Cretien van Campen
Encyclopedia
Cretien van Campen is a Dutch author, editor and scientific researcher in social science and fine arts. He is the founder of Synesthetics Netherlands and is affiliated with the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. He is best known for his work on synesthesia in art, including historical reviews of how artists have used synesthetic perceptions to produce art, and studies of perceived quality of life, in particular of how people with health problems perceive their living conditions in the context of health and social care services.
“Gestalt van Goethe tot Gibson” (Gestalt from Goethe thru Gibson) (1994). In the last two books he explored the crossroads of artistic and scientific experiments with visual perception
. From the mid-nineties he focussed on multisensory perception
and synesthesia in art
and science, resulting in the bestselling Tussen zinnen in the Netherlands and the internationally acclaimed The Hidden Sense.
for the Netherlands Institute of Primary Care (NIVEL). From 1994-2000 he was editor and later editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Psychology & Maatschappij (Psychology & Society), an interdisciplinary social scientific journal that was based in the critical psychology
movement.
with minors in philosophy
and cultural studies
, and a Ph.D. in history of art (and psychology) at Utrecht University
, the Netherlands. During the past two decades he has been involved in two lines of research: perception
and quality of life
.
in perception research in the 1910s had its roots in late 19th century art history
in Germany. The study was done in the context of the interdisciplinary Working Group Iconic Processes, including art historians, psychologists, physicists and anthropologists from several Dutch universities.
For a wider audience he wrote the book Pictorial Illusions (1994), exploring the links between artistic and scientific experiments with visual perception since the Renaissance. The book received attention from national television and art and science festivals.
After finishing his thesis, his interests moved to the perception of music. Soon after, he found the intriguing phenomenon of synesthesia
on the crossroads of music and visual art. With artist and color expert Clara Froger, he started a series of experiments of synesthesia, combining scientific and artistic methods of investigation. The results were published nationally and internationally. The experiments became popular and got attention from hundreds of synesthetes in the Netherlands, mediated by articles and items in the Dutch media, which resulted in the Netherlands Web Community of Synesthesia and a number of workshops and conferences on synesthesia in art and science. The demand for information on synesthesia resulted in the book Tussen zinnen. The new perspective on synesthesia, developed in this book in collaboration with synesthetes, artists and scientists in the Netherlands, led to the publication of The Hidden Sense: Synesthesia in Art and Science by the MIT Press. Since then, van Campen has been consulted on synesthesia and the senses in a number of national and international projects, among them Art Education Belgium (RASA), Unilever UK
and Rabobank Netherlands
. His research into synesthesia has taken the direction of autobiographical memory. In his latest Dutch book Gekleurd verleden (The Colored Past), he explores tales and studies on sense memories (e.g. the Madeleine story by Marcel Proust
).
, van Campen became acqainted with the research subject of quality of life
, focussing on health
and happiness
. Since the early nineties, he participated in series of studies on quality of health care services
from the patient’s perspective at the Netherlands Institute of Primary Health Care (NIVEL) and Maastricht University.
Later he participated in a number of studies into quality of care and quality of life in nursing homes, e.g. a collaborative study of the NIVEL institute and the Free University Amsterdam
.
In 1998, he moved to the Netherlands Institute of Social Research/ SCP)
, the national institute on well-being, where he broadened the scope from health and health care to citizen’s participation in work, leisure time activities and social activities. At SCP he published a series of research reports on the quality of life
and participation of frail elderly and persons with physical disabilities
.
Currently, van Campen pursues a research program into the competences of persons with disabilities in the research field of positive psychology
.
Internationally, van Campen gave lectures on comparisons of quality of life in the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea.
His article with SCP-colleague Jurjen Ledema, Are persons with physical disabilities who participate in society healthier and happier? was nominated as outstanding scientific article of the year by the International Society for Quality of Life Research.
Since 2007 he is principal investigator of the research programme on elderly policy and well-being at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. His latest publications are Values on a Grey Scale: Elderly Policy Monitor 2008.
and The Frail Elderly in the Netherlands.
