Experiential Art Manifesto
2015
The Manifesto
1. Experiential Art concern the experience and the process of experience by individuals and audiences.
2. Experiential Art utilises technology, both analogue and digital, to expose audiences to unorthodox experiences.
3. Experiential Art acknowledges the shift from the so-called information age to the age of experience and related practices and methods.
4. Experiential Art is always time-based and frequently facilitated through a purpose-designed environment.
5. Experiential Art challenges the medium and form of art presented and experienced. It often appears in new environments beyond institutional settings.
6. The aesthetic concern of Experiential Art is the human body and how it gives rise to living experience.
7. The body of the individual is the central arena of the artistic exploration.
8. A critical practice, Experiential Art reflects on the ontology and epistemology of the human body. This is often characterised by the examination of human – machine relationships, particularly of technology as provides a toolkit for artist to design experiences.
9. Experiential Art references and applies scientific findings to develop an aesthetic toolkit. This includes cognitive sciences, psychology and their interdisciplinary inquiry into the human condition.
10. Experiential Art augments /enhances /hacks human perception and senses. It often engineers multi-sensory and cross-sensory experiences.
11. Experiential Art cultivates transdisciplinary practice using production methods of design and engineering.
12. Experiential Art uses sensor technologies and machine learning to comprehend the viewers and their re/actions better.
13. Experiential Art uses technology to expose individuals to its effects. It often creates a feedback loop by altering the artwork in response to an individuals’ (affective) actions.
14. Experiential Art acknowledges the importance of chance and of designing for chance.
15. A full encounter with Experiential Art is only possible in person. Reproduction, documentation and representation of an experience of experiential artwork are near impossible.
16. Progressive methods of video capture, data collection and advanced user experience methods may provide the most effective ways to document such works.
London & Budapest, August 2015