The influence of the physical context and knowledge of artworks on the aesthetic experience of interactive installations

Magdalena Szubielska,Anna Szymańska,Kamil Imbir

doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00322-w

Magdalena Szubielska, Anna Szymańska + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00322-w

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Abstract

In the current study, the influence of the physical context and the knowledge of artworks on the aesthetic experience of installation art is tested for the first time. We assessed non-experts in the field of art (N = 158) who viewed interactive installations in either the art gallery context or the classroom. Some participants knew both the artworks’ titles and the curator descriptions, some knew only the titles, and some had no contextual information. We tested both the aesthetic emotions and the aesthetic judgments. For the measurement of aesthetic emotions, we used the Self-Assessment Manikin approach including the traditional dimensions of affect and the measurement of recently-proposed dimensions such as origin or subjective significance. The study replicated previous findings that the gallery context enhances the aesthetic experience – both of art appreciation and aesthetic emotions. Moreover, our results showed that the emotions caused by viewing the installation in the gallery had more of an automatic source (metaphorically coming “from the heart”) and were more subjectively significant than aesthetic emotions experienced in the classroom context. Curatorial information increased the understanding and appreciation of the works of installation art, and also caused the aesthetic emotion to be more positive and more intensive; while having knowledge about the titles did not influence the aesthetic experience.

Highlights

The interactivity of museums usually refers to interface design, in art and science exhibitions or children’s museums
We discovered that the information about a piece of installation art changed the following dimensions of aesthetic emotions: valence – to more positive, dominance – to a higher degree of control, and subjective significance – to more significant
Our results are consistent with previous studies demonstrating that the physical context of the exhibition space intensifies the aesthetic experience of artworks (Brieber et al 2014, 2015b; Grüner et al 2019; Locher and Dolese 2004; Locher et al 1999, 2001; Specker et al 2017) and grants new insights into empirical aesthetics – as the influence of physical context had not been tested so far in case of the installation art

Summary

Introduction

The interactivity of museums usually refers to interface design, in art and science exhibitions or children’s museums. Interactivity understood in this way appears to increase the audience’s involvement in learning about museum exhibits and plays an educational role. Many contemporary artistic practices require the active participation of the spectator This is the case for performances, conceptual artworks and installations (Dezeuze 2010). One of the critical features of installation art is that it is interactive – but not necessarily in the sense that the viewer can touch a work of art It may well be the interactivity resulting from the fact that viewers dwelling or moving around in the area of the installation becomes part of the artwork (Pelowski et al 2018a)

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