Published: 2025-12-15

Haptics as a Travelling Concept in the Humanities

Jacek Ostaszewski
Cultural Studies Appendix
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zk.2025.12.19

Abstract

t the turn of the 20th century, Alois Riegl proposed a distinction between haptical and optical reception of a work of art, which is often considered the beginning of modern art theory. The article presents the aesthetic and philosophical tradition on the involvement of the various senses in the reception of art before Riegl, taking into account the considerations of Albert von Hildebrand, Robert Vischer and Ernst Mach, among others. Further, using Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” and the works of Laura U. Marx from the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it is shown how Alois Riegel’s concept enables the recognition of new modes of functioning of art, especially avant-garde art, from the perspective of modernist aesthetics. A review of theoretical concepts reveals that the well-established distinction between haptics and optics can change its meaning and field of reference over time and depending on the cultural context.

Keywords:

haptic perception, tactical exploration, multi-sensory experience, apperception transformation

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Citation rules

Ostaszewski, J. (2025). Haptics as a Travelling Concept in the Humanities . Cultural Studies Appendix, (12), 365–389. https://doi.org/10.21697/zk.2025.12.19

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