With colossal numbers of subscribers accumulated on YouTube and over 400 billion views amassed on TikTok, a digital phenomenon known as ASMR has left content creators and their followers captivated. Short for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, this trend steals the show within a boundless numeric scene, with a simple yet strangely magnetic auditory content: a delicate whispering voice, that yields to a soft brush caressing a microphone, or melodically tapping nails on special fidgets. This specific content provides sensory delight and relaxation, causing tingling sensations along the viewer’s body. Nonetheless, behind its oddly satisfying cover of emotional calm, controversial topics emerge: Is ASMR the artistic movement of this era? Can a murmur impose the same weight on history book pages where a Donatello Sculpture once engraved, or a Monet landscape once embellished? How does ASMR compare in terms of beauty, utility, meaning and perception?
Art and visual aesthetics have always gone hand in hand, from Renaissance effigies to Baroque gilded arabesques. Color and movement aided painters like Caravaggio and Rubens in their quest for venerating emotion, whereas Rococo artists persistently epitomized elegance. Their purpose served, first and foremost, splendor and emotional delight. As unconventional as it may seem in that perspective, ASMR takes off a stale visual coat to expose its auditory harmony. For instance, fan-favorite sounds include the rhythm of striking mahogany wood, the gentle glide of a brush, and the crumple of paper. These textures are carefully selected from a palette and assembled by the “ASMRtist” in order to create an appealing composition, accompanied by an intimate visual field designed with intricate lighting, angles and movements. If beauty is objectively defined as the power to elicit the viewer’s emotions and pleasure, ASMR fulfills the first criteria. It may not be a robust ornament meant to be hung at the Louvre, but it surely echoes through the headpieces of millions who find solace in its soundscapes.
A silky prickling sensation, a lowered heart rate, a soothing sleep experience, a peaceful wave … the very biological aspects that make ASMR so mesmerizing may also condemn it to the reputation of a mere wellness tool, far distanced from art. However, how can we claim that it’s simply too functional, when, originally, drawings rose on houses of stone for communication purposes, when architectural wonders bloomed to ensure shelter, when music enchanted rituals and practices? As history unfolds, utility is deemed a cornerstone component of art rather than its opponent. Therefore, with the rise of the ASMR community, production sharpens with a content that compasses skills in the audiovisual field, or even in content creation.
Unlike traditional art forms that hold a fair share in cultural altercations, ASMR offers no preach or protest, but rather whispers its message safe and sound through a screen. In contrast with emancipated painters like Picasso and his war-coded Guernica, or with revolutionary authors like George Orwell and his words cloaked in political warnings, our novel trend conveys a quiet pause. A pause from a suffocating chaos, a sensational touch within a digitalized era, a moment of vulnerability that speaks volumes to a society constantly longing for calm in an oversaturated realm.
Moreover, the phenomenon attracts a niche yet loyal following, focused on younger generations – Gen Z & Millennials. Equipped with their headphones and a patient lookout, they surf through social media platforms looking for a sensual experience, revealing a personal response – which is eventually far from universal. Interpretation has now shifted from images and landed on feeling, however erratic. Similar to other artistic movements that have enriched our culture, ASMR triggers are judged differently with every stream and with every attentive spectator.
In 2022, the Design Museum in London and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York showcased some peculiar installations alluding to ASMR, investigating auditive content and perception. ASMR is discreetly forging its way out of its online cage and into the wilderness of the real world, establishing its worth as contemporary art, praised by some and diminished by opponents.
In an era that is both jaded and boisterous, ASMR provides a sense of tranquility and stillness. It dives into human connection and emotion whether art or therapy, whether via a soothing audiovisual screen or via an emergent gallery. There is no denying its cultural weight and its reflection of this decade’s latest values – digital intimacy and social comfort. Perhaps, the real polemic doesn’t question ASMR’s artistic nature but explores whether our definition of art can still whisper.