What is an artwork, a space, an artist and a viewer?
Four things meet in any exhibition: the artwork, the space around it, the artist who made it and the viewer who looks. In a painting on a wall the viewer mostly stands in front. In an installation the artist arranges objects, light, sound or images in a room so that the viewer can enter the work and feel it with the whole body.
The artist's body and gesture
An artist's body can be a tool or the subject. A big arm swing with a brush or charcoal leaves a trace of that movement. In performance, the act itself (walking, dancing, standing still) is the art. In some works the artist's hand-prints, size or voice are included. When we look at the trace we can imagine the gesture that made it.
Physical presence of a work in space
A sculpture or installation is real, not a picture of something. It has height, width and depth, a weight, a material and a place. You can look from many sides; the view changes as you move. Hanging, standing, lying on the floor or leaning on a wall each give a different feeling. Light creates shadows that become part of the work.
The viewer's experience: scale, path and staging
Scale is size compared to the viewer. A very large work can make you feel small or surrounded; a tiny one makes you lean in and be careful. The path is the way you walk through the room: the artist can lead you with walls, floor lines and doors, or leave you free. Staging (in French mise en scène) means arranging light, distance, sound and order so that the viewer notices what the artist wants. The viewer completes the work by walking, looking and feeling.
Where and how works are displayed
Works are shown in many places: a museum or gallery with white walls, a street or park, an old factory, a church, a train station, or on a web page. The place changes the meaning: a work in a calm gallery feels different from the same work in a busy market. Display choices include height, frames, plinths, labels, lighting and the order of works. A site-specific work is made for one place only.
Mixing visual arts with digital technology
Digital tools add screens, projection, sensors, sound and computer-made images to physical art. A camera can make the work respond to a viewer's movement. A projection can paint a moving picture on a wall or on the sculpture. Digital art can be copied and shown in many places, but its power often comes from being placed in a real room with real people.
How to look at an installation
Ask five questions: What is it made of? How big is it compared with me? Where am I led to walk and look? What did the artist's body or hands do? What do light, sound or screens add? Then say what you feel and give a reason.
Try it
In the 3D: in the last step make the work small, then large. Which size makes you feel surrounded? Walk the visitor round and notice what changes.
At home: hang strings of paper from a doorway or a shelf, light them with a torch and let a friend walk through. Draw how the light and shadows change with the path.
Key formulas and definitions
- Key terms: installation, gesture, performance, scale, path, staging, display, site-specific, projection
- Scale ratio = size of work ÷ height of viewer
- Viewing distance for a whole work ≈ 1.5 to 2 × its largest side
- Real size = drawing size × scale number
Worked examples
1. A hanging work is 3 m tall. A visitor is 1.5 m tall. What is the scale ratio?
3 ÷ 1.5 = 2. The work is twice the viewer's height.
2. A work is 2 m wide. Roughly how far back should a viewer stand to see all of it?
About 1.5 to 2 times 2 m, so 3 to 4 m.
3. A model of an installation is 20 cm wide at scale 1 : 10. What is the real width?
20 × 10 = 200 cm = 2 m.
4. Name two ways staging can guide a viewer.
Lighting a work with a spotlight; marking a path with floor lines or walls so the viewer meets the works in a chosen order.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the artwork is only the object. In an installation the room, light and the viewer's walk are part of it.
- Looking from one place only. Move around: the view changes.
- Judging a work as 'good' or 'bad' without giving reasons. Describe what you see, then explain how it makes you feel.
- Forgetting the place. The same work means different things in a gallery, a street or a screen.