Making “sense” of the visitor experience

By activating senses other than sight, curators force audiences out of their zone of complacent viewing
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Installation view Movement and Light; courtesy Heide Museum of Modern Art

Traditionally, engagement with the fine arts has been purely a visual experience – you look, you like – you might think – and then you move on.

But with the growing sophistication in museum programming over time, curators and educators have realised that there is great capacity to engage audiences through senses other than sight alone.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina