Aesthetic experience succeeds or fails on attentional quality, not object traits

Evidence

The aesthetic relation is a human conduct whose central stake is (linguistic, perceptive, etc.) attention itself, in its deployment: the success or failure of an aesthetic experience is not decided by the characteristics of the (real or represented) object, but by the satisfactory or unsatisfactory quality of the attentional process that we invest in that object. […] The default dynamic of the act of verbal comprehension is founded on a principle of economy: it is a matter of understanding as quickly as possible while expending the least attentional energy. […] In the framework of the aesthetic relation, on the other hand, it is attention itself, and so in this case reading as act, which is the aim of the conduct, and it no longer follows the principle of economy, but on the contrary maximizes the attentional investment. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 431

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Oliveiros deep listening and the attention-economy literature. — connects to: Rich aesthetic attention requires tolerating delayed understanding — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 433; Art can function as attention-holding architecture against distraction — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 58; All aesthetic venues share a meta-attentional engagement structure — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 459 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Defines the aesthetic relation as attention-maximizing in contrast to comprehension’s economy principle.

Broader Connections

• Rich aesthetic attention requires tolerating delayed understanding #expands (0.85) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 433
• Art can function as attention-holding architecture against distraction #corroborates (0.80) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 58
• Attention is not just a filter of perception but the formative interface of identity #expands (0.78) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 355
• All aesthetic venues share a meta-attentional engagement structure #expands (0.75) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 459
• Seepticised traditions gain value when reconceived as attention formation #expands (0.75) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 438
• Screen culture trains us to misperceive attention as singular and task-oriented #complicates (0.72) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 204