CIRAC’s ‘Interoception: Artistic Explorations of Loneliness, Ageing, Grief and Death’

The two-day CIRAC event combined artistic practice and academic reflection to explore loneliness, ageing, grief and death as physical, emotional and relational experiences.

On 11 and 12 May 2026, the event ‘Interoception: Artistic Explorations of Loneliness, Ageing, Grief and Death’ took place at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz. The event centred on the question of how internal bodily sensations can be made tangible through artistic and scientific means. In two workshops, Katja Heitmann and Eleni Ploumi (Tilburg, NL) developed a movement-based approach to interoception, whilst Garry Barker (Leeds Arts University) explored ways with the participants of depicting bodily sensations through drawing.

A public panel discussion featuring Garry Barker, Katja Heitmann, Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl (University of Graz), moderated by Ulla Kriebernegg and Nina De Bettin Padolin (University of Graz), brought together perspectives from art, social anthropology and philosophy. The event demonstrated how artistic practice can make loneliness, ageing, grief and death visible as physical, affective and relational experiences, and open up new approaches to care.