Welcome to the EVAlabs
Leder, Pelowski & Crone
What Sets our EVAlabs Research Group Apart
The Empirical Visual Aesthetics (EVAlabs) research group is based at the Department for Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna.
Founded in 2004 by Helmut Leder, this research group is considered the first to focus exclusively on visual empirical aesthetics.
The unique expertise and international leadership of this research team in the field of visual aesthetics encompasses research into fundamental processes of aesthetic effects, neuroaesthetics, the biological foundations of beauty, the social impact of transformative art, and field studies on urban aesthetics and museums with numerous funded projects. This research has led to influential theoretical models of art and aesthetic experiences (Leder et al., 2004), transformative art experiences (Pelowski et al., 2017) and visual beauty (Leder et al., 2022).
The EVAlabs serve as a central hub for research in this emerging field, hosting numerous researchers in the field of empirical aesthetics and organising conferences and symposia.
In 2020, Leder and Pelowski, who joined the University of Vienna as a member of EVAlabs and took on a professorship as Head of the ARTIS lab, jointly restructured the original EVAlab to form the broader Empirical Visual Aesthetics Labs Group, which acts as a research network aimed at sharing expertise and providing support for programmes dedicated to arts-based scientific research at the Faculty of Psychology. It now includes three programmes – the original EVAlab, the ARTIS Lab, as well as the Crone Neurocognition Lab, jointly coordinated by Leder and Pelowski.
20 Years of EVAlabs - Symposium & Summer School
In September 2024, we celebrated 20 years of EVALabs with a signature symposium, followed by a dynamic summer school.
Curious to dive deeper? Read a recap of the anniversary symposium and summer school and read a recap of the anniversary symposium and summer school!
