Abstract

This article has two paragraphs that share the same aim: acknowledge the active role of the environment in aesthetic experience. The first one enquiries a critical reading of the neuroaesthetics’ history by analyzing the techniques and the epistemologies applied. It will come to light that spatial and cultural decontextualization of the artworks are the two methodological issue uncritically pursued throughout the history of this framework. From this critical prospective, the second paragraph discusses the sculptural artworks that yearn for verisimilitude. This case study shows how the environment that hosts them cooperates with the emotional and cognitive responses of the spectator.