Subject matters(s): perception as an experience

This piece of research explores the relationship between art and dance. This exploration, as well as the performance piece that I created, aims to demonstrate my vision of inter-disciplinary art forms as well as the way that I feel about these practices. Theorising about what can be produced by the merging of art and dance, allows us to understand how artists can express themselves and communicate to audiences in non-traditional ways. This influences my daily practice and sits at the forefront of my research. This project focuses on witnessing and experiencing, rather than traditional practices of communication such as reading and writing. This study has two main subject areas of research to explore. The first research topic is on experience and perception; looking at the ways in which experiences are made. This was explored with the intention of finding ways to ensure that I could portray my feelings and communicate them effectively to an audience with my final piece. The second subject explored in this paper is on the work of artists that have influenced the processes of making within my final performance. This research focuses on the fluidity of the arts and questions the boundaries that some place on different art forms. The primary research of this project contains data from artist exhibitions and questionnaire feedback from the final event. The questionnaire provides qualitative data on the audience’s perception and experience of my final piece. This methodology allows the participants to answer the questions freely and descriptively. However, the limitations of this methodology are the potential lack of consistency within the data, as the scope for responses is broad. The secondary research within this paper is a literature review which aims to refine the work of several theorists of perception, as well as artist research. The aim of this literature review is to enhance the probability of positive outcomes; whereby the feedback received from my audience about the experience (verb), matches the experience (noun) that I curated. The chapter Experience and Perception looks at the theories of multiple scholars to understand the meaning of perception and experience. It discusses the differences between and importance of the senses in the making of experience, as well as the role of emotion in the unconscious misinterpretation of perception. Concepts such as 'aesthetic perception’ are explored in order to understand how these ideas can be translated into aiding the creation of the final piece; as well as in understanding how perception can be applied to the creative process. The chapter Art, Dance and Performance introduces the idea of dance as art and the ways in which dance can be used to communicate with an audience. The chapter uses the work of artists whose work incorporates various disciplines and channels audience participation. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an in-depth discussion on the boundaries that surround the definition of art, demonstrating how complex and subversive the very nature of artistic expression can be. The section Subject Matter(s) discusses how the final piece, Subject Matter(s) was created. It does this through explanations and descriptions of how perceptions, these being the experiences that exist through our senses, and artistic choices were used to create each element of this final piece for the audience to experience. The last chapter reviews and discusses the results from the qualitative data of the questionnaire and looks at the ways in which the style of question works to allow cohesive responses, despite the openness of the question itself. It also explores the ways in which some areas of the questionnaire could be amended to improve the feedback between myself and the audience. Lastly, it looks at areas of the event and experience that could be changed if the study were to happen again. The outcome of this study, in theory, will have an audience experiencing, to an extent, what I want them to experience. By using the ideas around audience perception discussed in this research, as well as specifically and intentionally curating each element of the final piece, the audience will gain an insight into my passions, influences and emotional responses towards art; ultimately allowing them to understand and experience my intended artistic vision. You had the experience of what the world was like for one head, which in this case was my head. Richard Foreman You had the experience of what the world was like for one head, which in this case was my head. Richard Foreman, 200