Perceiving the art museum

Abstract

This paper presents a novel way of understanding art museum visitation based on the examination of people's perceptions regarding art museums and galleries. Within a discussion of the existing literature, it is argued that both socio-cultural and individual factors influence museum perceptions and visitation decisions. Using in-depth interviews with 60 participants, eight different ways of perceiving the art museum have been identified. These are called ‘museum perceptual filters’ (MPFs), and are as follows: (1) the professional, (2) art-loving, (3) self-exploration, (4) cultural tourism, (5) social visitation, (6) romantic, (7) rejection and (8) indifference filter. By ‘colouring’ our ‘spectacles of perception’, MPFs seem to influence our visitation decisions.

Keywords:

• art museums
• perceptions
• visitor studies

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the A.G. Leventis Foundation for their generous financial support, as well as the 60 research participants for their time and insights. The author would also like to acknowledge her thesis supervisor, Dr Richard Sandell, for his invaluable assistance and support.