Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Affective Experiences

artworks that deconstruct and resist identification but carry rather a forceful, often transformative encounter. That encounter is argued to produce strong non-cognitive, corporeal processes or states of affect (Massumi, 1987). Discussions also lied on theoretical models and ideas deploying the conception of affect, introduced the idea of experience in the context of analysing texts of literature. The complexity of how affect can be deployed and exercised by the artists, curators and designers remains but the significance of the encounter between the human and the medium, is certainly agreeable. The audience is argued to become the main focus of the researcher, the designer, and the artist. Performances and artworks are open to be manipulated, felt, changed and become an individual’s very personal and affective experience. Computing, design and usability have also become part of the discussion on affect with the emergence and development of affective computing, emotional usability and emotional design (Picard 2003). The emergence of new digital and ubiquitous technological interfaces altered the bodily-lived experience of people and subsequently their perceptions, leading to a constantly evolving loop of experiences, which need to be situated in a larger socio-economical and ethical context. For example, interaction design practices (Höök 2013) have produced new concepts such as the affective alarm clock (Wensveen et al. 2002) or a lamp targeting values such as social helpfulness (Ross 2008). 2.1 Background work on the ‘New Media, Audiences and Affective Experiences’ project The AHRC funded project brought together disciplines of media arts and design, arts, digital humanities and cultural studies with an aim to comprehend how a researcher, an artist and a designer understand and produce experiences that carry emotional and affective qualities. How do we explore affective encounters in relation to interactivity, audience participation and interactive experiences? How do artists’ work and engagement with audiences reveal affective qualities? What is the role of affect and emotion when researching audience’s experience? How should we formulate research questions, research methods, and research dissemination? What methods researchers use and how affective encounters can be captured? To address these guiding questions we held three seminars between March and July 2013 exploring the following topics: (i) Research and digital technologies, (ii) Theoretical approaches on digital and new media research, (iii) Users and audience. We further organised the “Affective Experiences” conference on 9th December 2013 where a selected group of speakers presented their work and research. Talks were divided into the following four panels: (i) Affect in Media, Art and Design, (ii) Research online, (iii) Art evoking affect, and lastly (iv) Experiencing and measuring affective experiences. Multidisciplinary perspectives on affective experiences Marianne Markowski, Irida Ntalla, Christina Kamposiori & Vasileios Routsis 165 Providing an open space for dialogue along the diverse practices and research fields was challenging. The plurality of the definitions per se, the different disciplines and their uses of the specific concepts and the limited timeframe indicated the complexity of the themes. Nevertheless, an open discussion did occur along the participants on the different parts of the projects (seminars and conference) that showcase the necessity and motives for hybrids to emerge leading to new strands of work and knowledge exchange. In the following part, we will summarise engaging points from speakers and contributors to the project, reflecting upon the concepts presented. The first section Practice (see Section 3) focuses on the production of affective experiences and the practices employed by artists and/ or designers in relation to audience participation and interactive experiences. Audience participation is a familiar and arguably essential feature in these practices, as it is integral to the new forms of relationship developing in the intersections of art, technology and the social. The second part Research methods (see Section 4) concentrates on the use of methods to capture affective experiences, including online and lab experiments. In the latter theme epistemological stances, the formulation of research questions and the utilisation of research methods come into focus.