Museums can be pleasant, but also particularly difficult places: maps, corridors, large rooms (often without seats) full of dozens or hundreds of works of art that they all ask for our attention… leading us to try the Museum Fatigue O “museum fatigue” a phenomenon already studied in the 1920s that explains a state of physical or mental fatigue induced by the cultural visit. Despite the good intentions, in fact, it happens to many visitors to resign themselves very soon to partial visions and passing glances of permanent exhibitions and collections.
According to the anthropologist and expert in social psychology Gareth DAVEY there Museum Fatigue It is “a constellation of factors that generate the predictable decrease in interest of the visitor and thearise by selectivity During a single visit, be it in small or large exhibition areas, or between a reduced series of subsequent exhibitions “. According to Davey, the changes in behavior” are attributable to a combination of characteristics of visitors (such as the cognitive process, physical effort and individual qualities), Characteristics of the environment (including the architectural construction of the performance and the setting) e interaction Among them “. This combination of characteristics is discussed and still a subject of hypotheses, even if Giulia Milani’s thesis effectively summarizes its traits, distinguishing between factors proper to visitors and environmental factors.
Among the factors of visitors there would be the physical fatigue: the absence of sessions and the often mammoth dimensions of the museums fatigue those who enter it. Which therefore implement specific models of behavior to avoid overloading, for example tending to turn right to the crossroads, avoid going back to see works or of move On the other hand of the room if the works are exhibited on both sides (often focusing on what is in the center).
Then there would be the cognitive tirednessgiven by the super-use of a precious and poor resource: attention. In museums, this is in all respects the most necessary component, since it allows you to Activate the learning process (and often also of enjoyment) of what you see. Also the saturation It would be another important feature: when you are surrounded by a large amount of the same thing, you can unleash a psychological and physiological process that could lead to a sense of disinterest and discomfort Among visitors, sensations that would go hand in hand with it environmental stressthe result of a situation of over-stimulation of the individual who does not have control over the environment that surrounds him.
Also theoverload information It is part of the factors of visitors: it is the human cognitive capacity that predisposes people to focus on one information at a time, because the brain manages to process inputs within the finished limits. The effort greater grows, the more the ability to absorb and process. This would lead to triggering a “competition“For attention, sacrificing many things to see and learn, and therefore also to constantly take some decisions during the visit.
The environmental factors must then be considered: if the setting is too much homogeneous The sense of saturation is increased (and it is also proven that depending on how the works are positioned, the degree of receptivity changes). The path must be motivating and immersiveand should follow the visit patterns (i.e. the tendencies of visitors in terms of attention along the way, such as the tendency to turn right), with clear captions for the works in the form of “human” stories with which to enter into empathyunder penalty of fatigue and lack of involvement.
