City Research Online

Abstract

Subjective experiences of participatory arts are inevitably multisensory and multimodal, arising from systemic interactions between individuals, stimulus attributes (affordances of the artform(s) with which they engage) and environment. This article considers an ongoing immersive multisensory participatory arts initiative for adults living with mental ill health, taking place in both community and healthcare settings, utilizing Turkish water marbling (ebru) and musical sound generation. Marbling and music are shown to simultaneously mobilize and synthesize different senses and modes of experience in ways that can be conceptualized as a low arousal mode of immersive trancing. Motion, repetition and pattern emerge as key stimulus attributes facilitating immersion. Psychological qualities of experience include narrowed attentional focus, heightened sensory acuity, reduction of thought, present-centered conscious awareness. Shifts away from baseline states of consciousness provide temporary respite from aspects of self (such as overthinking/emoting). Perspectives from consciousness studies and psychological phenomenology highlight the self-regulatory potential of multisensory arts-based engagement.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher Keywords:	Participatory arts, music, mental health, trance, multimodal, multisensory immersion
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Performing Arts
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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