Generally, immersion is you are deeply attracted by an object, a place, or doing something; therefore, you are willing to repeat that thing or stay in it for a very long time. It is common to go to the same place several times because you are attracted by the stimuli there. In other words, this place “immerse” you. National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is a well-known attraction in Melbourne, attracts not only the tourists, but also locals. Why it is so immerse? Since there are various kinds of stimuli, this statement is going to discuss the ways of the stimuli in NGV immerse visitor’s psychology and sense, including construction, environment and facilities, exhibition and artworks, aesthetics, color and lighting.
Construction
The construction of gallery is another stimuli. It can be separated into aspects: the building structure, surroundings and inside facilities. Firstly, the building structure of NGV is like a rectangle box, looks simple. It locates near the CBD and the train station, opposite is the Royal Botanic garden. The great location is convenient and the outlook is geometric beautiful as an stimuli; the surrounding is exquisite as well, balance the natural and artificial beauties. However, it is very complex inside. There are three levels in total, but you cannot see through without going through each room. The structure can immerse the architectural, environmental, design and art researchers or students. The linear and geometric shapes and space design of NGV is its unique characteristic, not only being an symbol of Melbourne, but also immerse locals.
(overlook of NGV)
Environment & Facilities
“The impressions of our ambient environment are influenced by its entire spectrum of physical characteristics (e.g. luminosity, sound, scents, temperature) in a dynamic and interactive way. The ability to manipulate the sensory aspects of an environment such that people feel comfortable or exhibit a desired behavior is gaining interest and social relevance” (Schreuder & Erp & Toet & Kallen 2016). This statement tells that human’s sensitivity is affected directly by surround environment, thus the atmosphere of gallery is an important stimuli. NGV contains outdoor and indoor spaces, child playing space, relaxing/resting place, public facilities such as shop, cafe and restaurant. Spectator can experience different functions from those areas and facilities. The introduction of each display room and explanation of the artworks offer specific information and history; also, the offered quiet environment there is suitable for visiting, studying and thinking, which is aimed to the art lovers and students. Furthermore, the children playing space has the entertainments such as toys and animation for children. Since children are too young to learn the artwork, the playing space gives them an enjoyable time. Shop is the fundamental component of public area, provides relevant products for consumers. Commonly, shop is set beside the exit, everyone must pass it before leaving, which is a little trick. Visitors usually want to bring something memorable that they have just seen, which is the target of the shop. Besides, children is another target — they like collecting fresh things. The study of Donovan and Rossiter (1982) in regard to shop atmosphere suggests that “store atmosphere, engendered by the usual myriad of in-store variables, is represented psychologically by consumers in terms of two major emotional states — pleasure and arousal— and that these two emotional states are significant mediators of intended shopping behaviors within the store” (Donovan & Rossiter 1982). It claims that the elements within shop such as the clean background and well-regulated arrangement of products gives consumer joyful feeling, promote them to purchase voluntarily.
Exhibition & Artworks
The artworks in NGV are classified into regular display and limited exhibition. On one hand, there are always held various exhibitions in period. Specifically, those limited exhibitions immerse fans of that particular artist or that series of exhibits, as well as the art lovers.In the analysis of relationship between sport and fandom, Hirt & Clarkson (2011) claim that “The enjoyment and emotional satisfaction fans anticipate experiencing as they cheer on their favorite team to a hopeful victory is undeniably a primary driving force behind the appeal of sports consumption”. It is the same of the fans of artist, they want the artist they love getting more reputation; therefore, they will visit the show of their idol. What’s more, the celebrity effect is another reason of immersion. According to statistics, as visitor numbers crest 420,000, Van Gogh and the Seasons becomes the most successful ticketed exhibition in the NGV’s 156-year history (Plant & Sun 2017). The display exhibits nearly fifty authentic paintings and drawings of Van Gogh, as well as the relevant collections such as letters. Since Van Gogh’s reputation is high, visitors who has never been to gallery or not interested in art are attracted. For remaining this good momentum, NGV is now holding the “Dior” show, which would make big success in a similar way.
(visitors lining for the Van Gogh’s exhibition)
On the other hand, the kinds of artworks are not monotonous. The variety of artworks include painting, china, ware, statue, photographs, 3D video, digital painting, furniture and so on. The different kinds of artworks target different types of objectives. For example, the groups of ancient Asian researchers seeking the history of China, who would visit the Asian display many times, for investigating the bronze wares, chinas and buddhas. The collections of those artworks are the stimuli for them. In NGV, there are thousands of collections from all over the world, which immerse greater amount and different types of objectives (eg. European collections between 17-18 century, modern creative collections, ancient Egypt collections).
