Art & Audience 2005

research

by georgia kotretsos

 

For the longest time my art practice has evolved around the “art audience,” which varies from country-to-country, city-to-city and from venue-to-venue. The Art & Audience research intends to investigate the contemporary art audience in the attempt to study the viewer by introducing the audience’s experience as a supplementary source of information that can be constructive to the artist’s practice.

The outcome of the study entitled, “The Art of Artist Statement encounter and Other experiential accounts of audience members” will be presented at the “Artist Statement: Artistic Inquiry and the Role of the Artist in Academe” workshop/symposium in Canada , scheduled for November 2005. Dr. Will Garrett-Petts and Rachel Nash, co-curators of the “Proximities: Artists’ Statements and Their Works” exhibition, co-direct the event.

This is also my contribution to Adelheid Mers' call for essays/texts of "reports on art audiences."

I am inviting you to contribute to this research by answering the following questionnaire, which will reach art audiences in several countries via electronic mail.

Your participation and time would be much appreciated and valued. The objective outcome of this research relies on the sincerity of your answers. Once you fill out the questionnaire, please submit your form via email to art_and_audience(at)yahoo.com by Monday, September 5th, 2005. I would kindly like to ask you to forward the link to those in your mailing list.

I will be looking forward to receiving your contributions.

Thanking you in advance,

Georgia Kotretsos

 
  • None of your personal information will be shared or publicized. This is strictly for my own reference.
  • This research applies specifically to “visual” art and no other art form. (All visual arts disciplines included)
  • The questions below are the result of conversations I had with five individuals whose experience with art varies significantly.
  • Exhibitions and art events are used loosely in the questionnaire. I would encourage you to apply them to the art experiences you have had.
  • Please, try to answer as many questions as you can apply to your art experiences.
  • Maximum 100 word (6-7 lines) answers per question.

Respondent's Profile
 
Full name optional
City, Country
Gender
Age
Present Occupation
Highest Degree Earned and Field
Years interested in visual arts
Approximate number of art events attended annually
Date mm-dd-yyyy
 

ART PREFERENCES

 
1. Are you drawn to artworks that:

Please, check all relevant ones and prioritize (#1 most important).

    a. Are aesthetically pleasing
    b. Encourage contemplation
    c. Raise questions
    d. Invite participation
    e. Incorporate technology
    f. Are site-specific
    g. Involve the community
    h. Use public space
    i. Challenge the formal or the conceptual art tradition
    j. Address contemporary socioeconomic-political issues
    k. Other (Please, specify).
2. Is there a particular art discipline (painting, sculpture, new media, installation etc.) or period/movement/era that interests you most and why?
 

ART EVENT ATTENDANCE PATTERNS

 

3. Do you visit galleries/museums/art events where you live or only when you travel?

Only where I live     Only when I travel     Both
4. Do you attend galleries/museums/art events by yourself, with friends, with colleagues or in group-tours and why?
5. When you attend gallery/museum/art events, do you interact with or try to meet other members of the audience?
Yes    No     Sometimes
6. Do you visit art exhibitions more than once?
Yes    No    Sometimes
7. Do you attend gallery/museum/art event opening receptions?
Yes    No
8. If yes, for which of the following reasons and if no, please elaborate.

Please, check all relevant ones and prioritize (#1 most important).

    a. Educational
    b. Cultural
    c. Intellectual
    d. Inspirational
    e. Spiritual
    f. Social
    g. Entertainment
    h. Networking
    i. Status
    j. Business
    k. The free wine and cheese or
    l. Other reasons (Please, specify).
9. Do you visit an art exhibition after attending its opening reception?
Yes     No     Sometimes
 

VIEWS

 

10. What do you expect from an art experience?

11. Do you think there is a “right” way of looking at art?
12. Do you feel confident in shaping your own critical views about the artwork you experience?
Yes No
 

ART EXPERIENCES
 

13. What was the most memorable art experience you have had?

Please give details of: work of art or other thing that prompted the experience,

place, date, other relevant information.

14. Have you ever found an artwork or art exhibition to be inappropriate, offensive or alienating?

Please, provide examples.
15. What was the most positive experience and the most negative experience you have had when visiting an exhibitions/art event or with a particular artwork.
16. Have there been cases where you have enjoyed the artwork but you were disappointed with the space or manner in which the work was displayed?

Or you liked the display or context but not the artwork?

Please, provide examples .
17. In your experience of a work of art, how important is the exhibition space and the curator who selects the work and determines its display?
18. Has there been a particular art exhibition or artwork that has repeatedly drawn you back and why?

Please, provide examples.

19. Has there been an artwork that provoked a personal pilgrimage?

An artwork, which its significance goes beyond the boundaries of art appreciation, touching on elements of spirituality, cultural heritage, personal reasons etc.

20. Are they any artworks you are only familiar with from books/catalogs/the web that you would like to see in person and why?

Please, provide specific examples.

21. Have there been any instances in which you had one opinion of a work from having experienced it in reproduction, and then had a different experience when you saw it in person?

If yes, please provide specific examples.

22. In what way has art or a specific piece of artwork has affected you? What meaning does art have in your everyday life?
23. Which elements of the art experience resonates with you the longest?
 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 
24. Do you read about art in books, periodicals, on-line, or elsewhere?

Do you discuss art with family members, friends, or colleagues?

25. Do you use informational materials such as artists’ statements and biographies, curator’s brochures, and acoustaguides?

Do they enhance or inhibit your art experience?

26. Have you ever wished you had more information about the artwork or the artist ?
27. Do you attend artists’ studio walks, curatorial-guided visits, and/or docent tours?

Does this enhance your art experience?
28. Do you find artists accessible or approachable in your experience of art?

Give examples if you can.
29. Do you find curators helpful, accessible, or approachable in your experience of art?

Give examples if you can.
 

CLOSING
 
30. In what way do you manifest your support for the visual arts?
    a. By attending gallery/museum/art events
    b. By buying artworks
    c. By making donations to art institutions/organizations
    d. Other (Please, specify).
31. Please share additional thoughts.

Because of abuse, the mailback feature has been disabled.
Please copy your responses into an email to art_and_audience (at)yahoo(dot)com

Thank you!