In Vivo & In Vitro: Bodymind with Dr. Naila Kuhlmann
In Vitro & In Vivo: Bodymind - Working At The Intersection of Circus Arts And Neuroscience
Join Art/In Forum on August 17, 2026 at 12pm ET for an intimate presentation by Dr. Naila Kuhlmann. Come for a behind-the-scenes talk on turning to circus arts after completing a PhD in a scientific 'wet lab' environment. Dr. Naila's interdisciplinary projects will interest artists, patients, neuroscientists, caregivers, disability activists, and many others.
Working at the intersection of neurodegenerative conditions, circus, care, and technology, Dr. Naila explores how performing arts and technologies help connect, communicate and co-create across bodymind differences when words fall short.
Dr. Naila is a researcher at HUPR - Research Centre for Human Potential, an Art/In Forum Founding Partner.
Art/In Forum is where people working with artistic intelligence gather. Artistic intelligence is a framework and practice of working with diverse people with intersecting agendas using artistic ways of knowing and being – which leads to solutions that are inventive, visionary, values-led, and responsive to real contexts. Find out about joining Art/In Forum here.
Art/In Forum's In Vitro & In Vivo events focus on a specific artist, practice, or even a concept like ‘innovation.’
If you require accommodations to participate, please contact us.
.
After studying Parkinson’s disease for her Neuroscience PhD at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Naila Kuhlmann turned to her training in circus and dance to pursue arts-based knowledge translation for her postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University. Her participatory research-creation explores the role of the body in shaping experiential knowledge and interpersonal interactions, and how arts and technologies may serve to connect, communicate and co-create across bodymind differences. She is the principal investigator of a College and Community Social Innovation Fund at HUPR, “Creative Language: an arts-based approach to opening communication avenues for individuals with neurological conditions”.
Piece of Mind is an arts-based knowledge translation project that brought together neuroscientists, performing artists (circus, dance, music), people living with Parkinson’s and/or dementia, and caregivers.
Living Rooms: une pièce partagée is a participatory research-creation exploring how immersive performance and interactive technologies might invite audiences to encounter embodied experiences of Parkinson’s, circus and their intersections, with a focus on sensory and felt aspects that are not traditionally captured on stage.
Creative Language is a new 3-year project exploring the potential of the performing arts to open alternative avenues for communication and relationship-building to support the social inclusion of persons with neurological difference (Parkinson's disease; autism). The project began with a pilot participatory study on the use of metaphor to convey Parkinson's disease experiences, and facilitate translation between the figurative and clinical language.