Meta-artistic immersion in digital exhibitions. History – mobilization – spectatorship

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

In the recent decade, the works of canonical visual artists have been presented as immersive multimedia attractions in venues worldwide. Performed in all-encompassing screen spaces and put into motion, this otherwise static and spatially confined imagery has been turned into mobilizing and seemingly boundless visual experiences. What are the aesthetic-receptive characteristics of such immersive digital exhibitions (IDE) centered around art history? To give an answer, this article takes a closer look at one of the IDE’s prominent predecessors, the Panorama, in order to identify moments of continuity and difference. Through a comparative analysis, I gain a nuanced understanding of the IDE’s experiential premises: its tactics and techniques of mobilization, its relation to its classical art historical content matter as well as its aesthetic core—a meta-artistic immersion that moves artistic practice and identity into the center of the experience.