Over the past decades, contemporary art has shifted away from purely object-based works towards more spatial and experiential forms. Installation art plays a key role in this development. Instead of presenting an artwork as an isolated object, installation art places the viewer directly within the work (Bishop, 2005). The viewer is no longer a distant observer, but an active and physically present part of the artwork. This shift changes how meaning is created. Experience is no longer limited to visual perception, but includes space, movement, and time. Walking through an installation, staying within it, or changing position all influence how the work is perceived by the visitor. Meaning therefore comes through presence and duration rather than through visual observation alone (Lennon, 2025).
The main difference between traditional object-based art and installation art lies in how the viewer is addressed and how physical space is used. Classical artworks such as paintings or sculptures function as closed objects that are observed from a distance. The viewer remains outside the work and engages with it mainly through vision. Sculptures often emphasize control over material such as marble, bronze, or wood. They are usually placed on pedestals, which separate them from the everyday space of the viewer and maintain a clear distance between artwork and audience (Bishop, 2005). In installation art, space itself becomes an active part of the work. A room filled with colored light is no longer just a container for art, but the artwork itself. The work exists as a unified whole in which objects, spatial proportions, light, and sound are closely connected. This shift from object-based aesthetics to situational experience fundamentally changes perception. The viewer is no longer a detached observer, but a physically present subject whose senses are engaged beyond sight, including sound, touch, and spatial awareness (Kadari Art Gallery, n.d.).
In her critical history of installation art, Claire Bishop describes four main modes of experience. Each of them shows a different understanding of the viewer and their role within the artwork.
Phenomenological experience
This mode is based on the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and focuses on the lived body as the main site of perception. The viewer is not an analytical observer, but an active participant who experiences the work through movement, presence, and bodily awareness. The boundary between subject and object becomes less clear (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, n.d.).
Psychological experience
Drawing on psychoanalytic ideas by Sigmund Freud, some installations aim to disturb the viewer’s sense of stability or address deeper psychological layers. Concepts such as the uncanny or unconscious impulses are used to create emotional tension or discomfort (Bishop, 2005).
Political activation
In this mode, audience participation is understood as a tool for social and political engagement. The active involvement of the viewer is seen as an alternative to the passive consumption encouraged by mass media such as television or film.
Decentering of the subject
This approach challenges the idea of a single, fixed viewpoint. The viewer is confronted with multiple perspectives, which undermines hierarchical models of vision, such as those established by Renaissance perspective (Bishop, 2005).
Among these modes, the phenomenological perspective is especially important. It focuses on the awareness of one’s own body, movement, and position in space. This bodily awareness plays a key role in how installation art is experienced. Studies show that when viewers are physically involved and aware of their presence, the emotional impact of the artwork becomes much stronger.
The development of installation art is closely linked to a critique of the traditional exhibition space known as the “White Cube.” This model, described by Brian O’Doherty, refers to modern gallery spaces with white walls, neutral lighting, and little reference to the outside world (Zhihan Ren, 2025). The goal of the White Cube is to present artworks as timeless and objective, as if they exist outside of history, place, or social context. In this setting, architecture is not a neutral background. It functions as an invisible frame that shapes how viewers engage with the artwork. Installation art challenges this framework. Instead of being confined to a single object, the work extends into the surrounding space. Walls, floors, and the viewer’s position become part of the artwork itself. As a result, viewers are forced to constantly question where to stand and how to move within the space.
In contrast, the “Black Box” offers a highly controlled environment that originates from theatre and cinema. Here, darkness, light, sound, and movement are carefully directed to guide attention and emotion. In contemporary practice, these two models increasingly overlap and form what is often described as a “Grey Zone.” This hybrid space appears when performative works enter museum contexts or when media installations combine the openness of the White Cube with the controlled atmosphere of the Black Box.
Within this Grey Zone, the viewer often becomes an incidental performer. Their movement through the space is no longer random, but part of the overall structure of the work. The experience emerges through presence, movement, and interaction with the spatial setting.
To conclude installation art fundamentally changes the relationship between artwork, space, and viewer. Instead of observing from a distance, the viewer becomes an active part of the work through movement, presence, and sensory engagement. By involving the body and multiple senses, installation art shifts perception from visual observation to spatial and embodied experience. Overall, installation art positions the viewer not as a passive observer, but as a participant whose presence is essential to the work itself.
Bibliography:
Bishop, C. (2005). Installation Art. Tate Publishing. https://www.scribd.com/document/463827422/Installation-Art-Claire-Bishop-pdf
Kadari Art Gallery. (n.d.). Exploring the Boundaries: Installation Art vs Traditional Sculpture. Retrieved https://kadariartgallery.com/blogs/news/exploring-the-boundaries-installation-art-vs-traditional-sculpture
Lennon, B. (2025). How contemporary installation art uses space, site and scale to create a phenomenological experience for viewers [Master’s thesis, Institute of Art, Design + Technology]. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/iadt.30601340.v1
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. (n.d.). Olafur Eliasson: Your Imploded View (2001). Retrieved 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
