The Influence of Listening to Curatorial Information on Emotions Caused by Artworks, and the Assessment of Contemporary Art by Students. Research in the Space of an Art Gallery

Abstract

The aim of the study conducted in the space of a contemporary art gallery with non-professional participants was to check whether getting familiar with the curator's description influences the emotional reactions caused by the works and their aesthetic evaluation. Hypotheses according to which the viewers who were given the descriptions assessed contemporary art as more fascinating, more understandable, more like a masterpiece, and more preferable (one that they liked more) than viewers who did not know the descriptions, were confirmed. However, the hypothesis that knowledge of curatorial information increases the appreciation of the beauty of contemporary art was not verified positively. Familiarizing with curatorial descriptions influenced one of the five analysed dimensions of emotional reaction induced by watching art-emotional valence, increasing positive feelings in the confrontation with artworks. Conclusions from the conducted research are of a basic nature (refer to the results of previous experiments and include proposals for further empirical studies), as well as an applicational one (they can be used, among others, by an art gallery in the education process).

Slow looking at still art: The effect of manipulating audio context and image category on mood and engagement during an online slow looking exercise.

“…Art historical background, akin to audio-guide use or educational programming in galleries (e.g., Burnham & Kai-Kee, 2005;Hubard, 2007), was selected as the first context, called the "historical" condition. This choice is supported by previous research, which suggests that historical information influences viewer understanding and evaluation of artworks (Jucker et al, 2014;Kruger et al, 2004;Leder et al, 2006;Swami, 2013), an effect that can be observed even when accounting for art expertise in non-expert and expert viewing (Szubielska et al, 2018;Szubielska & Sztorc, 2019). Next, a combined mindfulness/visual thinking approach like that used in early slow-looking studies (e.g., Davis, 1996;Seifert & Drennan, 2000) was chosen as a second guided context, which we call the "meditation" condition.…”

“…After viewing three images by their selected artist for 3 min each, participants reported any mood change and filled out a questionnaire on aesthetic experience. As art expertise has been shown to influence behavioral engagement and preference for artwork genre (Szubielska et al, 2018;Szubielska & Sztorc, 2019;Vogt & Magnussen, 2007;Zangemeister et al, 1995), artistic interest was included as a covariate.…”