Art can be measured

1926 · Theoretical programme

Wassily Kandinsky

Numerical description of composition

С этого момента каждая композиция получит свое числовое выражение, даже если первоначально оно будет применимо лишь по отношению к ее «схеме» или крупным массам.

Working translation from Russian: From this point on, every composition will acquire its numerical expression, even if at first it applies only to its ‘scheme’ or large masses.

The quoted Russian wording is Elena Kozina’s translation.

What it supports. Kandinsky envisages a numerical description of artistic composition. He presents this as a theoretical programme for describing form.

Limits. The prediction is conditional: immediately before the quotation, Kandinsky notes the lack of measurement tools. A numerical description of form does not establish a universal scale of artistic value.

Kandinsky, W. Point and Line to Plane (1926), ‘Line’, subsection ‘Number’. Quoted Russian translation by Elena Kozina: Azbuka-klassika, 2005, pp. 63–232.

Text and quotation context

1923 · Creative programme

Sergei Eisenstein

Calculating emotional impact

…математически рассчитанному на определенные эмоциональные потрясения воспринимающего…

Working translation from Russian: …mathematically calculated to produce particular emotional shocks in the perceiver…

What it supports. Eisenstein calls for experimental verification and calculation of a theatrical work’s effect on the audience.

Limits. This is a creative and research programme. It does not prove that any work can already be fully calculated or objectively ranked.

Eisenstein, S. ‘Montage of Attractions’. LEF, 1923, issue 3, pp. 70–75; quotation on p. 71, section II. Reprinted in Selected Works, vol. 2, 1964, p. 270. Short excerpt.

Digitised first publication

1999 · Established research method

Mikhail Gasparov

Exact methods for studying poetic rhythm

…Изучение ритма стиха давно освоило точные методы и стало самой научной областью филологии…

Working translation from Russian: …the study of verse rhythm has long mastered exact methods and become the most scientific field of philology…

What it supports. Gasparov describes the established use of exact methods in studying rhythm, metre and the statistical patterns of verse.

Limits. In the same passage, Gasparov contrasts the exact study of rhythm with the less formalised study of semantics. The claim concerns a particular layer of a work.

Gasparov, M. L. Metre and Meaning. First published: RGGU, 1999. Quotation checked against Fortuna EL, 2012, introduction, p. 14.

Digitised edition with pagination

1965 · Methodological principle

Andrey Kolmogorov

Testing hypotheses about verse

…гипотезы же, возникающие из живого восприятия стиха, могут быть при надлежащей методике работы проверены и превращены в объективное знание…

Working translation from Russian: …hypotheses arising from the living perception of verse can, with an appropriate method, be tested and turned into objective knowledge…

What it supports. Impressions about the organisation of verse can generate hypotheses; an appropriate analytical procedure can test them.

Limits. Testing hypotheses about verse structure does not turn an overall judgement of beauty or artistic value into an objective number.

Kolmogorov, A. N. ‘Remarks on the analysis of the rhythm of Mayakovsky’s Verses on the Soviet Passport’. Voprosy yazykoznaniya, 1965, issue 3, pp. 70–75. Reprinted in Works on Verse Studies, 2015; the linked PDF includes the passage.

Collected works (PDF)

1925 · Methodological basis

Lev Vygotsky

Objective analysis of artistic form

…объективно аналитический метод, исходящий из анализа искусства, чтобы прийти к психологическому синтезу…

Working translation from Russian: …an objective analytical method, proceeding from the analysis of art towards a psychological synthesis…

What it supports. Vygotsky treats artistic form as an object of analysis through which aesthetic responses can be studied.

Limits. This supports objective analysis; the quotation does not directly claim quantitative measurability.

Vygotsky, L. S. The Psychology of Art. Written in 1925. Quotation from the author’s preface in the 1986 Iskusstvo edition, p. 17.

Full text with page numbers

2008 · Experimental method

Uri Hasson and colleagues

Measuring brain responses to film

In this paper, we describe a new method for assessing the effect of a given film on viewers’ brain activity.

