Fifteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Teaching art history to art major students is essential to enhance their understanding of old masterpieces and artifacts. The class itself, including lecturing and explaining pictures on slides, however, cannot provide enough inspirations to students in terms of applying what they learned from class to their actual art practice. Providing students with opportunities to make interactions with artifacts is necessary to facilitate their creative and critical thinking process. Not only contemporary museums are the key to experience various cultures from all around the world, but they also allow students to have interactive experience beyond the class. Museums serve the public in a wide variety of ways, as exhibition places for art and artifacts and, at the same time, as venues for social and educational events. Nevertheless, as Eisner and Dobbs have noted, many museums are culturally rich and pedagogically poor, as evidenced by the tendency of most visitors to reject the docent tour, refuse the audio-guide, and leave the catalogue unread at museums. Because most museum visitors choose to be on their own, the role of the physical environment, which reflects democratic education in museums, is important in helping visitors create meaningful experiences. The purpose of this study is to examine how art major students experience contemporary art through museum spaces.The study considers factors which positively or negatively affect the appreciation of arts and experiences through artworks.