There are different ways in which you can experience a museum. Art scientists Volker Kirchberg and Martin Tröndle mention three. Which do you recognize?
1. Does the name Van Gogh make your heart beat faster? For the enthusiastic museum visitor, celebrity and beauty go hand in hand. The more famous the artist, the more beautiful the painting.
2. Can you look thoughtfully at a painting for hours and hours? The contemplative, or contemplative, museum visitor is surprised by unknown works, enjoys the art experience and has an eye for detail. She undergoes, contemplates, takes the time and looks.
3. Is the museum primarily a fun outing with friends and family? For the social museum visitor, the company comes first. That individual inner reflection can be stolen from you. The shared experience, that's what it's all about.
For the five-year research project eMotion: Mapping the Museum Experience Kirchberg and Tröndle investigated how people experience their museum visit. 576 visitors to the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen in Switzerland participated in the study: they completed questionnaires and were given a glove that registered their location in the exhibition (movement tracking). The research and the results are described in the article 'The Museum Experience: Mapping the experience of fine art'.
Source: Kirchberg, V., & Tröndle, M. (2015). The museum experience: Mapping the experience of fine art. Curator: The Museum Journal, 58(2), 169-193.