The white cube of the museum versus the gray cube of the street

Author(s)
Andreas Gartus, Helmut Leder
Abstract

The cognitive and emotional processes involved in experiencing an artwork are influenced by characteristics of the artwork and the viewer, but also by contextual factors. We studied how the 2 contexts of street and museum, as well as personal interest in modern art and graffiti art, affect aesthetic judgments and aesthetic emotions. For this purpose, we embedded modern artworks and graffiti art in street and museum scenes. Participants with different style preferences were asked to evaluate them for liking, interest, and valence. We found that being interested in modern art led to higher liking and interest ratings for modern artworks, but not for graffiti art. Conversely, being interested in graffiti increased ratings on all scales for graffiti art, but not for modern art. Also, interest in graffiti art had a stronger effect on valence ratings in a street context ("gray cube") than in a museum context ("white cube"). Therefore, we conclude that the context in combination with individual attitudes, such as specific art interests, has a relevant influence on our aesthetic experiences, with museums not always eliciting most positive effects.

Organisation(s)
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Journal
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Volume
8
Pages
311-320
No. of pages
10
ISSN
1931-3896
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036847
Publication date
2014
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501001 General psychology, 501011 Cognitive psychology, 501026 Psychology of perception
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Developmental and Educational Psychology, Visual Arts and Performing Arts, Applied Psychology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/the-white-cube-of-the-museum-versus-the-gray-cube-of-the-street(5be7d4db-71ca-4b2a-8080-6679714e682e).html