I received 26 pieces of feedback on this intervention.
Compare to the previous exploration, this intervention is a relatively useful way to strengthen the audience’s connection and resonance when viewing the exhibition. The data shows that 50% of people think the background sound can help them get more into the paintings. And most people can understand what the artists tried to express correctly.
From the angle of helping the audience better understand artworks, it is a relatively effective way. Now, I am thinking about the next step. How can I push my project deeper and further?
1. Please use 3 keywords to describe how you feel after seeing this painting.
A：Hot; Planet; Confused
B：Retro; Psychedelic; Serious
C：Mysterious; Chaotic; Unbalanced
D：Moon; Universe; Touch
E：Space; Remote; Hot
2. Please describe the degree to which you feel connected to this painting from 1 to 5?
3. Please use 3 keywords to describe how you feel after watching the video?
A: Industrial pollution; Steam siren; Noise
B: Serious; Sci-fi; Future
C: Scary; Profound; Supernatural
D: Sad; Countdown; Destination
E: No feelings
4. Please describe the degree to which you feel connected to this painting from 1 to 5?
5. How do you feel about music?
A: Busy port.
B: Serious; it feels like a prelude to a major event.
C: I think it’s mysterious and detached from reality.
D: Sad.
E: Feel like mining.
Comparing the two scoring charts, three people felt that the connection became stronger, and one even felt that the addition of music made him feel less connection.
Comparing the two keywords, I found that after adding music, the audience’s understanding did not change much. Some words are the same (orange part); some words are guided by sound, such as the sound of siren and countdown ( The blue part); some people even think that adding sound will make it feel-less.
There are many researches on the relationship of sound and color, and their theories will be influenced by the author’s own background, cultural environment, time and other factors. Therefore, to a certain extent, what music represents and what color is a subjective personal point of view, and it is not universal.
Sound and images are different media that can give different sensory stimuli. For the next step, I want to test if I use these two media to express the same emotion, even if there is no corresponding relationship between the two, will it enhance the transmission of information?
Q4: Now, please use this website to choose an instrument’s sound that comes to your mind when you see this painting.
https://outsidetheorchestra.org/bingo/
Q5: Please write down a song/melody that comes to your mind.
1. The swan (instrumental song by Camille saint-saens)
2. Hair Flowin, Snow Falling – Jay Chou
3. Daytime nighttime – Tristesse Contemporaine
4. Calabash Brothers – Chinese nursery rhymes
Q6: Please write down a smell that comes to your mind.
1. Smell of rain/drizzles
2. Smell of grass
3. Smell of museum, cold
4. Dry ice smell
Q7: Please describe the degree again.
Q8: Will you buy this painting
All of the answers are ‘NO’.
Comparison three results:
Inviting the audience to create sound by themselves is a good way to strengthen the connection and resonance. But that doesn’t inspire them to buy art, which is the failure point of this intervention. And this failure made me realize that there is no direct relationship between resonance and purchase behaviour.
1. Some thoughts in the audience selection process
Before I start my experiment, I will first use a few small questions to determine my audience. I hope my audience has at least one condition, that is, they are interested in art works. For example, they often go to art galleries, painting exhibitions and so on. I think at this stage, people who are interested in art may be the potential customers of my project.
Interestingly, of the eight people I found, all of them were art-related majors or regular art gallery goers. Some of them have bought gallery merchandise, but none of them have bought art paintings.
Moreover, when I asked them:’ Under what circumstances would you buy a work of art?’. They all mentioned 1) When i resonate with it 2) When I’m rich enough.
2. The results of the two questionnaires
Q1:Write down a few random words to express how you feel when you see this painting. If you don’t feel anything, you can write ‘No feeling’.
Without sound
With sound
mottled
Depression, fog
cozy，quite
cozy
cloudy day, life, city, street
A woman walking along the street in France,stepping on the sycamore leaves, coughing, good weather.
a little healing in the gloom
No more healing, feeling a little anxious
a little bit blue
delighted
no feeling
A little more realistic, more relaxed
watercolor painting
street, walking, morning
no feeling
a man is smoking outside and throw his rubbish
Q2: 1) Did this painting take your mind away? For example, remind you of some experience, a piece of art you’ve seen before, a movie, a melody, etc.
without sound with sound
2) If yes, what is it? could you describe it briefly?
Without sound
With sound
a big teddy bear on a blue bin
covid 19
a movie called Midnight in Paris
walking in the morning, only myself
Monet, Van Gogh
Walking on the way to school, the sound of cars and walking sound, the scene is also street scenery
a square in Nottingham
when I travel to the beach
Movies
Living in London, Fleabag
Music: The Carousel of Life
a lawn in Nottingham
Q3: Please describe the degree to which you feel connected to the painting. （1 is the smallest and 5 is the largest.）
without sound with sound
3. Analysis
1）The sound can help the audience understand it better
Before I add sound to the painting, I asked the painter what he want to convey. He said he painted scenes or objects on the street that people would easily overlook. He wanted to convey the idea of slowing down and observing life.
Then I added some natural sounds, such as the sound of walking, the sound of birds, the sound of wind blowing, and the sound of passers, to assist the content transmission of the painting.
From the answer of Q2-2, I found that with the help of voice, their understanding and association are closer to the author’s original intention.
2) This painting is too complicated
This picture is composed of many small pictures, and too much content will easily cause confusion to the audience.
I think I can try an abstract or surreal painting for my next intervention, and I can add more sensory experiences.
3) Question: how can I balance the connection and the understanding? how can I acquire evidence that the audience connect with the artwork? (not by questionniare)
I chose to start with ‘tips’ because I found some students want to build their personal branding by creating an art-business account, but they don’t know how to start it. I also found that some tips provided online are quite general and are not only for art students. So I thought maybe interview the successful person and provide tips could help them. After I talk it with my tutor, I noticed that successful people wouldn’t share their secrets. (I guess that’s why I sent lots of emails but nobody reply, and I didn’t realize it before.) In addition, the tips I’m offering are not what I or my audience can be successful if we follow it, so this way is useless. And this is not an intervention because it didn’t make the change.
Today I investigated the employment situation of my previous classmates.
The data shows that
Only 4% of people are doing an art-related job. One is a curator, and the other is an art blogger.
37% of people choose to be a teacher. Most of them work in preschool or elementary school, and some teach Chinese classes or work in the administration department.
15% of people choose design works like graphic design and UI design. But they have to learn design-related knowledge that they didn’t know in the undergraduate course to qualify for an interview.
17% of people have jobs that are entirely unrelated to their majors.
