Understanding and Exploring Physical Intelligence

Physical intelligence is something that every human inherently possesses, for each of us constantly thinks with and through our bodies.  

So, why aren’t we better aware of this innate, embodied wisdom? Well, once our bodies and minds work out how to perform a motion or action, we (mostly) no longer need to pay attention to the physical intelligence that underpins it. Skeptical? Try brushing your teeth with the other hand. (Watch those gums!) And funnily enough, it was humans attempting to design robots to perform extremely simple tasks such as this that drew wider attention to just how clever our bodies are.

Today, across the fields of cognitive and social science, medicine, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and sports as well as technology, our physical intelligence is beginning to get its dues. We are learning that rather than being ignorant flesh, our bodies have much to teach us.

Wayne McGregor has been at the vanguard of such efforts since 2000. Insatiably curious about the workings and creative potential of the human body, his artistic practice is closely intertwined with ongoing collaborative scientific and technological research projects. All of which are developed from within his state of the-art London headquarters, Studio Wayne McGregor.      

Over the years, McGregor has partnered with eminent researchers, including Professor Philip Barnard of Cambridge University’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit – whom he met while a Research Fellow at Cambridge University’s Department of Experimental Psychology, and Professor David Kirsh of the University of California, San Diego’s Cognitive Sciences Department, where McGregor acted as Innovator in Residence. Noted researcher and choreographer, Scott deLaHunta has also been instrumental in these physical intelligence-centric endeavours.      

Instances of shared or ‘distributed’ physical intelligence are illustrated in the talk too, e.g. how information may be conveyed from one body to another – from artist to audience, or dancer to dancer; or, when one body serves as the ‘memory’ for another.      

In 2013, the cumulative results of research into physical intelligence, creativity, choreographic thinking and technology, undertaken by McGregor and partners: Barnard, Kirsh, deLaHunta (and further collaborators) were presented at The Wellcome Collection in a groundbreaking exhibition entitled, Thinking with the Body.     

Another area of Thinking with the Body explored how our bodies communicate with each other through gesture and movement, depicting how a group of humans forms a ‘thinking system’ – as might also be witnessed on a football pitch, or crowded commuter train.    

For not only has he sought to uncover how bodies and minds function in tandem, and how those processes might be bolstered for innovative artistic and creative pursuits, he’s also jointly devised and tested technologies that could assist us in expanding the frontiers of physical intelligence. 

Beyond the world of dance-making, the applications of this and other intriguing collaborative ventures being devised at Studio Wayne McGregor in a bid to expand our abilities as physically intelligent beings are still to be ascertained. But what’s clear is that their potential, much like ours, is enormous and exhilarating.