The purpose of this study is to explore the diverse ways that aesthetic
experience is tested by participatory art. The study will show the part played by
participatory action in changing the conditions in which aesthetic experience
arises. It will be confirmed that when the philosophy of action is taken into
account then explanations of participatory art are enhanced.

There are many descriptions of aesthetic experience and it is generally assumed
to be a cornerstone in explanations of art. In one of the leading accounts
aesthetic experience is associated with disinterested perceptions where the
individual is free of any practical concern for the object of experience. In recent
explanations of contemporary art there is less emphasis on aesthetic experience
and there is a tendency to suggest that background knowledge and
interpretation are equally as significant as perception in the experience of art.

‘Participatory art’ is a category of art that explicitly demonstrates this state of
affairs. In contemporary criticism participatory art is a term used to describe art
that favours an audience composed of active contributors rather than detached
viewers. These are artworks that encourage moments of engagement by an
audience such as the moving of elements in the work or the movement of the
participant’s body. It could be said that the observable actions of participants
mediate between perception and knowledge in participatory art. Such work
opens up a space where assumptions made about the experience of art can be
challenged.

The present study explores how aesthetic experience is affected by the
introduction of human action in participatory art by exploring three exhibitions
of participatory art at The Tate Modern, The Barbican and Dundee
Contemporary Arts. In this study it is suggested that participation in such
artwork may be a consequence of deliberation, spontaneity or may take place
within a social group. Therefore, the aesthetic experiences and actions that are
identified in these artworks are examined from the standpoint of reason, the
body and social convention through the respective adoption of analytical,
phenomenological and institutional/sociological perspectives.

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