Locating the self within the aesthetic experience of sculpture

Abstract

This practice-based research project is about the location of the self within aesthetic experience: how can a response to an object put forward for aesthetic appraisal lead to an awareness of the physical and embodied cognitive self The study centres on sculpture and our experience of it. It begins by considering how an aesthetic experience can act as a framing mechanism though which an awareness of the physical and cognitive self can be realised. By drawing upon several established philosophical and scientific ideas surrounding aesthetic experience, and through actual fine art practice, making sculptural objects which knowingly seek to trigger certain responses, the study will examine possible constituent factors within the experiential moment. In terms of theoretical and scientific contributions to the issue, the study considers the possible roles of proprioception and affordance, mirror neurons and embodied consciousness. The studio works involved have the characteristics, broadly, of skeletal mechanical devices, in metal, wood and other materials, stripped down to a functional minimum. The final phase of the project involves a motion capture experiment which sought to support the practical and theoretical work undertaken with a detailed account of viewer movement and body position in relation to the sculptural object, and thus offer analytical data regarding certain aspects of the aesthetic experience. The data collected has then been used as the basis for new studio work to further examine the relation between viewer and object.

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