Boosting Visitor Experience
Nowadays, ‘visitor experience’ is the new maître mot.
It has become central to marketing strategies for anything from a new eco-friendly product to the selfie museum.
It’s all about taking the customer outside of his usual day-to-day.
It makes their visit more enjoyable, enhances the value of the exhibition, boosts attendance.
The more immersive the experience, the better.
According to ‘Keywords for today’, published by the Oxford University Press, the word comes from ‘experiment’ and has only been used with a commercial purpose for the past 50 years.
However, should an exhibition be defined by its marketing budget?
Does that mean that people aren’t satisfied anymore with beautifully framed canvases on white walls?
audience experience
At WUNDER museum, for example, some exhibitions are available online in exchange for a membership fee.
In a way, it detaches the works from their location and highlights solely the quality of the collection, the interpretation of the art and what it wants to convey.
As a lover of location-independence, that means I could always have access to art, even on a beach in Zanzibar. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Except… it doesn’t! I would personally miss being able to get closer to the artwork, seeing the brushstroke, feeling the gallery’s atmosphere, enjoying being in the museum altogether.
In any case, the digital switch is happening, with or without us.
In my opinion, the multiplied ways we can ‘experience’ art, nowadays, should be celebrated.
Museums will never disappear, but someone who doesn’t have the luxury of visiting one should have access to their collections online.
Southbank Centre, London, UK
The way we learn through art is diversifying. How we become acquainted with new artists, discover new themes, techniques, cultural issues, advances… our whole experience is evolving.
As a museum translator, I focus on making French-speaking visitors truly enjoy their time in the galleries, so as to spark up their curiosity.
Indeed, it’s important to write material (wall labels, audioguide content, etc.) that is engaging, clear, informative and absolutely not boring.
Come on, I think all of us can admit they were bored in a museum at least once. The potential of a carefully curated exhibition loses all its power without the right supporting information, said in the right way.