What is Affect? Considering the Affective Dimension of Contemporary Installation Art

The Role of the Body in the Experience of Installation Art: A Case Study of Visitors’ Bodily, Emotional, and Transformative Experience in Tomás Saraceno’s “in orbit”

“…Thus, we recommend that future research in installation art should assess experiences related to Community 4 Proprioception as it shows relations to art appreciation. Using our suggestion, future studies ought to test the hypothesis that more reported proprioceptive experiences, above other experiences, lead to more intense and impactful art experience, as suggested in our theoretical and anecdotal review (Best, 2002;Bishop, 2005;Lanzoni, 2009;Montero, 2006;Rebentisch, 2012;Shusterman, 2012).…”

“…Installation art has been widely noted to evoke and require use of the body in various capacities, above and beyond the consideration of formal properties of the art (Best, 2002;Caldarola, 2020;Farkhatdinov, 2014;Kessels & Schrenk, 2022;Reiss, 1999;Vial Kayser & Coëllier, 2021):…”

“…Bodily engagement and experience might be considered important elements of aesthetic interaction with artworks that "de facto contribute to our appreciation" (Fingerhut, 2018, p. 84). Best (2002) suggests a constitutive role of the body for the appreciation of installation art in that the body expands the modes of apprehension in addition to more common ways such as vision and the intellect. Also, another important characteristic of installation art, participation, has been argued to be vital for appreciation: "the viewer has to be physically present in the work or a performance of it and has to behave in the prescribed manner while there, so as to enhance his or her appreciation of it" (Novitz, 2001, p. 154).…”

“…The role of the body becomes especially salient with installation art. Unlike twodimensional visual art, installation art, due to its immersive and participatory character, is notably argued to evoke bodily awareness and require consideration of bodily experience (Best, 2002;Bishop, 2005;Oliveira et al, 2003). Specifically, it has been argued that active physical participation and heightened bodily presence or awareness might expand our appreciation modes and increase the emotional intensity of the installation art experience (Best, 2002;Bishop, 2005).…”

“…Unlike twodimensional visual art, installation art, due to its immersive and participatory character, is notably argued to evoke bodily awareness and require consideration of bodily experience (Best, 2002;Bishop, 2005;Oliveira et al, 2003). Specifically, it has been argued that active physical participation and heightened bodily presence or awareness might expand our appreciation modes and increase the emotional intensity of the installation art experience (Best, 2002;Bishop, 2005). Body awareness may also be key for eliciting potentially 'profound,' self-reflective, and transformative reactions to installation art (Mills, 2009; also see Pelowski et al, 2018), which are also emerging as key topics in general discussions of art experience (Pelowski, 2015;Pelowski & Akiba, 2011).…”