Evidence of the emails sent to 6 different museums
I sent this proposal for possible improvements to the contemporary viewing environment to six museums of different natures in London.
A special note: I have removed the ‘Asian’ from the original question because even if the behaviour is predominantly Asian, it is only my general observation. Firstly, I have no way of proving that it is really Asians who are the majority of those who engage in this behaviour. Secondly, previous research and interventions have not been designed for Asians either. Therefore, I will remove the Asian factor here.
Based on the results of the last interview, I made a proposal that would improve the current situation of contemporary exhibitions in the most direct way.
With the development of mobile communication and social media, people nowadays like to use their mobile phones to take pictures for several reasons during visiting the exhibition. However, for a certain group of people, art galleries have developed into a backdrop for taking photographs, taking advantage of the image value of the exhibition, and posting them on private social platforms for their own benefit or to enhance their personal value. This is becoming an irreversible trend that is spreading and, according to surveys, 65% of those who usually like to visit the exhibition find this behavior disruptive, potentially ruining the atmosphere of the gallery, blocking the paintings, and causing road blockages.
Therefore, according to the previous interview with the stakeholder, I propose a solution:
Divide the exhibition visiting time into two sorts of sections, those where visitors can take photos “with “the exhibits and those where cannot (note: visitors can take photos “of” the exhibits, just not “with” them).
The following benefits can be achieved:
The rights of those who want to take photographs and the rights of those who want to look at the exhibition without being disturbed are preserved.
By agreeing to allow guests to take photographs, it can also help to promote the exhibition without spoiling the atmosphere.
The cost of such a customized approach to the exhibition is minimal, as it only requires adding a separate time slot on the official booking website.
Depending on the nature of each exhibition, this can be adapted to suit. For example, if the exhibition is suitable for photography, then more time slots can be arranged for group photos.
– Views and experiences from a visitor who likes to take photos with artworks at exhibitions
Evidence of the Online Interview
This interviewee is someone who likes to take photos with the artworks while viewing the exhibition. As the project’s stakeholder, he provided a very in-depth analysis of the behavior and we discussed possible improvements, which gave me great inspiration for the project. The following is a translation and transcription of the conversation:
I think that if you look at the exhibition and take photographs, first of all, it has an artistic value, then it has a commercial value, and then the two are kind of mutually exclusive, and then the two must be closely united. Well, the commercial value and the artistic value are both very important, if you are an art student, and you go and learn something from the work, you get inspired, you can even use it as your own thing. This is where you get the artistic value, is also passed on, and once you can pass it on by word of mouth, then I think it’s very valuable, and if you’re just like me, more only be subject to the commercial value, for example, its commercial value is to look good, it’s very impressive, it can satisfy my I don’t know what this beautiful stuff is, what it means, but I pay for it, I come to see the exhibition, some exhibitions are free, but even if it is free, I bring traffic, I think it’s a commercial value, so whether it’s a commercial value or an artistic value, it’s a value.
So I think that, well, most people will go and take pictures of it, take pictures of him in front of the exhibition, we can’t judge this thing at all, it’s not a wrong behaviour, or it’s not a behaviour that you can criticise. In my personal opinion, I don’t think it’s an act that you can criticism, but it’s a pity that people doesn’t get what the author want to express, it’s a pity! What I want to say is that the creator of art, the purpose of creating this is to transmit this. Artists doesn’t have to expect that everyone has to get it, right, because how many people can get it? If everyone can get to the works, then where is the value of your thing, right, it is very philosophical, I think so that I personally will not criticize going to the photo shoot how, because after all he still brings the commercial value, like I said before, but well, it is indeed a very unfortunate point, because that is. I can only say it’s a pity, it is also a very regrettable thing for society. but I think that as people’s aesthetics improve, including the popularity of education, it will improve.
If I have been inspired, I have an imagination, or I am particularly interested in it, that I will go to see the exhibition, I think you have to understand more about the visitors. They may be very busy in their lives and looking at the exhibition is a way of relaxing, they just want to see it in this way, no matter what purpose it serves, it is just as a way, that is, you take this way of looking as a way of seeing. People just wants to see it as a way, not to satisfy their purpose, but as a way, that is, you treat it in this way, does not want to have any emotional resonance with the work. I think it’s more understandable when I’m not interested in it, I don’t want to do any imagination, I just want to take a picture.
If we really want to talk about a solution, I think sorting out the visitors and splitting the schedule into two, so that the two types of people with different opinions do not interfere with each other, might improve the current situation.
This event was designed to create a space where participants with different opinions could talk freely about the subject of photographing behaviour in museums to refine the gallery spaces.
