The impact museums have on people mainly lies in their ability to serve a soothing and happy experience through powerful visualization of images and objects. However, could there be a compatibility between museums and the emotion of fear despite their recognized ability to reflect the total opposite effects?
Here are several hypotheses on how museums can trigger feelings of fear or anxiety:
1. The way art is perceived is influenced by memory
Typically, artworks are difficult to read, and everyone perceives them differently. Art helps people think more deeply. As a result, it may cause individuals to reflect on their memories, potentially triggering negative ones. Reflecting on one's memories can generate anxiety and agitation, especially if the memories are distressing.
2) Minimal space between visitors and objects may cause visitors to fear damaging items.
Objects on display in a museum must be safe, so the building must have climate control and security in the galleries. Like any public building, it must make sure that visitors are safe, secure, and comfortable. But the architecture of a museum should also make it possible for people to get close to the objects and connect with them intellectually and emotionally without worrying about damaging them.
3) Open galleries can cause discomfort and anxiety as sounds from outside challenge focus given to objects inside an exhibit.
It is possible to decrease distractions by preventing external sounds and motions from triggering automatic orienting responses. Sound flow from adjacent exhibit displays is a common but unwanted issue.
It is best to avoid open galleries where other sights and sounds may conflict for the viewer's attention.
4) Museums play a role in people’s mental health.
Art, in all of its forms, emerges during times of calm, honoring important achievements and good era events. It also emerges during tough times, as if to remind the future of tragedy and how desperate and miserable it felt at times for those who lived through it. The emotional response induced by museum art on viewers may be unpleasant.
5) Lack of loose and flexible movement in an exhibit affects visitors’ comfort.
The greatest issue in museum architecture is catering for the building's often contradictory uses. On one hand, the collection's key pieces must be conserved, and preservation typically necessitates highly specialized settings. Museums, on the other hand, make some of their collections open to the public. If the environment is unpleasant for people and restricts their movement within the space, it may result in unhappiness and unsettling effects.
6) Categories and color theory work together to grab attention.
Museums use several categories and colors to attract visitors' attention. Colors and concepts, on the other hand, can have both positive and negative effects on viewers. Certain colors and moods portrayed in artworks, for example, may potentially elicit sensations of anxiety and stress.
7) Viewing fearful objects in a museum affects the attention of visitors.
Decreased attention can occur with little exertion. For example, it has occurred while a participant viewed art prints while seated at a table (Robinson, 1928) or viewed snakes within a small exhibition space (Bitgood, Patterson, & Benefield, 1986).
Bitgood, Stephen. Attention and Value: Keys to Understanding Museum Visitors, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central,
8) Visiting museums in areas that require resurgence may cause feelings of apprehension.
Sites in revitalization-required locations are physically more constrained and have additional issues with regard to parking, public safety, and image. They could induce unpleasant anticipation of a negative event causing fearful thinking.
By: Aya Kaddoura
Written: Nov. 14, 2021
Published: Oct. 20, 2022
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