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DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force

Photo: Creative Commons/YaYapas

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yasuhiro Sakamoto

Curriculum

Yasuhiro Sakamoto is a Bildwissenschaftler and computer scientist. He is currently a Project Associate Professor at the Global Research Institute at Keio University in Tokyo. His research lies at the intersection of image studies, Gestalt psychology, epistemology and empirical aesthetics. He is particularly interested in developing neuronale Bildwissenschaften, a field that combines image studies with psychophysical and neuroscientific methodologies.

Sakamoto studied Computer Science and Media Design at Keio University and the Free University of Berlin. He was awarded his PhD by Keio University in 2010. He then conducted postdoctoral research at several institutions, including the Hermann von Helmholtz Centre for Cultural Techniques and the Institute for Art and Image History at Humboldt University of Berlin, working with Horst Bredekamp, as well as at University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. These research residencies were funded by the DAAD, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the DFG, the Max Planck Society, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the Berliner Senate.

From 2019 to 2022, he was a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics under the direction of Winfried Menninghaus and David Poeppel. From 2022 to 2025, he was a specially appointed associate professor at Shinshu University in Nagano. His current research focuses on the intrinsic logic and effectiveness of images and how image perception and aesthetic evaluation arise in the early stages of perception. 

Publications (selection)

  • Sakamoto, Y., (in print). Zur Philosophie des Zitterns: Eine Analyse der tiefen Natur von Schriften und Bildern. In: W. Schäffner, S. Marienberg, T. Oehl and H. Bredekamp (eds.). Philosophie der aktiven Materie. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 97–111.
  • Sakamoto, Y., (2022). Photo Paintings to Shinkeikei Imēji Gaku [Gerhart Richter's Photo Paintings and Neuronale Bildwissenschaften]. Yuriika, No. 790, vol. 54–7, pp. 229–239.
  • Sakamoto, Y., Jäger, F. and Tanaka, J. (Hg.) (2020). Bilder als Denkformen: Bildwissenschaftliche Dialoge zwischen Japan und Deutschland. Berlin: De Gruyter.
  • Sakamoto, Y. (2020). Was sind Neuronale Geisteswissenschaften? Eine Sondierung. In: Y. Sakamoto, F. Jäger and J. Tanaka (eds.). Bilder als Denkformen. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 177–194.
  • Sakamoto, Y., Tanaka, J. and Takemine, Y. (eds.) (2019). Image Studies Today: From Aby Warburg's Mnemosyne Atlas to Neurological Bildwissenschaft. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.

Research project: The Triplehelix of Force in Images

The concept of force has been examined from diverse perspectives across various academic disciplines. The forces that manifest in images intersect in a spiral-like interaction between the physical, the imaginary and the perceived. The project therefore investigates how the forces emanating from latent movement in images can be quantified and qualitatively captured, and made comparable and comprehensible across the natural world, the world of perception and the world of images.

Freedberg’s experiments (Umiltà et al., 2012) demonstrate that latent motion in images is not only recognised rhetorically or metaphorically as motion, but is also anchored in the activity of the motor cortex. Sakamoto’s EEG studies on imagined movement (Sakamoto et al., 2016; in prep.) also suggest that, under certain conditions, the intensity of imagined movement can be quantitatively determined by beta oscillation and corresponds to the intensity of actual movement.

The project's central focus is the construction of a meta-functional conceptual model that facilitates a comprehensive examination of force in images. Two aspects are central to this: firstly, latent movement represents the explosive power, drive, acceleration and impetus of the images, whilst there is a discrepancy between mechanics and aesthetics. Secondly, cultural factors play a significant role in the functional concept of force. The threefold nature of force is explored epistemologically, transcending the oppositions between nature and art, as well as between natural science and philosophy.