Alina V. VENKOVAHerzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Saint Petersburg, Russia
48, Moika Emb., St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, 191186
D. S. Likhachev Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Moscow
Российский научно-исследовательский институт культурного и природного наследия им. Д.С. Лихачёва
2, st. Cosmonauts, Moscow, Russian Federation, 129301.
Principal Research Fellow of the Center for Basic Studies in the Sphere of Culture
PhD in Cultural Studies
Associate Professor
e-mail: venkova@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-3075-612X
The Concept of Immersion in the Aesthetics of Atmospheres and the Theory of the “Optical Unconscious”Abstract: The article provides a critical analysis of the influence of the aesthetics of atmospheres and the theory of the optical unconscious on the interdisciplinary status of studies of the phenomenon of immersion, determines the place of immersion in this group of theoretical attitudes, reveals the concept of immersion in the aesthetics of atmospheres by G. Boehme and the theory of the "optical unconscious" R. Krauss. To consider the first approach, the theses of the phenomenological aesthetics of M. Merleau-Ponty are used, for the analysis of the second concept – some ideas of the psychoanalysis of J. Lacan.
The article shows that both theories lay the foundations for an interdisciplinary study of immersion as part of a multisensory turn in culture, which, in the context of these approaches, is characterized by reliance on uncertainty, non-localizability and non-articulability of atmospheres; consideration of atmospheres as environmental spaces; placing an emphasis on the corporal nature of the interaction between a person and a thing inside the atmosphere; interpretation of perception as embodied presence. The importance of unconscious sensations caused by atmospheres is emphasized, the priority for the "optical unconscious" of the non-visual, non-empirical, unconscious power of reception is affirmed.
In general, both concepts reflect the shift in focus of attention observed in modern humanitarian studies from the empirical, rationalistic premises of the subject's observation of the visible and audible world to the corporal immersion of a cognitive agent in this process, which can be described as an assertion of a multisensory mode of perception in contemporary culture.
Key words: immersion, atmosphere, optical unconscious, sonic unconscious, formless.
References:
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For Citation: Venkova, V. The Concept of Immersion in the Aesthetics of Atmospheres and the Theory of the “Optical Unconscious”. International Journal of Cultural Research, 3 (44). 103–113. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_3_103
DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_3_103