Author
He is the author of the books “The Hidden Sense” (2007), “Tussen zinnen” (Between Senses) (2005), “Beeldillusies” (Pictorial Illusions) (1994), and“Gestalt van Goethe tot Gibson” (Gestalt from Goethe thru Gibson) (1994). In the last two books he explored the crossroads of artistic and scientific experiments with visual perception
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
. From the mid-nineties he focussed on multisensory perception
Multimodal integration
Multimodal integration, also known as multisensory integration, is the study of how information from the different sensory modalities, such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion and taste, may be integrated by the nervous system. A coherent representation of objects combining modalities...
and synesthesia in art
Synesthesia in art
The phrase synesthesia in art has historically referred to a wide variety of artistic experiments that have explored the co-operation of the senses The phrase synesthesia in art has historically referred to a wide variety of artistic experiments that have explored the co-operation of the senses The...
and science, resulting in the bestselling Tussen zinnen in the Netherlands and the internationally acclaimed The Hidden Sense.
Editor
Van Campen is editor of the Leonardo online bibliography Synesthesia in Art and Science and founder and web editor of Synesthetics Netherlands, a non-profit organization, hosting e.g. the Netherlands web community of synesthesia. He started editing during his studies as an editor of Psychopolis, an academic magazine of theoretical psychology. After graduation, he compiled a series of bibliographies on health careHealth care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
for the Netherlands Institute of Primary Care (NIVEL). From 1994-2000 he was editor and later editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Psychology & Maatschappij (Psychology & Society), an interdisciplinary social scientific journal that was based in the critical psychology
Critical psychology
Critical psychology is an approach to psychology that takes a critical theory–based perspective. Critical psychology is aimed at critiquing mainstream psychology and attempts to apply psychology in more progressive ways, often looking towards social change as a means of preventing and treating...
movement.
Scientific researcher
He is affiliated with the Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP as a senior scientific researcher, and with Synesthetics Netherlands as an independent researcher and consultant. He obtained a M.A. in psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
with minors in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and cultural studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
, and a Ph.D. in history of art (and psychology) at Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
, the Netherlands. During the past two decades he has been involved in two lines of research: perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
and quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
.
Perception
In his Ph.D. study that resulted in the book Gestalt from Goethe to Gibson (1994), van Campen linked history of art to history of science. He showed that the apparent rise of Gestalt psychologyGestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
in perception research in the 1910s had its roots in late 19th century art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
in Germany. The study was done in the context of the interdisciplinary Working Group Iconic Processes, including art historians, psychologists, physicists and anthropologists from several Dutch universities.
For a wider audience he wrote the book Pictorial Illusions (1994), exploring the links between artistic and scientific experiments with visual perception since the Renaissance. The book received attention from national television and art and science festivals.
After finishing his thesis, his interests moved to the perception of music. Soon after, he found the intriguing phenomenon of synesthesia
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
on the crossroads of music and visual art. With artist and color expert Clara Froger, he started a series of experiments of synesthesia, combining scientific and artistic methods of investigation. The results were published nationally and internationally. The experiments became popular and got attention from hundreds of synesthetes in the Netherlands, mediated by articles and items in the Dutch media, which resulted in the Netherlands Web Community of Synesthesia and a number of workshops and conferences on synesthesia in art and science. The demand for information on synesthesia resulted in the book Tussen zinnen. The new perspective on synesthesia, developed in this book in collaboration with synesthetes, artists and scientists in the Netherlands, led to the publication of The Hidden Sense: Synesthesia in Art and Science by the MIT Press. Since then, van Campen has been consulted on synesthesia and the senses in a number of national and international projects, among them Art Education Belgium (RASA), Unilever UK
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
and Rabobank Netherlands
Rabobank
Rabobank is a financial services provider with offices worldwide. Their main location is in the Netherlands. They are a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking...
. His research into synesthesia has taken the direction of autobiographical memory. In his latest Dutch book Gekleurd verleden (The Colored Past), he explores tales and studies on sense memories (e.g. the Madeleine story by Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
).
Quality of life
In his work as an editor of bibliographies in health careHealth care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, van Campen became acqainted with the research subject of quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
, focussing on health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
and happiness
Happiness
Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
. Since the early nineties, he participated in series of studies on quality of health care services
International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care
The International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care is a conference that aims to support and energise the movement for health and healthcare improvement....
from the patient’s perspective at the Netherlands Institute of Primary Health Care (NIVEL) and Maastricht University.