What it supports. The authors measured brain activity during film viewing with fMRI and compared its temporal patterns across viewers using inter-subject correlation.

Limits. Similar brain responses describe shared effects. They do not establish artistic superiority or audience approval, and the findings did not apply equally to all film sequences.

Hasson, U., Landesman, O., Knappmeyer, B., Vallines, I., Rubin, N. & Heeger, D. J. ‘Neurocinematics: The Neuroscience of Film’. Projections 2(1), 2008, pp. 1–26. Abstract. DOI: 10.3167/proj.2008.020102.

Authors’ laboratory abstractPublication DOI

2010 · Film corpus analysis

James Cutting and colleagues

Quantitative analysis of editing rhythm

…shots became increasingly more correlated in length with their neighbors and created power spectra approaching 1/f…

What it supports. The study examines shot-length sequences in 150 Hollywood films from 1935–2005 and identifies a measurable historical change in their rhythmic structure.

Limits. The approach towards 1/f concerns the studied corpus. The authors cautiously discuss a possible benefit for attention; it is not a universal rule for good editing.

Cutting, J. E., DeLong, J. E. & Nothelfer, C. E. ‘Attention and the Evolution of Hollywood Film’. Psychological Science 21(3), 2010, pp. 432–439. Abstract. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610361679.

APS publication and abstract

2002 · Stylometric method

John Burrows

Measuring differences in literary style

…using the relative frequencies of the very common words for comparing written texts and testing their likely authorship…

What it supports. The Delta method compares texts using word frequencies and tests likely authorship. Literary style contains features that can be compared quantitatively.

Limits. Stylistic similarity is not a measure of literary quality. The abstract notes imperfect attribution and difficulties across genres or periods of an author’s work.

Burrows, J. ‘Delta: a Measure of Stylistic Difference and a Guide to Likely Authorship’. Literary and Linguistic Computing 17(3), 2002, pp. 267–287. Abstract. DOI: 10.1093/llc/17.3.267.

Publisher’s abstract

2017 · Psychometric instrument

Ines Schindler and colleagues

Measuring aesthetic emotions

Therefore, the empirical study of these experiences requires conceptualization and measurement of aesthetic emotions.

What it supports. The authors developed AESTHEMOS, a questionnaire with 21 subscales of two items each, to describe emotional responses to aesthetic appeal across several domains.

Limits. Measurement relies on people’s answers and requires validation for a particular sample. An emotional profile does not equal objective artistic value.

Schindler, I., Hosoya, G., Menninghaus, W., Beermann, U., Wagner, V., Eid, M. & Scherer, K. R. ‘Measuring aesthetic emotions: A review of the literature and a new assessment tool’. PLOS ONE 12(6), 2017, e0178899. Abstract. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178899.

Open research article

2017 / 2020 · Statistical research

Alan Cowen, Dacher Keltner and colleagues

Statistical maps of responses to music and video

We applied data-driven statistical modeling techniques to these judgments to characterize the semantic space of subjective experience associated with music in each culture.

What it supports. The 2020 study identifies 13 dimensions of music-related experience in the US and China. The 2017 study describes 27 varieties of experience in responses to 2,185 short videos.

Limits. These are participants’ reported experiences. The videos are not exclusively artworks; 13 and 27 are study results rather than an exhaustive catalogue of emotions for all art.

Cowen, A. S., Fang, X., Sauter, D. & Keltner, D. ‘What music makes us feel: At least 13 dimensions organize subjective experiences associated with music across different cultures’. PNAS 117(4), 2020, pp. 1924–1934, Experiment 1. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1910704117. Cowen, A. S. & Keltner, D. ‘Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients’. PNAS 114(38), 2017, pp. E7900–E7909. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1702247114.

Music and 13 dimensionsVideo and 27 varieties of experience

2017 · Psychophysiological research

Eugen Wassiliwizky and colleagues

Recording physiological responses to poetry

…recited poetry can act as a powerful stimulus for eliciting peak emotional responses, including chills and objectively measurable goosebumps…

What it supports. The study combines psychophysiology, neuroimaging and behavioural responses. Emotional peaks during recited poetry have bodily correlates that can be related to textual structure.

