Kinaesthetic art

Kinaesthetic art is a tendency that explores the body in motion and the bodily sensation of movement as its central subject and means of expression. Unlike kinetic art, in which the objects themselves move, kinaesthetic art focuses on proprioception — the internal sense of the position and displacement of one's own body, on muscular effort, balance and gesture. The term was first associated with Futurism and later became bound up with performance, dance, the happening and practices that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century, when artists began to treat the movement of viewer or performer as an autonomous material. The kinaesthetic approach intersects with developments in experimental dance, notably postmodern choreography, and with installations that prompt the visitor to move, lean or balance in order to perceive the work. Here emphasis shifts from purely visual contemplation to a bodily, somatic experience of space. Kinaesthetic art widens the definition of an artistic medium by placing the living, moving, sentient human body at its centre.