Ζηνοβία Τολούδη
Keywords: installation, exhibition, atmosphere, laboratory, public, theory
This essay discusses how atmospheres, through art installations and exhibitions, function as a laboratory to explore and test new ideas, and a medium to engage the user and the public. The author links contemporary installations and exhibitions through the theories of spheres by Peter Sloterdijk, and of laboratory by Bruno Latour; contextualizes them with earlier examples of “atmospheres” such as the environments, happenings, and interventions of the 1960s art scene; and presents four distinct typologies of projects coming out of this context. The ultimate goal of this essay is to present the formation of a theory for a more experimental and more experiential architecture.