Sources Part 1
Due to my greatest disappointment, I still didn’t get an access to e-library, thus all of my sources, for now, are short online articles.
Source 1:
In the Age of Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens by Stephen Apkon.
In this book, Apkon focuses mainly on the moving image, but there is a part where he explains how our brain works, what are mirror neurons and why is it easier for us to consume visual content rather than text.
In the chapter called ‘The Brain Sees Picture First’, Apkon discusses visual language from the biological perspective. And explains that visual language is becoming a global one because our brain perceives image way faster than the written word.
«85% of brain —writes Apkon — is dedicated to processing and making sense out of the visual stimulation that flows in at an astonishing rate. The eye and the brain evolved together as working unit.»
As for me, this is a very shaky statement. Probably this number represents some proportion among sensory data in general.
But the idea remains the same, the speed of processing the visual content (or an image) is a part of the reason why images ‘hit us in the gut’ quicker, than the written word.
Apron writes: «There is a physiological reason that we laugh out loud more readily at a funny movie than at a comedic novel: it is because our visual pathways are trapped more directly into the inner, ‘reptilian’ core of the brain that houses pleasure-reward centers and that governs our basic responses.»
The author claims that processing of the images is directly linked to our natural behaviour. While the language of words evolved recently and demands «an indirect path from reception to cognition». The language of words keeps us distant from emotional core and leaves a lot of place for us to fill.
Experiment
Rafael Malach (professor of brain research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel) believes, that seeing is a subjective and creative act.
Malach conducted an experiment, where patients were shown 64 video clips, and then were asked to say to the microphone what they had seen. And when patients were talking about the clip, they experienced the same burst of activity in the neurons as when the clip was shown.
And the rest of the chapter he talked about mirror neurons. I won't put you through all of the nonsense information. So to tell a long story short, mirror neurons work through vision, when you observe someone eating an apple, our brain imitates that action without actually performing it. That is why, explains author, we are emotionally engaged with the movie and thanks to mirror neurons we can feel empathy, friendship, and suffering of the other person.
Source 2:
What happens in the brain during a spiritual experience?
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322092.php
I think it might be useful for the understanding of the brain work during an immersive experience.
Prof. Lisa Miller, the editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology & Spirituality, has conducted a series of studies on what happens in, or to, the brains of people with intense spiritual lives.
Her research has indicated that people with habitual spiritual practices show cortical thickening in the prefrontal cortex. Intriguingly, she says that individuals who live with chronic depression experience cortical thinning in the same brain region.
This has led her to argue that spirituality and depression are likely "two sides of the same coin."
Recently, Miller and a team of researchers from the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, at the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City, NY, and the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, have used functional MRI to find out what happens in the brains of individuals as they picture an intense spiritual experience.
They recruited participants subscribing to different spiritual and religious practices, whom, in a first experiment, they asked to remember a personal spiritual experience as their brains were being scanned.
This was done with the help of guiding scripts that the participants received beforehand, instructing them "to describe a situation in which [they] felt a strong connection with a higher power or a spiritual presence."
Since they all had widely different spiritual practices, the experiences described in the experiment prompt spanned an extensive range, from "a two-way relationship with a higher power" and "a felt sense of oneness in nature by the ocean or atop a mountain" all the way to "being in a zone of intense physical activity (such as sports or yoga), sudden awareness, bodily felt connectivity or buoyancy, meditation, or prayer.»
It is stated in the article, that during spiritual experience (could be literally anything) inferior parietal lobe — which has been tied to a person's awareness of the self and of others — was less active when they were describing (not even experiencing) a spiritual event, whereas the activity in that brain region increased when they thought of stressful or emotionally neutral experiences.
So, the team suggests, this region "may contribute importantly to perceptual processing and self-other representations during spiritual experiences."
This appears to confirm Miller's previous arguments that spiritual experiences could help to "buffer the effects of stress on mental health."
"These results demonstrate neural mechanisms underlying spiritual experience across diverse traditions and perspectives," the researchers explain.
Art experiences against stress? Could art be considered as spiritual experience? If yes, than our tendency to create immersive rather than objective art can be explained as an attempt to receive a spiritual experience in our non-religious society and thus become happier?
Source 3:
What is Installation Art? | History and Top Art Installations Since 2013
https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-installation-art-history-artists/
Brief introduction to Installation Art. Modern Met Team also talks about characteristics of installation art (immersive, large-scale, site-specific) and influences (dada, conceptual art, performance art):
Characteristics
IMMERSIVE
A key attribute of installation art is its ability to physically interact with viewers. While all artistic mediums have the ability to engage individuals, most do not completely immerse them in interactive experiences.
