It’s Slow Art Day on 10 April.
In current times one might think of the Slow Art movement as answer to physical distancing and restricted numbers in museums and art galleries. But essentially it is about changing our way of experiencing art from a casual look as we wander through long rows of galleries to a deeper engagement with individual works. Which might in turn enhance our mental health and wellbeing.
Researchers found in 2017 that visitors to the Art Institute of Chicago spent an average 28.63 seconds looking at an artwork.
“If you just slow down and look at any kind of art, you discover that you can build a relationship with it” says Phil Terry, founder of Slow Art Day in this Washington Post article, and that this could also be a way to remove barriers that make people feel they need to know a lot about art to enjoy it.
How does slow art work? The Slow Art movement suggests to look at five works of art for 10 minutes each and then meet and talk about your experience. Jennifer Roberts, an art history professor at Harvard University and a proponent of slow art, has her students look at an individual artwork for three hours. That might be a bit challenging to start with, but definitely interesting what that experience leads to.
10 minutes or 3 hours – give it a try!
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