{"id":460,"date":"2021-07-20T17:08:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T09:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caarchives.org\/?p=460"},"modified":"2021-07-22T14:14:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T06:14:07","slug":"aesthetic-distance-of-art-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caarchives.org\/aesthetic-distance-of-art-appreciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Aesthetic Distance of Art Appreciation under the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic | Chih-Yung Aaron Chiu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\u3010<\/strong>by<\/em> Chih-Yung Aaron Chiu, June 2021\u3011<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps the world, people have been mired in the global collective spectacle of \u201csheltering in place.\u201d Offline events at schools, museums, and associated institutions in almost all countries have been consequently brought to a temporary halt, while \u201cworking from home\u201d and \u201clong-distance appreciation\u201d have become realities thanks to technologies and social media services. Fortunately, during the global public-health emergency, the Taiwanese government\u2019s preemptive preparedness against the pandemic allows people in Taiwan to live relatively normal lives and stage artistic events without suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defying the common stereotype of \u201cart as nugatory,\u201d artistic exhibitions and performances have indubitably served as the primary source of inner sustenance throughout the worldwide lockdown. Besides, the aesthetic distance of art appreciation has been gradually tackled from the perspective of physical space rather than psychology. Furthermore, digital technology has rendered long-distance appreciation possible. Therefore, this article seeks to examine how art appreciation, which used to be purely mental activity, metamorphosed with the assistance of technologies in response to the status quo of contemporary exhibitions, performances, and online curating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aesthetic attitude refers to the special viewpoint a subject takes towards an object that results in the subject\u2019s aesthetic experience. In the article titled \u201cThe Modern Conception of Aesthetics\u201d (1907), Edward Bullough argued that the studies of modern aesthetics should pay extra attention to the psychological dimension. Then, in his article titled \u201c\u2018Psychical Distance\u2019 as a Factor in Art and an Aesthetic Principle\u201d (1912), Bullough employed psychological approaches to aesthetic attitude. He formulated the concept of \u201cpsychical distance\u201d as a psychological factor as well as an aesthetic principle behind a viewer\u2019s appreciation of a work of art. In his opinion, such kind of distance is neither temporal nor spatial in nature. We can genuinely appreciate an object only by detaching it from its utility and keeping our psychological distance from it. In the same article, Bullough further explained three kinds of distance in connection with art, including \u201cactual spatial distance,\u201d \u201crepresented spatial distance,\u201d and \u201ctemporal distance.\u201d He claimed that these concepts are little more than special forms of distance, whereas aesthetic experiences can be gained more easily from the \u201cgeneral connotation\u201d of distance, namely psychical distance.[1]<\/sup><\/a> Accordingly, the distance in aesthetic activity refers to both the psychological (e.g., expertise, concept, emotion, and attitude) and physical distance between the subject and the object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Shift from Psychical to Physical: Telepresence and Long-Distance Appreciation <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new wave of online art on a global scale. People in quarantine and lockdown can thus find inner sustenance in using digital tools, such as \u201cfree access to collection data,\u201d \u201cdigital curating at virtual museums,\u201d and \u201cremote control of display technologies.\u201d For instance, the Hastings Contemporary and the Van Abbemuseum adopt remotely controlled robots to make themselves accessible to those who cannot physically partake in the museum events. Besides, the Lisson Gallery provides an AR platform that allows people to harness via their computers. Moreover, Google Arts and Culture undertakes the video project \u201cArt for Two.\u201d Thus, the users can wander all alone through a museum with no one else around, and engage in dialogues with directors and experts as well, in which they will find the alternative delight of virtual curating and online tour. The catastrophic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant boom in digital experiences like live streaming, online watching, free downloading, and open access. Leon Deng-Teng Shih coined the term \u201csubstitutional subjective-vision\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a> to denote this kind of digital avatar applications controlled remotely through digital platforms and cameras. Technological devices connect the users\u2019 eyes and minds with the artworks in museums and galleries. Nonetheless, whether the pandemic-catalyzed \u201cnew experiences of virtual sites\u201d indeed bring about a paradigm shift in art appreciation remains an issue worth our deeper contemplation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n