Museum Education in the Digital Age: The Impact of Digitisation on the Aesthetic Experience

Yangxue Gao

doi:10.54097/apxfge36

Authors

Yangxue Gao

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/apxfge36

Keywords:

Museum Education, Digitisation, Aesthetic Experience, Art and Technology, Art Education, Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of digitisation on aesthetic experiences in museum education. Digital technologies like VR, AR, and interactive multimedia have redefined traditional aesthetic interactions, offering immersive, multi-sensory experiences. The advantages and challenges of these innovations are examined through case studies, including their potential to privatise aesthetics and reinforce cultural capital inequalities. The article highlights the role of critical pedagogy in addressing these challenges, promoting critical engagement and shared experiences. While digitisation enriches aesthetic possibilities, it also demands thoughtful integration to balance innovation with inclusivity in museum education.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Aris, S., Aeini, B., & Nosrati, S. (2023). A digital aesthetics? Artificial intelligence and the future of the art. Journal of Cyberspace Studies, 7(2), 219-236. doi:10.22059/jcss.2023. 366256.1097

[2] Arnaboldi, M., & Diaz Lema, M. L. (2021). The participatory turn in museums: The online facet. Poetics, 89, 101536. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2021.101536

[3] Bailey-Ross, C., Gray, S., Ashby, J., Terras, M., Hudson-Smith, A., & Warwick, C. (2017). Engaging the museum space: Mobilizing visitor engagement with digital content creation. Digital scholarship in the humanities, 32(4), 689-708. doi:10.1093/llc/fqw041

[4] Bishop, C. (2012). Artificial hells : Participatory art and the politics of spectatorship. Verso.

[5] Brown, S., & Dissanayake, E. (2009). The arts are more than aesthetics: Neuroaesthetics as narrow aesthetics. In M. Skov & O. Vartanian (Eds.), Neuroaesthetics (pp. 43–57).

[6] Charitonos, K., Blake, C., Scanlon, E., & Jones, A. (2012). Museum learning via Social and mobile technologies: (HOW) can online interactions enhance the visitor experience? British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(5), 802–819. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01360.x

[7] Choi, S. (2013). Relational aesthetics in art museum education: Engendering visitors’ narratives through participatory acts for interpretive experience. Studies in Art Education, 55(1), 51–63. doi:10.1080/00393541.2013.11518916

[8] Clover, D., & Sanford, K. (2016). Contemporary Museums as pedagogic contact zones: Potentials of Critical Cultural Adult Education. Studies in the Education of Adults, 48(2), 127–141. doi:10.1080/02660830.2016.1219495

[9] Cromer, J. L. (1986). Integrating art and aesthetics. Design For Arts in Education, 87(4), 13–17. doi:10.1080/07320973. 1986.9937367

[10] Das, S. (2015). Using museum exhibits: An innovation in experiential learning. College Teaching, 63(2), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2015.1005044

[11] Earle, W. (2013). Cultural education: Redefining the role of Museums in the 21st Century. Sociology Compass, 7(7), 533–546. doi:10.1111/soc4.12050

[12] Enhuber, M. (2015). Art, space and technology: How the digitisation and Digitalisation of art space affect the consumption of art-a critical approach. Digital Creativity, 26(2), 121–137. doi:10.1080/14626268.2015.1035448

[13] Evrard, Y., & Krebs, A. (2018). The authenticity of the museum experience in the digital age: the case of the Louvre. Journal of Cultural Economics, 42, 353-363.

[14] Falk, J. H., & Dierking, L. D. (2012). The museum experience revisited. Taylor & Francis Group.

[15] Gillespie, A., & Cornish, F. (2010). Intersubjectivity: Towards a dialogical analysis. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 40(1), 19–46. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5914.2009.004 19.x

[16] Ha, B.(2017) Interactive Art Based on Musical Genealogy: Nam June Paik’s Random Access. 453-460

[17] Hein, G. E. (1991). Constructivist learning theory. Institute for Inquiry. Available at:/http://www. exploratorium. edu/ifi/ resources/constructivistlearning. htmlS.

