Experience and the Interaction Between Body and Space

This research examines possibilities within the relationships between space, body, and experience. At the beginning of the study, ‘space’, ‘body’ and ‘experience’ are defined and a connection among these concepts is established. Connections include the relationship between body and space; the configuration created by the body in space; body`s effects on space; the ways the body experiences space; and how to increase body`s experience in space. We reconsider the idea that spatial design methods are only related to architectural elements. Space as the product of architecture has been integrated with art since the beginning of the 20th century and has introduced the concept of spatial experience. In the 21st century, art has been reconceptualised. As Jonathan Crary specified, a new approach is adopted taking its base from ‘perceptual experience’ as a subject area. This approach unifies ‘experienced’ space, object, observer-subject and time, bringing them together to create new readings and new spatial experiences. These kinds of spatial investigations have extended to activities in art as human sensory experience and in this way laid the conceptual foundation for ‘experienced arts’. These studies reveal that the meaning of the traditional art object creates a situation which negates the independence of space. That means a special unique relationship exists between the ‘art object’, ‘space’ and ‘subject’. Some important aspects of this unique relationship include the existence of a pluralistic setting, multiplicity of meanings, open-endedness, the audience as ‘participants’ rather than ‘watchers’, and interactions of subject and space. The objective of this study is to examine ‘experienced places’ which art and architecture have created by these interactions and different ‘spatial experiences’ that these places offer.