I gathered Stakeholders for the event from posts on various public social media platforms, excluding people I knew or friends around. There were many photos of people taking pictures of the artworks in the gallery, and some just documented their experiences of the exhibition. Based on their posts, it was able to deduce their different viewing habits. By asking them to participate in the ‘Anonymous in the Cloud’ campaign, I eventually approached a few people who were on the opposite side of the visiting attitude and didn’t know each other.
There were two people who like to go to the exhibition but don’t usually take photos and two people who usually go to exhibitions for the purpose of taking photographs. In order to be unbiased and to make it more effective for people to tell their true feelings, I chose not to reveal their respective positions, i.e. those who do not like to take photos do not know that there are two people who like to take photos in museums.
To start the discussion, I have collected a large amount of pictures of people taking photos with the artworks in the museums. Firstly I showed them a picture which gathered different people posing with artworks in different exhibitions and asked them how they felt about it. Then I showed them the other picture with a similar situation but in the same exhibition and asked them what they thought of it and had an open discussion after that.
In the end, I asked participants who don’t normally take photos in the museums to say one thing to others who might have the opposite opinion and asked those who liked to take photographs what they thought after hearing different views, and what changes they would make to their behaviour in the future.
Feedback and new knowledge I gained
When looking at the first set of photos there didn’t seem to be any strong feelings, but it was clear that there were opposing views on both sides, with those who didn’t like taking photos while looking at the exhibition finding them vulgar, a bit annoying etc… Those who normally taking photos said they saw this kind of pictures all the time and thought they were normal.
However, when they saw the second set of photos – many different people taking photos of the same scene – they all agreed that it felt like the exhibition had turned into a photo studio so that they can’t feel the artistic atmosphere of the exhibition… and so on. It can be observed that when these acts are scattered around the world in museums, they do not attract much attention, but when they happen repeatedly in one place, people start to notice it, some find it strange, and some start to wonder whether it is an exhibition or a photo studio.
The discussion also revealed that people who love taking photos with artworks in museums have a strong tendency to follow the footsteps of other influencers and through photographs to operate their identity to create social recognition. There is a participant mentioned that she just thought this kind of picture looked good because everyone around and bloggers also doing it, while others thought that taking these photos was a way to show their lifestyle and some even said that it would be a waste of money if they didn’t take photos. This echoes the previous survey, in that there are many different reasons for taking photos with the exhibits, but the motivation and reasons are always based on social needs and getting more positive feedback from the photos of the art museums.
Moreover, prior to this event, they never realized that this would cause problems for other visitors, or that it would even be a problem, it was all so natural and normal. However, after discussing with people from different standpoints and seeing a photo with visual impact, one of the participants said that even if she wanted to take a photo in the future, she would be careful not to disturb other people and finish it quickly. Another participant said that after hearing the different stances, she would not want to take photos with the exhibits anymore and would only want to take photos for the record if needed. Also, those who felt disturbed by the photo-taking behaviour at the exhibition said they were more able to understand and tolerate it after hearing the different positions.
As the previous participants of the exhibition were mostly visitors to the gallery who did not take photos, I have not had the opportunity to understand the thoughts and motivations of the people who took photos with the artworks in the exhibition, so this interview was designed to further exploration of their thoughts.
I conducted a simple interview based on existing social media with people who had posted photos of themselves at the exhibition: Why would you want to take photos while visiting the museum? According to the respondents, there are several key motivations of those visitors who like to take photos with the artworks in the museums, which are:
(1) To share to social media- good material for operating their social account
“Its a relatively cheap and convenient way to create an image identity of the good taste of senses and interest”
(2) Gain followers and attract friends with a similar lifestyle
(3) Show it to someone- shows that they “Check in” somewhere
(4) Follow the trend to enhance social identity- gaining recognition of social values
According to the tutorial, I found that the original topic covered such a wide range of areas that it was hard to read the research objectives clearly into the subject. For example, the social contract can cover many kinds of behaviour in an art museum. However, it is unclear from this that my research is mainly about those who take photos “with” artworks in museums and influence other visitors.
When trying to re-arrange all the thoughts and information into it, the topic becomes like “How can the action of intrusive multiple photo-taking behavior in gallery spaces be explored to minimize disruption and distraction for art spectators in Asian art spaces?”. However, “be explored” means that I will continue to delve into the behaviour of those who take pictures in the museums, where my motives and further directions are not visible. Also, it’s a bit complicated that when I asked people around me if they could understand it, they all said it would take time.
Therefore, in order to shorten the question and make it more accurate, through the discussion during the tutorial. “How can photo-taking visitors to Asian art galleries be aware of the impact of their behavior on art spectators?” be recommended. However, I found that the big group I wanted to explore were Asians rather than art galleries in Asia, because these people who love to taking photographs can do so anywhere around the world. People usually see this phenomenon more often in Asian galleries because there are more Asians there. Finally, I modified it to “How can Asian photo-taking visitors to contemporary gallery spaces be aware of the impact of their behavior on art spectators?”
