Digital Motion Unseen

The article builds on my hypothesis that kinesthetic media features in digital artworks allow for the sensation and/or development of empathic feelings in the users/spectators of the artwork. This hypothesis has been developed during and subsequently to a three-year artistic research project which dealt with the possibilities of digital art to evoke synesthetic experiences in visitors. Starting with the aesthetics of digital media, the question appeared, if and how these aesthetics influence the integration of sensory, semantic, and social, i.e. empathic, perception of users/spectators.

The article describes the interconnectedness between kinesthesia (the sense of moving), the ability to feel empathy, and the multimedia, binary constitution of digital art in regard to its media aesthetics from various viewpoints, one of which is the description of kinesthetic media aesthetics in selected digital artworks. It also discusses neuroscientific findings about the role of mirror mechanisms in the brain-body which allow for the development of empathic feelings and cognition.