Wendy Ann Mansilla

Implicit experiences as a determinant of perceptual quality and aesthetic appreciation

Since the Dadaist refusal of the conventional standards in art, followed by Fluxus` rejection of art as a commodity, and recently, the popularity of Internet and technology in art, artworks have become difficult to recognize as artworks in themselves. Modern works of art are no longer readily only seen today, more often fully experienced. The processing of an aesthetic experience needs a new understanding in terms of the changing context of art and the experiential perspective of art recipients. In the multimedia arena, the valid assumption is that, evaluations of aesthetic experiences are mostly based on the accessible information on the surface of the medium. Several research groups in psychology question the singularity of exterior-level assumptions demonstrating that there are modulating factors that affect aesthetic experiences and one of these is implicit experience. In this paper, we review the significance of empirical aesthetics in psychology and from the artistic point of view combined with a technical and experiential perspective. We also discuss our approach of considering the implications of implicit experiences to the modelling of Quality of Experience (QoE) where this is used as a measurement of perception and aesthetic judgment of contemporary and modern works of art.

Exposure effect on experience and visual perception in stereoscopic visual presentations

The advent of new technologies in cinema, theatre and virtual reality together with increasing demands for new content, are pushing the boundaries of filmmaking and storytelling to the limits of our imaginations. The potential for 3D film to blur the line between virtual storytelling and social network gaming is not just hypothetical. These technologies now incorporate audiences and players that are actors in the virtual world themselves. They often encounter other actors they are familiar with in virtual or real-life. In social psychology, familiarity is a robust phenomenon demonstrating that just being familiar to someone causes preference and increased positive affect to them. In this paper, the role of familiarity in the visual perception and user experience is investigated. To test our findings, stereoscopic film scenarios were developed. An experiment has been conducted to see if annoyance present on a stereoscopic film content outweighs the user experience over familiarity. This paper argues that a stereoscopic 3D film technology seems to gain more from increased emotional relevance than from higher quality resolutions.

Exploring the Impact of Food Craving and Pleasure Technologies on Aesthetic Experience in Digital Media

Humans are known to be good in creating pleasure technologies. In fact, some evolutionary psychologists believe that aesthetic experiences are biologically hardwired. This article reviews how the pleasure stimulus concept can be explored to enhance human experience in digital media. It is argued that the individuals consumption motivation is more than the by-products of the biological pleasure circuits. For instance, in daily life, one experiences various information processing, some of which does not emerge into ones explicit consciousness but relevantly contributes to ones experience. Although craving or desiring is mostly an explicit process, it can also manifest as an unconscious aspect of experience leading to an irrational or intrusive thoughts that can in turn alter or contribute to the aesthetic character of an experience. Using Quality of Experience assessment methodologies and extensive literature from a multidisciplinary standpoint, this article shows that intrusive mental concepts on food craving saliently affect the users aesthetic experience and perception of quality in digital media.

Chroma space: affective colors in interactive 3d world

We have developed an installation called Chroma Space to serve as a platform for experimenting the novel usage of affective colors in an interactive synthetic scenario. Chroma Space demonstrates the effective impacts of using a stylistic approach to address emotional sensations, by making colors move in space. We conducted a study to assess the impact of exposure to achromatic colors to different interactive 3D scenarios. The results suggest that presentation of color has an emotional impact to viewers. We argue that designers of synthetic 3D environments should consider the application of stylistic or thematic use of color on screen to increase the emotional attractiveness of an application.

ARC – towards alternate reality cinema

Todays popular presentations of immersive digital narrative experiences commonly utilise wide screens or forms of panoramic projections to display visually realistic content. The shift of focus to other media forms that includes non-realistic and aesthetic expression using audio and small displays is a challenging step. This paper describes an interactive narrative content and design approach that explores small displays and wide perceptual audio projections to achieve an immersive experience. A mixed media content known as Autophobia was implemented as a proof of concept. Autophobia uniquely presents film, radio, and photomontage to achieve an alternate reality experience.

Multiuse Playspaces: Mediating Expressive Community Places

The authors present their design-led development process in creating an exemplar multiuse playspace in the Adressaparken public park in Trondheim, Norway.

Flick flock: the distant and distinct characteristics of the masses in immersive aesthetic space

This presentation elaborates on the phenomenon of distance and distinctiveness behind an installation called Flick Flock (2009). The installation uses embodied interaction to explore the human perceptual processes in experiencing a world stylized by form, color, and sound. Using various technologies, (i.e. stereoscopy, 3D surround, and computer vision) Flick Flock breaks the distance by involving the participants physical body in the interaction and in the content. The installation accommodates distinctiveness by introducing spatiotemporal ambiguities in its visual presentation. An ambiguous presentation of the interconnection of collective bodies, individuals and objects above the earths surface, ever changing the behavior and composition of one tiny space and the universe it holds. Flick Flock experiments on the effective representation of such complex condition to contemplate on the relationship between humans, natural and human-made entities as something essential and influential to human experience.