Models for Art Spectatorship (MOAS)
Who is the "art spectator"?
The art spectator is the subject of an experience in which a specific object "manifests" as a work of art. This experience, which cannot be predicted and which may or may not happen in every relationship, generates a bond through which both sides are constituted respectively as work of art and spectator.
The work of art is not an isolated object, it includes its context, the system of forces, meanings and traditions in which different elements relate to each other. The spectator, once constituted as such, is, integrally and necessarily part of that system (Harman, 2021).
Therefore, it is not the same to speak of spectators as of audiences or publics (Puelles Romero, 2011). Although the spectator is part of an audience, not all the members of an audience are spectators, because not all of them relate to the work specifically as a work of art.
What are the objectives of MOAS?
1
To understand what kind of experience it is to be a spectator of a work of art, describing some of its possible forms.
2
To define the personal conditions that make it possible to occupy the position of spectator in the nexus of agencies that form art (Gell, 1998).
3
To determine what institutional conditions allow the deployment of this type of experience and which hinder it.
In particular, the aim is to:
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Review aesthetic theory, particularly of phenomenological tradition, in order to define the subject of the experience of art within the defining the subject of the art experience framework of the notions of live experience, saturated phenomenon, etc.
To continue the development of the Museo Universidad de Navarra’s “Pause Lab” as a space for the analysis of particular experiences, workshops, and meetings that allow analysis of particular experiences, workshops and meetings to test theoretical aspects of art reception with spectators, artists and works of art in the Museum itself.
To identify, describe and analyze significant practices significant practices (artistic, curatorial, mediation, etc.) related to the art spectator in museums and contemporary art centers.
Hypotheses
Aesthetic experience
The reception of a work of art is a particular type of aesthetic experience in which ludic pleasure and the capture of noetic elements in an artifact are intrinsically united.
Relational condition
Art reflects the human condition in its original relational quality. The artisticity of a given work is given and constituted in its reception by the spectator, the one can who can understand its value.
Regeneration of subjectivity
The experience of art brings into play and develops aptitudes that allow self-discovery as a subject of experience and encourage the regeneration of subjectivity. This fact gives art its peculiar "political" character. Art institutions can encourage or veil this character.
Team researcher
Nieves Acedo
RESEARCHER TEAM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRA
→ Dailey Fernández (School de Philosophy y Letras)
→ Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro (ICS / Museum of the University of Navarra)
→ Lourdes Flamarique (University of Navarra)
→ Begoña Errasti (School of Nursing)
→ Inés Olza (ICS)
→ Teresa Reina (Faculty of Philosophy and Letters)
→ Javier Yániz (ICS)
RESEARCHER EXTERNAL EQUIPMENT
→ Graham Burnett (Princeton University)
→ Daniel Vega (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao)
→ Caitlin Sweeney (Wildenstein Plattner Institute Inc.)
Activities
2023-2024
IX meeting Iberian Aesthetics: Art and Life, of the Spanish Society of Aesthetics and Theory of the Arts (SEyTA), organized by the group of Aesthetics and Contemporary Art (GEAC) of the University of Navarra. Participation (NA).
laboratory of Pausa del MUN: Pilot workshop of experience and appreciation of art. Analysis of aesthetic subjectivity by examining first-person experiences according to the phenomenology method of internship. Organization (NA, BE, IO, GPB).
laboratory of MUN Pause: Second Week of Attention. 3 conference dedicated to topic of attention and directed to researchers, with lectures by internationally renowned experts. Organization and participation (NA, IO, GPB, TR).
Princeton University. research stay (NA).
36th Congrès du committee International d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA) in Lyon. Session "Materialising Loss: Absence and Remaking in Art History". Participation (NA, CS).
41st International Human Science Conference, Malloy University, Long Island, New York. Participation (NA, BE).
Pause Lab
The "Pause Laboratory" of the University of Navarra Museum is an empirical research space for the improvement of the physical and mental capacities, attitudes and skills that encourage the development of a contemplative life.
It was inaugurated in May 2023 with the I Week of Attention organized as part of the MUN's SociArte program. In collaboration with ICS and with the support of the Friends of Attention, the I Week of Attention attracted to its workshops and activities more than 40 participants interested in the theory and practice of attention and listening as a means to connect with art, with others and with our environment.
