Virtual art visits: Examining the effects of slow looking on well-being in an online environment.

Abstract

Throughout history, visual art has helped people feel connected to each other, experience a deep sense of belonging to their communities, and enhance their own well-being. In recent years, many museums have increased their digital presence to engage with the public in new ways, including curating unique virtual experiences. The present research examines the well-being effects of a virtual art gallery visit and the role of immersion in facilitating these well-being effects. Participants were 155 adults from the United States recruited via Prolific. Participants completed a 15-min virtual gallery experience and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) To spend 5 min selecting one work and then spend 10 min engaging in mindful looking; (b) To spend 5 min selecting one work and then spend 10 min engaging in curious looking; or (c) To spend 15 min viewing the art however they wished. Participants completed measures of wellbeing and emotional state before and after their gallery experience. Although the three conditions did not differ in their levels of immersion or in their well-being and emotional experiences, participants did experience a range of well-being increases following their virtual art experience. Further, the level of immersion participants reported during the visit, regardless of condition, predicted postvisit well-being and emotional state. This suggests that virtual art engagement, like in-person art engagement, may hold well-being benefits for those who engage in these experiences.

Visiting Virtual Museums: How Personality and Art-Related Individual Differences Shape Visitor Behavior in an Online Virtual Gallery

“…These results lend support to the idea that highly open people are more likely to experience immersion in mediated environments-environments where content or environmental stimuli are created and then experienced, such as in museums, art galleries, or institutions or when people read books, watch movies, or play videogames (Weibel, Wissmath, & Mast, 2010). Immersion in virtual gallery environments like OGAR, in turn, predicts a range of greater well-being measures following virtual art gallery visits (Cotter et al, 2023a).…”

“…One class of these features is participatory and allows visitors to engage with the digital content in manner that is not possible within the confines of physical museum spaces. For example, virtual galleries may implement commenting forums (Grincheva, 2018), supplemental viewing features (Cotter, et al, , 2023a, or online games and contests (Rijksmuseum Masterpieces Up Close, n.d.) that promote engagement with the virtual environment. The other class of features is evaluative and can be used to aid researchers and applied personnel in investigating visitor interactions with digital spaces.…”

Adaptive Interactive Environments: Harnessing Audience Interaction for Immersive Multisensory Spaces

“…Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow, 'the ideal form of immersion' in Cotter et al [8], refers to a participants' intensely focused engagement, fully immersed in an activity, often losing track of time and self-awareness. 'When playing, children pay attention because they want to, because they find the information interesting and important in its own right' [9].…”

The Impact of Viewing Art on Well-being—A Systematic Review of the Evidence Base and Suggested Mechanisms

“…Newman (2014) asked participants to visit a museum thrice, including a group lunch, a tour, and a discussion. 24% of articles were in online settings, where art viewing typically took place at home with either a tablet sent home with participants (Murphy et al, 2021;Tyack et al, 2017) or using non-immersive virtual reality (Cotter et al, 2022(Cotter et al, , 2023. In 21% of studies, art was viewed within a clinical (e.g., hospital) setting, with art viewed either as part of one-to-one facilitator-led sessions (Gelo et al, 2015;Thomson et al, 2012) or hung on the wall as part of the décor and evaluated for the impact on staff or patients (Bowen, 2015;George et al, 2018).…”

“…The duration also depended greatly on the field of study. For example, those with healthy adults online or in the laboratory (Cotter et al, 2022(Cotter et al, , 2023Mastandrea et al, 2018;Trupp et al, 2022Trupp et al, , 2023Van Dongen et al, 2016) tended to have shorter viewing times than studies with older adults or clinical samples (George et al, 2018;Roberts et al, 2011).…”