Why do some people spend all day in a gallery while others dash around in an hour? Welcome to the latest obsession of the world’s biggest museums “Each of us has our own singularity,” says Schaeffer, “owing as much to the accidents of personal history as to the weather on a specific day. We acquire a sort of hedonistic computer in our brains, or gauging pleasure against pain,constantly appraising actions. But it does not calculate what we see, rather our own inner state.” What is the difference between the 3.6% of respondents who reported that they had spent more than six hours exploring the Louvre in Paris, and the 6.5%,who spent less than an hour? One thing seems certain: we don’t all find the works in a museum equally appealing. Some people become totally absorbed by the art, while others do not. Some gallop round an exhibition in record time. But might there be underlying patterns governing such behaviour? Does it perform any difference whether visitors are young or used, or male or female,wealthy or not?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com