Sensory Field Research in Art & Design

This presentation explores how sensory field research enhances design thinking and perception of urban spaces, drawing from fieldwork conducted in Hong Kong's Mong Kok and Busan’s Seomyeon. Initially conceived as a pedagogical tool in a visual arts research methods course, a sensory scavenger hunt in Mong Kok prompted graduate students to engage with their environment through all five senses, challenging them to reinterpret familiar spaces. Activities included prompts to isolate or combine sensory inputs, leading to unexpected discoveries like the interplay of food scents, bustling sounds, and tactile textures. In Busan, this method evolved through sensory isolation techniques, such as blindfolds and earplugs, amplifying students' awareness of less dominant senses. The experiential component deepened their understanding of how sensory stimuli influence spatial perception. Students created sensory maps that translated their experiences into visual and conceptual representations, fostering new approaches to urban design and art practices.

This approach bridges sensory studies and creative practice, offering a framework for understanding how multisensory engagement informs cultural, social, and environmental interactions. It highlights the potential of sensory methodologies to inspire innovative research and design strategies in the creative arts, emphasizing experiential learning as a cornerstone for bridging theory and practice.

Valérie Mace (University of the Arts London, London College of Communication, UK)

Towards a Sensory-Emotional Framework For design and Management Practices to Cultivate a Greater Sense of Connectedness in Public Environments.

This presentation articulates insights from an investigation into the personalisation of experience in the public interior to uncover principles that can contribute to the visitor emotional attachment to place. The research posits that catering for a multiplicity of sensory and emotional needs can foster a greater sense of connectedness and belonging. To support this perspective, insights are synthesised into a sensory-emotional framework for design and management practices to cultivate a diversity of people and activities, individual and collective wellbeing. The methodology is rooted in the paradigm of embodiment to explore the visitor situated experience of personalisation analysed in two dimensions: personalisation for visitors, the way the interior is designed and managed, and personalisation by visitors, the way they engage with the environment to enact their preferred activities. Personalisation for and personalisation by are treated as complementary and interdependent. The sensory-emotional framework developed through this research can deepen our understanding of qualitative practices at the intersection of physical space and lived experiences, to contribute to the creation of public environments that are inclusive, welcoming and sustaining but also stimulating, enjoyable and fun, making daily life more rewarding and connected.
Keywords: Multisensory design, Sensory-emotional connectedness, Embodiment, Personalisation, Public interior.

Nick Wees ∆ (Centre for Sensory Studies / SOAN, Concordia University, Canada)

Space, Atmosphere, Sound: Street Performance and Urban Sonic Experience

If it is uncontroversial to say that public urban space presents a complex and varied sensorial-affective landscape, and that sound – or, sonic experience – is a crucial, if sometimes overlooked, component of everyday spatial experience, it is not always quite so evident how to effectively describe and analyze the sonic dimension of public space in a manner that is both theoretically informed and based in empirical research. By placing Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s theorization of space and everyday life alongside various applications of the concept of atmosphere, as stemming in particular from the thought of Gernot Böhme – both currents having been productively expanded upon, notably in the realm of urban studies (sociology, anthropology, human geography, etc.) – I will examine the sonic dimensions of public urban space, with specific reference to my own current ongoing research on the effects that buskers (street performers) may have on how public spaces are perceived and used by the general public. In so doing, I will consider various models for sensory-ethnographic research methods that may also be applicable in other settings.
Keywords: public space, atmosphere, sound, sonic experience, street performance, busker