Later he participated in a number of studies into quality of care and quality of life in nursing homes, e.g. a collaborative study of the NIVEL institute and the Free University Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit
The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch name is often abbreviated as VU and in English the university uses the name "VU University". The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern part of Amsterdam in the Buitenveldert district...
.
In 1998, he moved to the Netherlands Institute of Social Research/ SCP)
SCP
-Agencies, organizations, and political parties:* Salisbury City Police, a defunct city police force in Wiltshire, England operational between 1838 - 1943.* Scottish Christian Party* Society of Catholic Priests, a community of priests in the Anglican Communion...
, the national institute on well-being, where he broadened the scope from health and health care to citizen’s participation in work, leisure time activities and social activities. At SCP he published a series of research reports on the quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
and participation of frail elderly and persons with physical disabilities
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
.
Currently, van Campen pursues a research program into the competences of persons with disabilities in the research field of positive psychology
Positive psychology
Positive psychology is a recent branch of psychology whose purpose was summed up in 1998 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: "We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise, which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in...
.
Internationally, van Campen gave lectures on comparisons of quality of life in the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea.
His article with SCP-colleague Jurjen Ledema, Are persons with physical disabilities who participate in society healthier and happier? was nominated as outstanding scientific article of the year by the International Society for Quality of Life Research.
Since 2007 he is principal investigator of the research programme on elderly policy and well-being at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. His latest publications are Values on a Grey Scale: Elderly Policy Monitor 2008.
and The Frail Elderly in the Netherlands.
In English
- Campen, Cretien van (2007). The Hidden Sense. Synesthesia in Art and Science. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Campen, C. van (2007). The importance of being healthy: Changing views on the ‘good life’ in The Netherlands since 1945. In: J. Stam & R. Veenhoven (Eds.) Quality of Life and Happiness of People in Japan and the Netherlands. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers (pp. 62–71).
- Campen, C. van & Iedema, J. (2007). Are persons with physical disabilities who participate in society healthier and happier? Structural equation modelling of objective participation and subjective well-being. Quality of Life Research vol. 16, nr. 4, pp. 635–645.
- Campen, C. van & van Gameren, E. (2005). ‘Eligibility for Long-term Care in the Netherlands: Development of a Decision Support System.’ In: Health and Social Care in the Community vol. 13, nr. 4, pp. 287–296.
In Dutch
- Campen, Cretien van (red.)(2011). Kwetsbare ouderen. Den Haag: SCP.
- Campen, Cretien van (2010). Gekleurd verleden. Verhalen over het geheugen van de zintuigen. Utrecht: Uitgeverij Zien.
- Campen, Cretien van (2005). Tussen zinnen. Synesthesie of hoe de zintuigen samenwerken. Utrecht: Uitgeverij Zien.
- Campen, Cretien van (1994). Beeldillusies: gezichtsbedrog in afbeeldingen sinds de renaissance. De Bilt: Cantecleer.
- Essays over geluk:
- Campen, C. van (2008). 1948, toen was geluk heel gewoon. In: Vroeger was het beter. SCP-nieuwjaarsuitgave 2008. Den Haag: SCP (pp. 130–134).
- Campen, C. van (2007). Bruto nationaal geluk: een proef op de som. In: Veel geluk in 2007, SCP-nieuwjaarsuitgave 2007. Den Haag: SCP, pp. 19–23.
- Campen, C. van (2006). ‘Wat is welzijn tegenwoordig nog?’ In:? Altijd een antwoord. SCP-nieuwjaarsuitgave 2006. Den Haag: SCP.
- Campen, C. van (2005). ‘Een gelukkige geest in een cosmetisch lichaam.’ In: Hier en daar opklaringen. SCP-Nieuwjaarsuitgave 2005. Den Haag: SCP, pp. 42–45.
External links
- Synesthetics: Netherlands Information Page on Synesthesia
- Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP
- Mark Lynch interviews Cretien van Campen on synesthesia at WICN radio http://wicn.org/audio/inquiry-the-hidden-sense-synesthesia-in-art-and-science-cretien-van-campen
- List of publications on perception and synesthesia
- List of publications on health and happiness