Against the backdrop of the deepening integration of the experience economy and cultural tourism, performance spaces are shifting from traditional “containers for viewing” toward “immersive perceptual fields.” This paper takes the Wuzhen Theatre Festival as a case study, adopting the aesthetics of atmosphere proposed by Gernot Böhme as its theoretical framework, while incorporating the traditional Chinese concept of qi. It systematically examines the mechanisms through which atmosphere is generated in performance spaces. The study finds that the Wuzhen Theatre Festival achieves a coordinated production of atmosphere across three dimensions—materiality, mediality, and meaningfulness—through the theatrical reinterpretation of site foundations, the immersive orchestration of event systems, and the guided engagement of the audience’s embodied participation. This construction of atmosphere not only serves as the technical foundation for immersive experiences, but also points to the emergence of a new aesthetic relationship, transforming audiences from passive spectators into “co-producers” of atmosphere. The case of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival demonstrates that the aesthetics of atmosphere provides an effective interpretive framework for understanding the aesthetic mechanisms of contemporary performance spaces, while also offering theoretical reference points for the development of immersive cultural tourism industries.

Song Dandan. A Study on the Atmospheric Construction of Performance Spaces at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival from the Perspective of the Aesthetics of Atmosphere. Frontiers in Art Research (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 2: 32-38. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2026.080206.

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