In addition to facilitating dialogues between observers and works of art, this unique characteristic invites individuals to view art from new and different perspectives—literally!
LARGE-SCALE
Given their interactive nature, most works of installation art are large in scale. Their sizable statures enable viewers to become completely immersed in each larger-than-life environment. In many cases, it even allows them to sit, stand, or walk through it—a distinctive capability not commonly found in more traditional forms of art.
SITE-SPECIFIC
Unlike sculptures, paintings, and similar pieces, installations are usually planned with certain sites in mind, from rooms in galleries and museums to outdoor spaces. Given the strategic nature of their designs and the uniqueness of their surroundings, site-specific works of art ensure a one-of-a-kind aesthetic and experience.
Influences
Like many modern and contemporary genres, the installation art form is rooted in several different movements—namely, Dada, conceptualism, and performance art.
DADA
Like Dada, an avant-garde movement that emerged in the early 20th century, installations often showcase an experimental approach to art. Specifically, installation’s incorporation of mixed media and emphasis on three-dimensionality are undoubtedly inspired by two Dada staples: ready-mades and assemblages.
CONCEPTUALISM
Inspired by the Dadaists, Conceptual artists believe that the idea behind a work of art takes precedence over its aesthetic. This sentiment is also present in installation art, with well-known contemporary artists like Ai Wei Wei and Damien Hirst using their celebrated installations as a means to relay messages to viewers. “As a person, I was born to give out my opinions,” Ai Wei Wei explains. “By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am.”
PERFORMANCE ART
While performance art—a practice performed before an audience—may seem dissimilar to installation, a form of fine art, the two movements are linked by a key characteristic: a creative and conceptual use of space. In both cases, artists find innovative and inventive ways to reinterpret and reimagine everyday environments.
The article also discusses a range of installations from 2013 to 2017. It is notable that installations from the year 2017 were mainly aimed to deliver a message (invite the viewer to reach artists conclusions). In the year 2015, installations had more playful qualities, providing a pleasant experience, changing our perception of the space. 2013 - a mix of activist art and pleasant experience.
Source 4:
Installation Art by Julie Reiss
http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920105/obo-9780199920105-0026.xml
This source provides a good list of books on topic installation art:
Bishop, Claire. Installation Art: A Critical History. New York: Routledge, 2005.
A critical history of installation art that analyzes the nature of the different experiences offered to the viewer. International in scope, the book offers various frameworks including the psychoanalytic and the phenomenal as a means of characterizing the experience of installation art. Reductive in its categorizations, yet useful as a starting place for considering critical entry points for any given installation.
Coulter-Smith, Graham. Deconstructing Installation Art: Fine Art and Media Art, 1986–2006. Southampton, UK: CASIAD, 2006.
This online book locates installation art in Peter Bürger’s Theory of the Avant-Garde (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984). Uses the term “deconstructive art,” a lineage Bürger dates back to Marcel Duchamp, Dada, and Surrealism. Emphasis is on the transgressed aspects of installation art and its potential to close the gap between art and the viewer. Somewhat dense but worth the effort.
De Oliveira, Nicolas, Nicola Oxley, and Michael Petry. Installation Art in the New Millennium: The Empire of the Senses. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
A follow-up to Installation Art (De Oliveira, et al. 1994), this well-illustrated volume includes installations by a wide range of international artists, organized by theme. Written at a moment when installation art had recently become ubiquitous, the book overall captures the energy of contemporary installation art. Interesting introduction by Jonathan Crary contextualizes the work in relation to contemporary experience.
Gonzalez, Jennifer. “Installation Art.” In Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Vol. 2. Edited by Michael Kelly, 503–508. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
A comprehensive encyclopedia entry on installation art. Discusses the meaning of this art form as well as citing texts dealing with the subject, such as Victor Burgin’s “Situational Aesthetics” (Burgin 2009, cited under the Installation Art Experience). The article also talks about landmark exhibitions and important works in the development of installation art. Available online by subscription.
Ran, Faye. A History of Installation Art and the Development of New Art Forms: Technology and the Hermeneutics of Time and Space in Modern and Postmodern Art from Cubism to Installation. New York: Peter Lang, 2009.
Ran regards installation art as the preeminent postmodern art form and situates it in relation to technological and cultural shifts in the 20th century. Dense and at times convoluted but contributes new ideas regarding installation art’s sources.
Reiss, Julie H. From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art. Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 1999.
Identifies installation art’s salient features. Using critical reception, interviews, and photographic documentation, Reiss traces the history of installations in New York from the marginal alternative spaces of the art world to mainstream museums by the early 1990s. Clearly written, the book offers a methodology for the art historian addressing installations that are no longer extant.