The Body: Aesthetic Experiences Beyond the Fully Functioning Senses

In this lecture, Zoe Yeh, Director of the Fengjia Arts Museum, shares insights drawn from years of exhibition experience at Fengjia and from curatorial projects in inclusive arts both locally and internationally. The discussion centres on how individuals with physical or psychological impairments engage with aesthetic experiences, and how such encounters inform and inspire contemporary art, design, and creative practices. The talk illustrates how aesthetic practices can become a means of exploring and expanding the boundaries of human thought.

The creation of art often presumes an audience of able-bodied adults. However, if sensory needs were more carefully categorised and acknowledged, art could serve as a medium through which both creators and audiences reflect upon, and become more aware of, sensory differences and shared experiences. The 7th Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition, “ANIMA” (2020), hosted by the Fengjia Arts Museum, explored the construction of visual perception and viewing experiences through the concept of mental imagery. Visually impaired artist Hsu Chia-Feng was invited to design a multisensory pathway that enabled both sighted and visually impaired audiences to engage with video art through their full sensory capacity, fostering a dialogue centred on the body as a perceptual boundary.

Hsing Huai-An observes: “Artistic creation or an audience’s aesthetic engagement is a process of witnessing and being witnessed. Opposition arises from a lack of understanding of the other, forming a unidirectional, binary structure. Discussions of art and aesthetics that involve impairment, deficiency, abnormality, or dysfunction reflect humanity’s desire to compensate for what is lacking. Artistic practice, in essence, is a mechanism for reconciliation—transforming the act of witnessing into a process of resolving opposition. When we see and feel, the possibilities inherent in diversity unfold. Only by dismantling opposition can culture progress towards a more enriched state.”