Immersion is a key phenomenon of our time. The term is used to describe the experience or the feeling of being deeply and completely submerged in an environment. If the environment is artificial, it thereby characterizes the viewers’ experience within the work of art. Throughout the centuries, experiences perceived as immersive could be found in a variety of different aesthetics. Breaking down the border between artwork and viewer is an ancient and central topos of art. However, the intriguing question is: how? The talk pursues this question and explores the phenomenon of immersion by using concrete examples from the field of art.

Sabine Flach is professor of modernity and contemporary art at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz and she is head of the department of art history. 2011-2013 she was professor at the School of Visual Arts, New York City and 2000-2010 she was head of the research department “WissensKünste” at the Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung in Berlin (ZfL). Her research focuses on art and art theories of the 19th, 20th and 21st century, image and media theory of the 20th and 21st century, epistemology and methodology of contemporary art, phenomenology and art; art and art concepts of nature; aesthetics, aisthetics and media of embodiment.