Belvedere Visitracker

Dimitra Christidou and Luise Reitstätter (PIs)
joined by Karolin Galter, Anna Miscena, and Jan Mikuni (data collection and processing) as well as Anna Fekete, Mark Elias Napadenksi, Rebekah Rodriguez, Lena Syen, Daniel Teibrich, and Sophie Wratzfeld (data processing)

Study (September 2018)
A cooperation between the University of Oslo (Department of Education) and University of Vienna (Department of Art History, CReA Lab) and the Austrian Gallery Belvedere

The study “Belvedere Visitracker” explores the experience of visitors in groups of two in the exhibition Vienna Around 1900 at the Austrian Gallery Belvedere using the Visitracker app. Visitracker is a novel digital tablet-based research application designed by researchers and programmers at the Department of Education, University of Oslo, to collect and visualize data gathered through in-gallery observations, survey and Social Meaning Mapping (SMM).
For this study, in-gallery observations were conducted by the research team, followed by a short questionnaire on visitors’ background and the SMM during a researcher-led session. For the SMM, visitors were prompted to draw their trails through one of the museum rooms and share their thoughts on their experience with the researcher and each other, while being audio recorded through the app. Combining observational, visual and verbal data, the study investigates: How do visitors move through the space, physically approach and interact with each other and the 16 artworks displayed in the Secession room? How do they reconstruct their experience through Social Meaning Mapping after the visit? By combining data from 76 groups (152 visitors), the analysis foregrounds meaning making patterns regarding (a) visitors’ movement and use of space in the specific exhibition room, (b) visitors’ preferences in relation to the artworks displayed, and (c) the use of resources such as text, audio-guides or smartphones.