An Empathetic Space
(2019) KOVK03 20172Division of Art History and Visual Studies
- Abstract
- The technological development has provided the art scene with many new opportunities of including the spectator as an active part of an artwork. Moreover, one could argue that some artworks have grown to rely on the spectators participation to function to its full extent. This function includes both a physical function as well as an ability to create emotions and a relatable- meaning within the spectator. This thesis enlightens how the use of virtual reality can advance the spectators phenomenological experience of empathy within an artwork. This study is conducted through the use of Lars Elleström’s theory on intermediality and multimodality which has been used as a method of analysing. Furthermore, Thomas Fuchs categorization of empathy... (More)
- The technological development has provided the art scene with many new opportunities of including the spectator as an active part of an artwork. Moreover, one could argue that some artworks have grown to rely on the spectators participation to function to its full extent. This function includes both a physical function as well as an ability to create emotions and a relatable- meaning within the spectator. This thesis enlightens how the use of virtual reality can advance the spectators phenomenological experience of empathy within an artwork. This study is conducted through the use of Lars Elleström’s theory on intermediality and multimodality which has been used as a method of analysing. Furthermore, Thomas Fuchs categorization of empathy has been applied as a tool to analyse the creation of empathy within the empirical data.
The empirical data consists of the installation art: War (1972) by Marina Abramović and the animated virtual reality experience Quake (2017) by BBC Radio 4. Both installations have been studied with the help of case- and field-study. However, since War is from 1972, the field-study has been conducted through a visit of the remake Sound Corridor (War) from 2017. Henceforth, this thesis questions the empirical data’s classification as installation art and concludes their ability to become what Ilya Kabakov calls a total installation. The analysis of the two, concludes that empathy can be created and manipulated through intermediality as well as multimodality. The media guides the spectator’s perception of the artwork with the help of their respective iconology to create an experience of empathy.
The experience of empathy is greatly manipulated by the sensorial modality that help to create a spatiotemporal modality. This makes virtual reality a tool to advance the perception of empathy through an immersive state of flow. The creation of time and space where there is none concludes that empathy does not have to be grounded in a physical experience, but that a psychological one works just as well. The thesis does not only question the capability of the total installations to create empathy but also the spectator’s ability to relate to the world beyond the work of art. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8976340
- author
- Baden, Fannie Frederikke LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- A study on the creation of empathy when experiencing a total installation
- course
- KOVK03 20172
- year
- 2019
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- virtual reality, immersion, installation art, phenomenology, intermediality, art history
- language
- English
- id
- 8976340
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-14 09:19:39
- date last changed
- 2020-09-14 09:19:39
@misc{8976340,
abstract = {{The technological development has provided the art scene with many new opportunities of including the spectator as an active part of an artwork. Moreover, one could argue that some artworks have grown to rely on the spectators participation to function to its full extent. This function includes both a physical function as well as an ability to create emotions and a relatable- meaning within the spectator. This thesis enlightens how the use of virtual reality can advance the spectators phenomenological experience of empathy within an artwork. This study is conducted through the use of Lars Elleström’s theory on intermediality and multimodality which has been used as a method of analysing. Furthermore, Thomas Fuchs categorization of empathy has been applied as a tool to analyse the creation of empathy within the empirical data.
The empirical data consists of the installation art: War (1972) by Marina Abramović and the animated virtual reality experience Quake (2017) by BBC Radio 4. Both installations have been studied with the help of case- and field-study. However, since War is from 1972, the field-study has been conducted through a visit of the remake Sound Corridor (War) from 2017. Henceforth, this thesis questions the empirical data’s classification as installation art and concludes their ability to become what Ilya Kabakov calls a total installation. The analysis of the two, concludes that empathy can be created and manipulated through intermediality as well as multimodality. The media guides the spectator’s perception of the artwork with the help of their respective iconology to create an experience of empathy.
The experience of empathy is greatly manipulated by the sensorial modality that help to create a spatiotemporal modality. This makes virtual reality a tool to advance the perception of empathy through an immersive state of flow. The creation of time and space where there is none concludes that empathy does not have to be grounded in a physical experience, but that a psychological one works just as well. The thesis does not only question the capability of the total installations to create empathy but also the spectator’s ability to relate to the world beyond the work of art.}},
author = {{Baden, Fannie Frederikke}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{An Empathetic Space}},
year = {{2019}},
}