OUP accepted manuscript

Jussi A Saarinen

doi:10.1093/aesthj/ayab011

Abstract

OUP accepted manuscript

Highlights

Art museums are built to elicit a wide variety of feelings, emotions, and moods from their visitors
In this article, I argue that niche construction theory enables us to make several illuminating observations about the ways in which art museums are engineered to influence our feelings
Most current museums accommodate artworks of differing styles without prescribing ideal ways for experiencing them. This means that present-day art museums tend to have little interest in producing fixed and tightly circumscribed affective experiences in their visitors

Summary

Objective

Art museums are built to elicit a wide variety of feelings, emotions, and moods from their visitors. Art museums can be regarded as spaces that are designed to influence affective experiencing through multiple structures and mechanisms. In this article, I argue that niche construction theory enables us to make several illuminating observations about the ways in which art museums are engineered to influence our feelings. To expound on this claim, I single out for discussion the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which for its entire lifespan (1939–52)—and prior to its evolution into the Solomon R.

Affective Niche Construction

The Museum of Non-Objective Painting and Its Affective Impact

The Museum of Non-Objective Painting as an Affective Niche

Conclusions and Wider Implications