Limits. The bodily response indicates intensity of experience, not a poem’s universal superiority. The study concerns recited poetry under research conditions.

Wassiliwizky, E., Koelsch, S., Wagner, V., Jacobsen, T. & Menninghaus, W. ‘The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles’. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 12(8), 2017, pp. 1229–1240. Abstract. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx069.

Abstract and study detailsArticle record in the university repository

2019 · Behavioural research

Ayşe I. Isik and Edward A. Vessel

Measuring enjoyment over time

…continuous behavioral ratings provide a reliable window into the temporal dynamics of such aesthetic experiences while not materially altering the experiences themselves…

What it supports. Two groups of 25 participants watched 30-second dance and landscape videos. Continuous ratings recorded changes in aesthetic enjoyment, with generally reliable repeated measurements.

Limits. Curves varied between individuals. The procedure measures individual enjoyment; extending it from 30-second clips to feature films requires further validation.

Isik, A. I. & Vessel, E. A. ‘Continuous ratings of movie watching reveal idiosyncratic dynamics of aesthetic enjoyment’. PLOS ONE 14(10), 2019, e0223896. Abstract. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223896.

Open research article

1962 · Historical approach

Alfred Hitchcock

Directing audience expectations

You might say I was playing them, like an organ.

On the audience of Psycho. Original English wording.

What it supports. Discussing Psycho, Hitchcock describes how direction guides the audience’s expectations and reactions. The order of information, editing and sound can be examined as deliberate choices.

Limits. This describes a directorial technique, rather than a universal numerical rating of a work.

Hitchcock in conversation with François Truffaut, 1962; Truffaut, Hitchcock, revised edition, Simon & Schuster, 1984, discussion of Psycho. The wording is also reproduced in David Schroeder, Hitchcock’s Ear: Music and the Director’s Art, Continuum, 2012, Introduction, p.1.

Quotation in the publisher’s book preview, p. 1

1922 · Historical approach

Vsevolod Meyerhold

Deliberate organisation of movement

Art should be based on scientific principles…

Opening of the sentence, abridged. Working translation from Russian.

What it supports. In his lecture on biomechanics, Meyerhold connects actor training with precise movement, balance and the use of the body. He proposes studying and practising artistic technique.

Limits. This is a historical programme of actor training; the statement alone does not establish every claim in it as scientifically valid.

В. Э. Мейерхольд. «Актёр будущего и биомеханика». Доклад 12 июня 1922 года.

Lecture text in Russian

1929 · Historical approach

Dziga Vertov

What makes up an editing interval

The shift between shots … is … a complex quantity.

Abridged quotation; omissions are marked by ellipses. Working translation from Russian.

What it supports. Vertov breaks the relationship between adjacent shots into framing, angles, movement, lighting and filming speed. Recording these features allows specific editing choices to be compared.

Limits. The complex quantity is the editing interval, not a single score for artistic value.

Д. Вертов. «От „киноглаза“ к „радиоглазу“» (1929), цитируется во вступительной статье С. Дробашенко к изданию: Дзига Вертов. Статьи. Дневники. Замыслы. М.: Искусство, 1966.

Introduction to the collected writings, in Russian

1938 · Historical approach

Konstantin Stanislavski

Technique that prepares the ground for creativity

The subconscious creativity of nature through the actor’s conscious psychotechnique

An Actor’s Work on Himself, part I, chapter II. Working translation from Russian.

What it supports. Stanislavski describes conscious techniques that help prepare a creative state. Actors can learn, repeat and test these techniques in their work.

Limits. He preserves a role for the involuntary and subconscious: technique creates conditions for creativity without exhausting it.

К. С. Станиславский. Работа актёра над собой. Часть I: Работа над собой в творческом процессе переживания. 1938. Глава II «Сценическое искусство и сценическое ремесло».

Book text in Russian, chapter II