(literal explanation of the artworks and author)
(the explanations are separated into for adult and for kids)
(tutor is explaining the painting to students)
(different kinds of artworks)
Aesthetics
The pursuit of aesthetics has been improved along with the modern development; people are seeking more highly to satisfy their sense and psychology, as well as improve their tastes and life qualities. Gallery is composed of different types of artworks and other additional immersive stimuli, which is a place offering fantastic artistic atmosphere, and the diversity of artworks can immerse various objectives; as a result, it becomes an emerging and possesses a potential field, which attracts increasing visitors come. People who have acquired higher education and living in or above middle class are the main target audience of art gallery. “That is, like other cultures, build sites that publicly represent beliefs about the order of the world, its past and present, and the individual’s place within it. museums of all kinds are excellent examples of such microcosms; art museums in particular — the most prestigious and costly of these sites — are especially rich in this kind of symbolism and, almost always, even equip visitors with maps to guide them through the universe they construct” (Duncan 2005). Gallery is a great place to experience above reality. To be specific, exhibitions in gallery and atmosphere here create a well space for these target objectives to enjoy themselves within there. There are also a membership system in NGV, those objectives being immersed usually join the membership and visit there frequently. This is a win-win method for both the aimed consumers and NGV, since they become the regular, NGV could make stationary profit and those consumers spend less money on it. NGV creates the aesthetic environment by building different spaces such as outdoor and indoor space; the using of materials within are also different: the ground hall in NGV is using stained glass roof; there is an outdoor garden behind the hall and can be easily seen through the glass. In addition, the order of the display rooms are not fixed, visitors can choose to see what they want and go through in their own paces (Elizabeth E. Barker).
(the stained glass roof of a space in NGV)
Color & Lighting
The color of the background and lighting in a gallery play a very important role, which influence the overall room and affect the aesthetics of the artwork. “One of the most pronounced properties of color vision is the dependence of the perceived color of a stimulus on the visual context in which it is presented. Consequently, one would expect to find such contextual influences in the neuronal activity that represents the color percept”; “The appearance of a color stimulus on a colored background can vary depending on the color of the background. Induction effects typically shift the perceived stimulus color away from the background color”(Wachtler & Sejnowski & Albright 2003). This study tells the color and lighting stimulate human’s nervous system through the visual sense directly. The use of color and light are various in NGV. Some display rooms are dark and some are very bright. Different background colors and lighting effects have different functions. For instance, in the display room of Chinese bronze collections, the background color of the room is black or dark grey, which brings audience back to the old time. Another function is to highlight the bronzes in darkness by the spotlight. The display room concern with religion also use dark background and light, creates solemn atmosphere. Some artworks such as digital artwork need to be exhibited in dark since it can be seen more clearly.
(Chinese bronze under spotlight)
(photography displaying in dark room)
“Bright light exposure has proved to facilitate awakening”(Schlangen & & Hommes 2013). In contrast, the room displaying modern creative artworks always use bright light and white wall (or other light color such as light blue) due to present a hopeful, contemporary and future development. Also, the western oil paintings are displayed in bright conditions. Although they are the old-time collection, oil paintings contain details which require a bright lighting to be seen clearly; their materials are another cause. The use of illumination on oil painting is wall washing, that create a nice and even illumination onto the art pieces.
(modern statue statue in a bright, soft lighting)
(oil paintings in bright illuminated condition)
Appendix (audit list)
- construction: building structure, surroundings, environment
- environment & facilities: outdoor and indoor, child playing space, relaxing/resting place, shop, cafe and restaurant, literal introduction
- exhibition & artworks: limited show, all-time show, painting, china, ware, statue, photographs, 3D video, digital painting, furniture…
- aesthetics: atmosphere, psychological impact
- color & lighting: dark and bright, functions of background color and illumination
Bibliography
- Donovan, R & Rossiter, J 1982, Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach, viewed 31 August 2017, <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Donovan/publication/248766608_Store_atmosphere_An_environmental_psychology_approach/links/550a6d340cf20f127f91a4f2.pdf>
- Duncan, C 2005, “The art museum as ritual”, Heritage, Museums and Galleries: An Introductory Reader, viewed August 31st 2017, <https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AMB4m45ThS0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA78&dq=art+museum+structure&ots=0ZxpVNKdq1&sig=jLewhEzLcIjk99OLfT-txMk-7a8#v=onepage&q=art%20museum%20structure&f=false>
- Hirt, E & Clarkson, J 2011, The Psychology of Fandom: Understanding the Etiology, Motives, and Implications of Fanship, Consumer Behavior Knowledge for Effective Sports Marketing, viewed September 1st 2017, <https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/32678379/The_psychology_of_fandom_Understanding_the_etiology__motives__and_implications_of_fanship.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1504235338&Signature=0yh1EXw2ccz9H3ZKkXu9Jzxekn0%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_psychology_of_fandom_Understanding_t.pdf>
- Plant, S & Herald Sun, H 2017, NGV’s Van Gogh and the Seasons exhibition breaks all-time record, Herald Sun, viewed September 1st 2017, <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/ngvs-van-gogh-and-the-seasons-exhibition-breaks-alltime-record/news-story/219542a045a3902d9f5899f27c8319d4>
- Schlangen, L.J.M & Vinkenvleugel, L.T & Hommes, V 2013, Lighting Device and Method for Producing Sequential Lighting Stimuli, viewed September 2rd 2o17, <http://www.google.com/patents/US8427311>
- Schreuder, E & Erp, J.V & Toet, A & Kallen, V 2016, Emotional Responses to Multisensory Environmental Stimuli, A Conceptual Framework and Literature Review, viewed August 31st 2017, <http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244016630591>
- Wachtler, T & Sejnowski, T.J & Albright, T.D 2003, Representation of Color Stimuli in Awake Macaque Primary Visual Cortex, viewed September 2nd 2o17, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2948212/>
