Experiential turn: Sensory art in a multi-sensory world
What is Sensory Art?
Unlike traditional art forms where the audience stands at a distance, sensory art breaks the boundary between artist, artwork, and audience. Sensory art engages more than just sight. It activates touch, sound, smell, movement, space, and sometimes taste, inviting the viewer to experience the artwork rather than only observe it. The recalibration of how we experience and appreciate creativity, acknowledging that true immersion transcends the purely optical.
The significance of sensory art lies in its ability to offer a deeper, more visceral connection to the artwork, fostering a richer, memorable, and often more inclusive experience.The sensory art stems from its power to create truly immersive environments. Unlike traditional painting or sculpture, which often keep the viewer at a respectful distance, sensory art invites interaction. Sensory art responds to a simple truth of human life: we understand the world through our senses. In a fast-paced, screen-driven age, sensory art slows people down and reconnects them with bodily awareness.
Bharat’s Relationship with Sensory Expression
The multi-sensory art experience is participatory and engages emotionally, physically, and in an intuitive way. The viewers may walk inside the artwork. Sound may change with movement. Textures invite touch, and space itself becomes the medium. This shift transforms the audience from viewer to co-creator.
Interestingly, Bharat has always been sensory-rich by tradition. Think of the temple architecture with sound, scent, and light. The folk arts where music, movement, costume, and ritual merge. Crafts designed to be used, worn, and touched. Sensory art is not new to our country — it is a rediscovery in contemporary form. This innate understanding of how senses intertwine in cultural expression provides a fertile ground for contemporary artists of Bharat to explore sensory art.
While still an emerging segment in contemporary form, a growing number of artists and institutions are experimenting with sensory experiences. Galleries are slowly moving beyond the “Do Not Touch” signs, introducing installations where visitors can interact with materials like rough-hewn wood, soft silks, or cool metals.
Sound art, often drawing from classical ragas or field recordings of bustling urban life, is finding its way into contemporary exhibitions, creating sonic landscapes that evoke specific emotions or narratives.
The use of traditional attars (perfumes), spices, and natural elements is also being explored, transforming gallery spaces into aromatic journeys that connect with the subcontinent’s deep cultural memory.
However, the “sensory market” in the country, while nascent, faces unique challenges and opportunities. The traditional art market is still heavily driven by visual aesthetics and investment value.
Sensory art, with its emphasis on experience over a tangible, easily monetized object, requires a different kind of patronage and infrastructure. There’s a need for more experimental exhibition spaces, specialized curators, and increased public awareness to cultivate a robust market. Yet, the sheer scale of the country’s population and its deeply ingrained cultural connection to sensory experiences suggest immense potential for growth once these hurdles are navigated.
Some Contemporary Works
Several artists in our country explore sensory dimensions, even if they do not label it strictly as “sensory art.”—Anish Kapoor
Uses scale, void, reflection, and spatial perception to create bodily awareness. —Subodh Gupta
Uses familiar household materials that trigger memory, sound, and cultural recall.— Nikhil Chopra
Blends performance, time, costum e, and space into immersive experiences.— Raghava KK
Experiments with interactive storytelling and digital sensory engagement.
Alongside artists, curators, designers, theatre practitioners, and educators are also shaping sensory experiences beyond galleries.
Globally, the growth of immersive museums and pop-up experiences is strong. There is a strong link with tourism, wellness, and urban culture. The revenue comes from tickets, experiences, and collaborations, not just sales.
The sensory art is powerful for community engagement, children’s education, mental health spaces, and inclusive cultural access.
Why Sensory Art Matters for the Country’s Future
Sensory art offers a way to:
•Preserve traditional knowledge in contemporary forms
•Create inclusive cultural spaces
•Generate livelihoods in creative and experience-based sectors
•Bridge art, education, wellness, and technology
It resonates with the civilizational idea that art is not separate from life.
This multi-sensory engagement also means that the “meaning” of the art can be less prescriptive. While an artist might intend a specific emotional response through a scent or sound, individual experiences will vary widely based on personal memories and associations. This makes sensory art incredibly personal, allowing each viewer to construct their own unique narrative within the artist’s framework. It’s a departure from the “expert opinion” model of art criticism, inviting a more democratic and subjective form of appreciation where personal experience takes precedence.
In conclusion, sensory art is far more than a fleeting trend; it represents a significant evolution in how we create, present, and consume art. Its power lies in its ability to break down barriers, foster deeper engagement, and offer a more inclusive and profound experience. As countries like Bharat, with their inherent multi-sensory cultures, increasingly embrace this movement, we can anticipate a vibrant future where art truly speaks to every facet of our human experience, transforming galleries from quiet spaces of visual contemplation into dynamic realms of immersive sensory exploration.
(The writer is a cr eative Economy Expert)
