According to the study of an American psychologist, the audience would react to a work of art critical, if they provide any information about him

There is a perception that "simple viewer" can not appeal to avant-garde or just unusual works of art, if it does not explain them in detail. But a recent study of American psychologists has shown that it is not so.

Bordens, Kenneth (Kenneth Bordens) from the University of Indiana-Purdue (Fort Wayne) in his article for the journal Empirical Studies of the Arts spoke about his experiment, where participants - 172 students, who know virtually nothing about art - the creation evaluate different artists. Bordens showed subjects pictures of four papers (two paintings and two sculptures), "representing" areas such as Impressionism, Renaissance, Dadaism and outsider art. All students are given a general definition of art and provide the names of areas. However, half of them also received some styles, a short story about their history and information about the orientation of creative artists working in them.

students had to put each creature two assessments (from 1 to 7) : one depended on how much the product liked it, the other - whether it is consistent with the concept of the subject that is art. According to the philosopher Thomas Adazhyana (Thomas Adajian), each of us is "an internal prototype of the" art, and its related products are usually evaluated positively, while those that deviate from the prototype, like less. This was confirmed by a study Bordensa: the majority of participants noted that the Dadaists, and outsiders are less fit into their concept of art, and works them less attractive.

Yes, unfortunately, we must note that even in America, where there is a huge number of excellent museums of modern art, innovation masters of XX century are still considered somewhat marginal. "Enlighten the people" are intended to critics and curators that explain why a particular author has decided to clothe their thoughts and feelings into a form that may seem unprepared spectator repulsive. But it turns out, the explanation may also approve the rights in the idea that he does not have anything in common with avant-garde. Those students who have not provided virtually no information about the artistic direction, more often noted that their products comply with domestic standards. In other words, the audience was more inclined to appreciate a work of art if it is presented without any interpretations.

One possible reason for this, according to Bordensa, is that in subjects who were given more specific facts about the works in the processing of information received more involved consciousness (rather than unconscious), which is why they are more critical to the work. They have a clearer idea of the characteristics of a particular style, and they may judge a work according to how they meet the objectives stated in the description of art.

Bordens also notes that the response of subjects to unusual work depended on the order in which they were shown. Thus, the famous "Nude descending the stairs" of Marcel Duchamp (Marcel Duchamp) appealing to the audience more, if her picture was shown after pictures of other masterpieces of Dada. Thus, for the emergence of positive emotions context still needed, just a visual.

Of course, this does not mean that facilitators need to abandon explanation: in this case too great a risk that the product will be misunderstood. Moreover, many avant-garde artists are not seeking someone to like: the purpose of their works is often to draw the viewer's attention to some phenomena, which he usually prefers to ignore.

article prepared by Julia Maksimova, AI

Sources: miller-mccune.com , artinvestment.ru