Atmospheres as dynamic configurations: The case of a museum and a techno club

TY - CHAP

T1 - Atmospheres as dynamic configurations

T2 - The case of a museum and a techno club

AU - Biehl-Missal, Brigitte Biehl

AU - vom Lehn, Dirk

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Federica De Molli and Marilena Vecco; individual chapters, the contributors.

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - Organizational spaces and museum exhibitions are often designed to encompass people with a given atmosphere that encourage particular behavioural and cognitive responses. In a leisure context such as techno clubs, people are given the opportunity to have experiences that are site-specific standing in a particular a nightlife tradition. Similarly, in museums people encounter objects and artefacts displayed to allow them to have an aesthetic experience. In our chapter, we will draw on Gernot Böhme’s aesthetic theory, developing his notion of atmosphere and aesthetic work. We explore how spaces and their atmospheres are dynamically produced through people’s action and interaction. Our investigation will consider atmospheres as ongoing, as continually produced and transformed through people’s ‘aesthetic work’, i.e. actions, movements, and embodied interaction influenced by their moods, emotions and energy, as well as their memories and past experiences. Based on our analysis we will argue that leisure and cultural experiences arise within the spaces and atmosphere that people co-create through their presence and activities. We draw on examples from the cultural and creative industries: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Berghain techno club in Berlin, which during the global pandemic in 2020 was transformed into an art exhibition ‘Studio Berlin’ in co-operation with Boros art foundation.

AB - Organizational spaces and museum exhibitions are often designed to encompass people with a given atmosphere that encourage particular behavioural and cognitive responses. In a leisure context such as techno clubs, people are given the opportunity to have experiences that are site-specific standing in a particular a nightlife tradition. Similarly, in museums people encounter objects and artefacts displayed to allow them to have an aesthetic experience. In our chapter, we will draw on Gernot Böhme’s aesthetic theory, developing his notion of atmosphere and aesthetic work. We explore how spaces and their atmospheres are dynamically produced through people’s action and interaction. Our investigation will consider atmospheres as ongoing, as continually produced and transformed through people’s ‘aesthetic work’, i.e. actions, movements, and embodied interaction influenced by their moods, emotions and energy, as well as their memories and past experiences. Based on our analysis we will argue that leisure and cultural experiences arise within the spaces and atmosphere that people co-create through their presence and activities. We draw on examples from the cultural and creative industries: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Berghain techno club in Berlin, which during the global pandemic in 2020 was transformed into an art exhibition ‘Studio Berlin’ in co-operation with Boros art foundation.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131987658&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781003134671-3

DO - 10.4324/9781003134671-3

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85131987658

SN - 9780367681937

SP - 27

EP - 39

BT - The Metamorphosis of Cultural and Creative Organizations

PB - Taylor and Francis Ltd

ER -