Abstract
<p>This chapter examines scientific aesthetics and the role of artistic mediation in contemporary science exhibitions, with a particular focus on kinetic art installations, a dynamic form of art that relies on movement and expressive motion. It situates aesthetic exhibition practices within the growing paradigm of experiential learning in science museums, which marks a shift from traditional top-down information transfer toward interactive exchange, as well as cognitive, sensorial, and aesthetic engagement of museum visitors through exhibition design. Rather than presenting science as static information to be passively absorbed, such exhibitions invite visitors to feel, reflect, and interpret through sensorial stimulation and meaningful cognitive engagement, reshaping how scientific knowledge is communicated, experienced, and understood.Drawing on the vision of the Exploratorium, a museum of science, art, and human perception founded by Frank Oppenheimer, the chapter approaches art and science as complementary modes of revealing and exploring natural phenomena. Through a series of case studies in science museums where kinetic art installations function as artistic mediation, the chapter explores how these artworks communicate scientific ideas through metaphor, movement, and interaction. These examples demonstrate how artistic mediation can render complex processes tangible and participatory. Together, they show how aesthetic exhibition practices foster active meaning-making and position science as a dynamic, interpretative process.</p>