How people move in front of an art work can impact their experience

© iSAW Company (via Unsplash) - The objective measurement of the ways in which people move in front of art shows that there are four different groups that also report different art experiences. A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art. By tracking participants' movements, the researchers found that these movements could be clustered into four distinct groups, each associated with different art experiences. The study published in Empirical Studies of the Arts highlights the importance of considering physical engagement and bodily experience in the components of emotional and cognitive experiences of artworks. When we visit a museum or gallery we naturally move back and forth, side to side and walk around to view the art from different angles. Embodied cognition theory claims that movement is central to our experiences. However, little attention has been paid to the actual ways viewers move in front of art, where they stand, how they approach or shift positions, and in which ways this impacts their personal art experiences.