[18] Hanquinet, L., Roose, H., & Savage, M. (2014). The eyes of the beholder: Aesthetic preferences and the remaking of Cultural Capital. Sociology, 48(1), 111–132. doi:10.1177/ 0038038513477935

[19] Hosein Qazvini, N., & Hessami, M. (2018). The role of literary texts in interpretations by museum audiences. The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, 11(4), 21–35. doi:10.18848/1835-2014/cgp/v11i04/21-35

[20] Johnson, P. (1987). An aesthetics of negativity/an aesthetics of reception: Jauss’s dispute with adorno. New German Critique, (42), 51-55. doi:10.2307/488256

[21] Kristeller, P. O. (1951). The modern system of the arts: A study in the history of aesthetics part I. Journal of the History of Ideas, 12(4), 496-527.

[22] Kamariotou, V., Kamariotou, M., & Kitsios, F. (2021). Strategic planning for virtual exhibitions and visitors’ experience: A multidisciplinary approach for museums in the digital age. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 21, e00183.

[23] Kokkos, A. (2010). Transformative learning through aesthetic experience. Journal of Transformative Education, 8(3), 155–177. doi:10.1177/1541344610397663

[24] Koschmann, T. D. (1999). Toward a dialogic theory of learning: Bakhtin's contribution to understanding learning in settings of collaboration.

[25] Lee, R. (2013). Arts organizations and Digital Technologies. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/01/04/arts-organizations-and-digital-technologies/

[26] Marković, S. (2012). Components of aesthetic experience: aesthetic fascination, aesthetic appraisal, and aesthetic emotion. i-Perception, 3(1), 1-17.

[27] Madrid Digital Arts (2024). Tutankhamun. Retrieved from https://madridartesdigitales.com/en/exhibitions/tutankhamun/

[28] Mayo, P. (2013). Museums as sites of critical pedagogical practice. Review of education, pedagogy, and cultural studies, 35(2), 144-153. doi: 10.1080/10714413.2013.778661

[29] Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). Sense and non-sense. Northwestern University Press.

[30] Moens, B.G. (2018) ‘Aesthetic experience in Virtual Museums: A postphenomenological perspective’, Studies in Digital Heritage, 2(1), pp. 68–79. doi:10.14434/sdh.v2i1.24468.

[31] O’Donoghue, D. (2015). The turn to experience in contemporary art: A potentiality for thinking art education differently. Studies in Art Education, 56(2), 103–113. doi:10.1080/00393541.2015.11518954

[32] Pugh, K. J., & Girod, M. (2007). Science, art, and experience: Constructing a science pedagogy from Dewey’s aesthetics. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 18(1), 9–27. doi:10.1007/s10972-006-9029-0

[33] Pursey, T., & Lomas, D. (2018). Tate Sensorium: An experiment in multisensory immersive design. The Senses and Society, 13(3), 354-366.

[34] Scott, S., Hinton‐Smith, T., Härmä, V., & Broome, K. (2013). Goffman in the gallery: Interactive art and visitor shyness. Symbolic Interaction, 36(4), 417–438. doi:10.1002/symb.74

[35] Simon, N. (2010). The participatory museum. Museum 2.0.

[36] Spartin, L., & Desnoyers-Stewart, J. (2022, July). Digital Relationality: Relational aesthetics in contemporary interactive art. In Proceedings of EVA London 2022 (pp. 150-157). BCS Learning & Development.

[37] Vi, C. T., Ablart, D., Gatti, E., Velasco, C., & Obrist, M. (2017). Not just seeing, but also feeling art: Mid-air haptic experiences integrated in a multisensory art exhibition. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 108, 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.06.004

[38] Walmsley, B. (2016). From arts marketing to audience enrichment: How digital engagement can deepen and democratize artistic exchange with audiences. Poetics, 58, 66–78. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2016.07.001

[39] Wiegel, L.(2010).Perception in the digital age, Analysing aesthetic awareness of changing modes of perception. Pp.1-74.

[40] Dewey, J. (2008). Art as experience. In The richness of art education (pp. 33-48). Brill.

[41] Benjamin, W. (2018). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In A museum studies approach to heritage (pp. 226-243). Routledge.