Yandell Walton
In his book, Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences (1998), Philip Fisher investigates the idea of ‘the aesthetics of wonder’ in relation to Modernist artworks. Fisher maintains that experiences of the sublime and wonder both rely on the ‘aesthetics of rare experiences’, yet he differentiates between these modes of engagement by arguing that while the sublime is associated with awe and danger, wonder is linked to experiences of surprise and delight. Fisher describes the ‘aesthetics of wonder’ as the process by which a viewer experiences an oscillating sense of awe, pleasure and curiosity when engaging with art. In his words, the ‘aesthetics of wonder has to do with the border between sensation and thought, between sensation and science’.
It occurred to me while I was roaming around the Gertrude Projection Festival that Fisher’s theory of the ‘aesthetics of wonder’ was being played out in front of my eyes. Observing the artworks on display and the people looking at these works, it became apparent that intentional visitors and random passers-by seemed to shift between moments of awe and curiosity as they navigated the space and works. Audience members would suddenly become intrigued by a projected artwork on a window, building, footpath or another space, then almost immediately start looking for evidence of how it was being produced. Clearly they understood that these projections were artworks and illusions, even the smallest children could comprehend this, but part of the pleasure of engaging with these ephemeral public artworks was working out how these illusions were being created and identifying where they were being projected from.
As in any festival, some artworks stand out more than others and in this year’s