After a long awaited trip to the Louvre in Paris in summer 2018, I was astounded by the way smart phones were changing the behaviour of visitors and disconnecting them from the experience of “seeing” and connecting to great art work.
My Gallery experiences started in earnest at the National Gallery in the UK about eight years ago. It was free admission to get in, and back then taking photos was prohibited. Visitors were respectful of the rules and of others, they were clearly there to look and observe. Visitors took their time to wonder in awe, to become inspired, connected, and moved. The ambiance was restful, quiet & reflective. In this environment I was inspired to learn more about the methods of master artists, to wonder about the luminosity of their paintings in which I set my self a mission to find out more, ultimately this thought in the gallery started an obsession that changed my career path into the art world.
Fast forward 8 years — Louvre June 2018
After many hours of queuing to get through security, queuing to purchase a ticket, queuing to go to the bathroom and then queuing for food, we finally entered the first section of the gallery. I was taken aback with the vast amount of visitors, large tour groups with their leaders holding up small flags like they were heading out for battle, weaving their way through the already crowded halls. The visitors coming through appeared to have a mindset of every man for themselves, like they were late for work on a rainy and miserable Monday morning.
Trying to stop to look at the first painting was almost impossible, streams of people were coming at you from all directions making it completely impractical to see anything. I looked across at my husband and said “this is crazy,” to which a woman walking past stared me in the eyes and said “CRAZY” back with such force and vigour that I thought she was about to start a fight! This isn’t a good place, I’m not feeling happy, I don’t want to be in this environment, but we had bought our tickets, so we had to deal with the crowds and just get on with it the best we could.
From hall to hall people walked around and stood in front of me, mobiles would suddenly appear in front of my face looking for the best camera angle. The dreaded tour of people would come circling round, creating an uncomfortable feeling while your personal space was quickly invaded by bodies of strangers who were tapping away or taking pictures with their phones, whilst listening to the interpreter on their headsets.
I reached a certain point were I got so distracted by the people, that I stopped trying to look at the art, I took a step back and started observing the visitors instead.
Mass tourism was certainly playing its part here, the tension and stress was being felt by everyone at some level, however there seemed to me to be two types of visitors; Art Lovers who wanted to see, look and absorb, and the Art Tourist, who was there to be seen, to digitally record their whole experience via their phones for the purpose of creating popular posts for social media accounts. These people behaved differently, and had a lower regard for other visitors, they seemed to miss the point of “looking” and connecting with the works in the gallery.
Their motivation for being there was an enigma to me. I observed how the Art Tourist was dis-connected from the environment they were in, being totally absorbed and immersed in their micro world. They came across as rude, and un-thinking, they didn’t seem to be aware of how their behaviour was impacting others and their experiences. This I could see was no longer a creative space for thought and reflection, it was an environment of discord and unease.
Can you truly “see” and connect with paintings and sculpture if you are viewing through a phone lens? The Art Tourist misses the detailed brush strokes, the spirit in the eyes, the sun light dancing in the highlights, and the life and history of the artist looking back at you through their work.This disconnect is a worry to me, looking forward into the future.
I would like to see galleries create the experience of giving visitors the chance to connect themselves with artwork and the people around them, by prohibiting the use of camera phones. Taking the distraction away, the visitor would be encouraged to take their time to look and observe, to create a calmer environment were inspiration and creative thoughts can be nurtured once again to inspire future creatives.
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