Similarities and differences in the perceptions and motivations of Museum and Temporary Exhibit visitors

Although Italy is a country that possesses an enormous quantity of art work, art institutions often do not attract visitors as much as it could be expected. What motivates people to visit a museum (M) - here defined as a permanent collection of art works - or a temporary exhibit (TE)? To study the perceptions and motivations of M and TE visitors, 269 people were asked to answer a questionnaire after completing their visit to either a M or a TE in Venice - M and TE enjoy national fame and at the time displayed art works from the Renaissance onwards of comparable importance. The results - obtained from factorial analyses of subjects’ answers to various questions - showed that M and TE visitors are similar in their judgement of the gratification and satisfaction values provided by the visit. They instead differ with regard to other dimensions: interest for art and culture characterizes M visitors more than TE visitors, whereas entertainment needs characterize TE visitors more than M ones. Similarly, as regards the dimensions underlying their semantic associations to the art institution, a social dimension (e.g., “crowd”) characterizes TE visitors more than M ones, whereas a reverence dimension (e.g., “silence”, "antiquity") characterize M visitors more than TE ones. M and TE visitors finally differed in relation to a few other variables - e.g., how they acquired information about the existence of the M or TE - but they did not differ in terms of sociodemographich variables- most had at least a high school diploma, lived in nearby towns and regions, etc.. In sum the study highlights aspects of art fruition that have implications, we believe, not only for the understanding of art fruition as a cognitive and social experience, but also for art-institutions' policies and marketing.