deeply interlocking seasonal cycles of environments that are themselves intimately linked with social, geographical & political concerns, participating audiences are therefore challenged to see the night, their locality & ecologies in new ways through extending their personal limits of perception, imagery & comprehension.

Not so not-for-profit

To address the sub-theme of the journal: Artistic Practices in a Time of Crisis, the author discusses the context of economic cuts and recent international crises on his PhD interactive and visual design research project undertaken in Australia. Identifying an apparent root-cause of current global crises, the author in reply, has structured a research plan and created a suite of new media, interactive, technology artworks, and installation art. Notions of Zen Buddhism, and stillness through meditation, are applied in the research and context of the artworks to support awareness of wellbeing, in response to the root-cause condition. The discussion will focus on the overarching question: how can one obtain value through the arts during current times of economic reduction conditioning?

The artist is a thief: A book review

Stephen Gray is a writer and law lecturer who has been living in Darwin since 1989. He started out writing formal legal pieces about how copyright law had unsuccessfully sought to accommodate Aboriginal art. Such work led him to further investigate the philosophical questions underlying the legal issues affecting both traditional and urban Indigenous people. Gray has also explored matters of bioprospecting in relation to Indigenous biological resources. He has investigated the introduction of a label of authenticity into Australia. Gray has also published a number of articles about other legal issues affecting Indigenous people. He has explored such topics as native title, customary law, alternative dispute resolution, and criminal law. Gray has recently been awarded The Australian/ Vogel Literary Award for his novel The Artist is a Thief. He was inspired to write a book after being sent out to a community on a possible copyright claim as part of his job in the law faculty of Northern Territory University: "I wrote an academic article and then a more philosophical piece talking about the copyright act and the way it doesn't really protect traditional artists who have a very different view of the place of their art. The pieces were interesting, but I felt there was something more there that needed a fictional expression as well." It is ironic that such a self-conscious and sophisticated meditation upon appropriation and authenticity should win The Australian/ Vogel Literary Award. The inaugural award in 1980 was won by Paul Radley, who later revealed his books were mostly written by his uncle, and in 1993 it was won by Helen Demidenko, aka Darville, who had lied about her Ukrainian background and family history.

Review and evaluation of mindfulness-based iPhone apps

Background There is growing evidence for the positive impact of mindfulness on wellbeing. Mindfulness-based mobile apps may have potential as an alternative delivery medium for training. While there are hundreds of such apps, there is little information on their quality. Objective This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of mindfulness-based iPhone mobile apps and to evaluate their quality using a recently-developed expert rating scale, the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS). It also aimed to describe features of selected high-quality mindfulness apps. Methods A search for “mindfulness” was conducted in iTunes and Google Apps Marketplace. Apps that provided mindfulness training and education were included. Those containing only reminders, timers or guided meditation tracks were excluded. An expert rater reviewed and rated app quality using the MARS engagement, functionality, visual aesthetics, information quality and subjective quality subscales. A second rater provided MARS ratings on 30% of the apps for inter-rater reliability purposes. Results The “mindfulness” search identified 700 apps. However, 94 were duplicates, 6 were not accessible and 40 were not in English. Of the remaining 560, 23 apps met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. The median MARS score was 3.2 (out of 5.0), which exceeded the minimum acceptable score (3.0). The Headspace app had the highest average score (4.0), followed by Smiling Mind (3.7), iMindfulness (3.5) and Mindfulness Daily (3.5). There was a high level of inter-rater reliability between the two MARS raters. Conclusions Though many apps claim to be mindfulness-related, most were guided meditation apps, timers, or reminders. Very few had high ratings on the MARS subscales of visual aesthetics, engagement, functionality or information quality. Little evidence is available on the efficacy of the apps in developing mindfulness.

Èto i to v povesti Staruha Daniila Harmsa

This dissertation focuses on the short story Starukha (The Old Woman), one of the last works of the Russian writer Daniil Kharms (1905-1942). The story, written in 1939, is analysed using the Kharmsian concepts èto and to (this and that) as a heuristic interpretative model. The first chapter gives a detailed analysis of this model, as well as a survey of the critical work done to date on Kharms and Starukha. In the second chapter the model is applied to study the different states of consciousness of the male protagonist. This is significant, because he is the "I" of the work, from whose point of view everything is being told. The third chapter takes a closer look at the reality of the world that exists independently of the consciousness of the protagonist. Physical objects can be said to bear - besides their everyday meaning - a hidden symbolic meaning. Similarly, the characters can be considered as representatives of everyday reality and otherworldliness. The fourth chapter deals with the narrative devices of Starukha. The problematics of the relation between fact and fiction plays an essential role in the story. Kharms's use of Ich-Erzählung and different tenses, which contributes to achieving a complicated elaboration of this kind of problematics, is examined in detail. The fifth chapter provides an intertextual reading of Starukha, based on its allusions to the Bible and the Christian tradition. As a result, the whole story can be seen as a kind of meditation on the Passion of Christ. The final chapter examines how the important Kharmsian concepts of the grotesque and the absurd manifest themselves in Starukha. The old woman represents in a grotesque way two opposite systems: the religious and the totalitarian. The absurdity of Starukha can be claimed to be illusory. Therefore, it is better to speak about paradoxicality. Starukha itself is a kind of paradox, in the sense that it tries to say something of the ultimate truth of reality, which inevitably remains ineffable.

Temporal: The artwork

The interactive artwork Temporal arose from a series of art-science investigations with some of Australia’s leading flying fox ecologists. It was designed as a gently evolving meditation upon the complex, periodic processes that mark Australia’s often irregular seasonal changes. In turn these changes directly govern the migratory movements of Australia’s keystone pollinating mammals - the mega bats (Flying Foxes). Temporal further called attention to our increasing capacity to profoundly disturb these partners within Australia’s complex, life-supporting systems