Immersion
Installation view of 'Olafur Eliasson: Presence', GOMA, featuring Riverbed 2014 / Purchased 2021. The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust / Collection: The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © 2014 Olafur Eliason / Photograph: C Callistemon / View full image
Immersive art shifts attention away from art objects and towards environments
that invite a viewer’s active participation. Instead of observing an artist’s finished
artwork from an external perspective, the viewer becomes part of the work,
completing it through their involvement.
Immersive art has a long history. Early precedents include the cave murals of Dunhuang, China, and the monumental ceiling paintings of the Italian Renaissance, which enveloped viewers in pictorial space. In the early twentieth century, artists influenced by the emergence of cinema began experimenting with optical perception using moving images, and progress beyond static forms of representation.
In the 1990s, a curatorial and theoretical framework known as ‘relational aesthetics’ positioned audience participation at the centre of artistic practice. In this approach to understanding art, any interaction between artist and viewer can transform the artwork from an object to be contemplated into a shared experience. This emphasis on participation laid the groundwork for the twenty-first century’s turn towards art as an immersive ‘living encounter’.
New technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, digital displays and interactive interfaces, now enable museums to create dynamic exhibition environments. As technologies evolve, artists and audiences alike continue to respond creatively and critically to the relationship between imagination and immersion. Similarly, the use of personal photography — from selfies to social media posts — has transformed how audiences participate in and share experiences with others.
Activities
Differentiated activities
- Students use building blocks to create a dream home for their family and pets. It could be ‘built’ where they currently live or a place where they want to move to. Question prompts could include: Is your dream home smaller, bigger or the same size as your real home? Did you keep anything the same in your dream home as your real home? Do you feel comfortable in your dream home? What would you do with friends when they visit your dream home?
- Each student chooses someone they know and collaborates with them to make an artwork. They come up with a list of ways to make art and use this list to create an invitation to an art party.
Activity ideas for younger students
- In small groups, students reimagine an artwork as part of a story. They decide whether the artwork represents the beginning, middle or end of the narrative, and use role-play to bring that part of the story to life.
- Students create a tactile collage inspired by an artwork using craft materials (e.g., cotton wool, felt, ribbed cardboard, ribbon) to explore how adding interactive elements can change the way an audience experiences the artwork.
Activity Ideas for older students
- Students select an artwork then reimagine it as a physical or virtual environment that immerses the viewer.
- Students pair artworks with complementary or contrasting sensory elements, such as sound, texture, scent or lighting. They experiment with different combinations and reflect on how layering these sensory elements can change the way the artwork is experienced.
- Students select an existing artwork and play different types of music while
observing it, recording how it changes the way the artwork is experienced.
Glossary of cognitive verbs
Describe
To give a detailed account of the features of something by identifying and communicating what can be seen, heard, felt or otherwise sensed. In relation to works of art, this includes visual elements such as colour, shape, line, texture and subject matter, as well as other perceptual qualities such as sound, movement, scale, spatial presence and materiality.
Analyse
To examine the parts and features of something in detail to understand how they work together. In relation to works of art, this involves breaking down visual and sensory elements — such as colour, composition, texture, sound and materials — and considering how they work together to create meaning or effect. It also includes identifying techniques, processes and relevant contextual influences that shape the work.
Interpret
To draw conclusions about the possible meaning of an artwork, considering the artist’s intent and the viewer’s own ideas and feelings.
Evaluate
To make a judgement about the quality, effectiveness or impact of something, based on criteria or evidence. In relation to works of art, this includes assessing how successfully the artist has used materials, techniques and elements to convey ideas or achieve an intended effect, as well as considering the work’s originality, impact or relevance.