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.