Adult Visitors in Museum Learning Environments

Abstract

Although contemporary arts are considered an excellent way for museumgoers to practise the process of meaning-making, these processes are often hampered by visitors’ difficulties with equivocal interpretations andthe heterogeneity of the museum public. In order to design and provide qualitative educational tools, more insights are needed to tackle these barriers. This paper reports on two related studies examining the development and use of educational toolsfrom both the visitor and the museum educator perspective.Besidesconsideringeight variables of influence and different degrees of difficultyand profundity in their educational tools, art museums must reckon with the perceptibility of educational tools to target new audiences or sustain audience loyalty.