Aesthetic experience. An investigation in phenomenological psychology

Aesthetic experience. An investigation in phenomenological psychology ved Tone Roald, lektor ved Institut for psykologi, KU.

Within phenomenology enquiries into the nature of aesthetic experience frequently focus on how to interpret the work of art correctly. Although interpretation in phenomenology is commonly linked to feelings, such an analytical move represents an attempt to avoid reception theory that marginalizes the aesthetic object itself. The normative assumption is that aesthetic experience should be constrained by the artwork’s form and content and not include subjective feelings. One consequence of this assumption is that the open-ended question of phenomenological psychology – how art is experienced in facticity – is hardly asked at all. To remedy this lack I take my point of departure in museum visitors’ own descriptions of intense experiences with visual art. The analytical framework is phenomenological psychology, and the analysis reveals several distinct characteristics of aesthetic experience. These characteristics provide the foundation for my central claim that art works through “intrapellation”: an affective process involving extensions of subjectivity, where the content of art becomes that of the subject. People open themselves with intense, affective interest toward new experiences, incorporating the works of art into their own subjectivity. In other words, art works by expressing something new that comes to belong to the subject, and in so doing expands the borders of experience. It is a kind of resonance experience that makes one feel more at home in the world.

Åbne tværfaglige møder

Mødet er en del af Center for Paradoksstudiers åbne tværfaglige møder. Møderne er åbne for alle og finder sted på Afdeling for Systematisk Teologi, lokale 6B-1-62. Tilmelding er mulig, men ikke nødvendig til e-mail: jst@teol.ku.dk.

Efter møderne fortsætter vi samtalen på Bryggen med mad og drikke.