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

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.