Enhancing Abstract Imaginations of Viewers of Abstract Paintings by a Gaze Based Music Generation System

Abstract

The purpose of abstract painters is to let viewers get the various images and abstract images. However, viewers who do not have enough knowledge of art, cannot easily get abstract images. The authors have proposed a music generation system that utilizes viewers’ gazes. It can be expected that the authors’ music generation system can prompt the viewer of abstract paintings to imagine abstract images, which the painter intended to express. This paper explores whether the authors’ music generation system can enhance abstract imaginations of persons who see abstract paintings, by subjective tests. Experiments using 19 subjects and eight abstract paintings were conducted for the two cases in which the subjects see the abstract paintings without hearing any music and while hearing the viewers’ gaze based music generated by the authors’ system. Experimental results imply that “hearing gaze based music” could enhance the viewers’ abstract imagination.