In installation art, the physical presence of the viewer is not optional but it is essential. Ilya Kabakov famously stated that “the main actor in the total installation is the viewer; they are the center toward which everything is directed.” This focus on the viewer, however, often leads to a paradox: instead of being placed at a privileged point, the viewer is physically decentered. There is no single, ideal position from which the work can be fully understood. Meaning emerges only through movement within the space (Bishop, 2005). Another key aspect of installation art is duration. While a painting often suggests an instant or timeless moment, an installation requires time. The viewer must walk through it, pause, return, and explore. In this sense, installation art shares qualities with theater or film, yet differs in one crucial way: the visitor remains autonomous. They choose their own path, pace, and length of engagement (Zhihan Ren, 2025).
Contemporary museums increasingly respond to these demands with dynamic exhibition design. Static white walls are replaced by flexible and mobile elements that can adapt to movement and interaction. A notable example is the exhibition Homo Ludens where visitors were able to change the spatial setup themselves using mobile devices. Architecture becomes a “living” part of the experience, something that reacts and evolves through human presence.
Technological developments have further expanded these possibilities. Hereby immersive exhibitions today often use:
- High-resolution projection mapping, allowing images to be projected precisely onto irregular surfaces such as columns or curved walls, making architecture appear fluid or unstable (Johnson, 2025a)
- Spatial sound systems, with multiple speakers creating soundscapes that move around the visitor and envelop them acoustically (Johnson, 2025a)
- Haptic feedback, such as vibrating floors or handheld controllers, which add a tactile layer to perception (Johnson, 2025a)
These technologies are not meant as pure spectacle. Their goal is to intensify emotional and sensory engagement and to encourage visitors to reflect on their own perception and their relationship to the surrounding world.
Richard Serra and Time as Matter
Richard Serra’s monumental installation The Matter of Time (2005) in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is one of the most radical explorations of space, time, and bodily experience. Installed in the 130-meter-long, column-free gallery, the work consists of eight massive Cor-Ten steel sculptures that activate the entire space (Johnson, 2025b).
Rather than presenting individual objects, Serra creates an environment that unfolds through movement. The viewer becomes the subject, and meaning is produced through walking.
- Physical disorientation: The tilted and curved steel walls create a constant sense of imbalance. Scale and orientation shift continuously, challenging spatial perception.
- Proprioceptive awareness: Moving through narrow passages makes visitors more aware of their own bodies, their breathing, rhythm, and physical limits. The acoustics of the steel amplify footsteps and ambient sounds, intensifying feelings of isolation or compression.
- Time as material: The title emphasizes that time itself is sculptural. Each form leads to the next, subtly altering the visitor’s orientation in relation to the museum architecture.
Serra’s approach is influenced by his study of Japanese Zen gardens, which he understood as spatial fields that can only be experienced through movement. In Bilbao, Frank Gehry’s architecture functions as a resonant shell around the sculptures, creating a quiet, almost meditative space where perception slows down.
Olafur Eliasson and Perceiving Perception
Olafur Eliasson places the viewer at the absolute center of his work. His installations often function as tools that invite visitors to step back and reflect on their own actions and sensory processes. Eliasson frequently works with natural elements such as light, fog, water, and ice to heighten sensory awareness. Blurring subject and object: In Your Imploded View (2001), a polished aluminum sphere reflects the surrounding space but distorts it so strongly that viewers see themselves from unfamiliar perspectives. The artwork no longer dominates; instead, a dialogue emerges between observer and object (Malone, 2007).
- Individual experience: Eliasson’s frequent use of the word “Your” in his titles emphasizes that meaning is personal and shaped by memory, expectation, and physical position.
- Collective awareness: At the same time, these highly subjective experiences make visitors aware of others sharing the space. Being surrounded by fog or light creates temporary communities and encourages reflection on social responsibility.
A clear example is Beauty, where a rainbow appears through light and fine mist. The rainbow is only visible from a specific angle and exists solely in the act of seeing. Here, the viewer does not just observe the image but actively produces it through their position in space.
Installation art shifts the focus away from the artwork as an isolated object and toward experience as a process. Movement, time, and bodily presence are not secondary effects but core components of meaning. Whether through massive steel structures or fragile light phenomena, these works demand active participation and awareness. Rather than offering clear messages, they create situations in which perception itself becomes unstable, and it is precisely within this instability that reflection begins.
Bibliography
Bishop, C. (2005). Installation Art. Tate Publishing. https://www.scribd.com/document/463827422/Installation-Art-Claire-Bishop-pdf
Johnson, F. (2025a, September). Immersive Art Museum: A Deep Dive into Digital Experiences, Future Trends, and Visitor Engagement. Wonderful Museums. https://www.wonderfulmuseums.com/museum/immersive-art-museum/
Johnson, F. (2025b, November). Richard Serra Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: Exploring the Monumental Steel Sculptures Within Frank Gehry’s Architectural Masterpiece. Wonderful Museums. https://www.wonderfulmuseums.com/museum/richard-serra-guggenheim-museum-bilbao/
Malone, M. (2007, December). Ólafur Eliasson, Your Imploded View, 2001. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. https://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/learn/learning-resources/eliasson-olafur-your-imploded-view-2001/type/essays
Zhihan Ren. (2025). When the Black Box Meets the White Cube: Spatial Shifts and Postdramatic Aesthetics in Performance Art. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392611552_When_the_black_box_meets_the_white_cube_spatial_shifts_and_postdramatic_aesthetics_in_performance_art
