We wanted to find out first-hand how artists approach emotion in their practice, and to take this into our own speculative approach. The artists we spoke to have various links to the course and are important contributors in computational arts.
We held rich discussions, quite casual in format, with the four artists who kindly gave us their time towards this project, and found new ways of framing emotion through their discussion of their practice. Themes emerged between the four - namely that emotional connection in their work is not intended to convey a specific emotion, but is an abstract process that remains hugely important to their practice.
Memo Akten
Emotional connection is extremely important, perhaps being the only thing that matters in his practice. He noted that people express their reactions to his art in very different ways - some describe it as simply ‘trippy’, while others elucidate more - but there is some universality to the experience, and the differences reflect the audience’s experiences and open-mindedness.
Simon Katan
Mostly, emotional content is abstract in his art, but sometimes there is a conscious manipulation at play - for instance in his piece Clamour, he pits the audience against each other and exacerbates the frustrations we have with technology - e.g. how fast it responds.
Age and geographical location are important factors in the interaction with his art.
Andy Lomas
Working with a technical approach, Andy notes that the emotional content of his work may be the thing that shifts it from being purely science to being art. His static, 3D printed works tend to elicit responses of beauty while moving simulations elicit more disgust.
Atau Tanaka
A key theme that emerged in discussing Atau’s work in sonification was his consideration of intersubjectivity, which is a concept thoroughly discussed by Elizabeth A. Wilson. This can be the shared subjectivity between artist and beholder - two different but connected subjective reactions, rather than trying to engender direct empathy through an artwork.
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