Night openings transform art galleries
Installation view of “Life in Three Easy Video Tutorials” by Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries at Art Sonje Center, which is open to the public through 9 p.m. / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center and Kim Sang-tae
By Yun Suh-young
Art museums are increasingly becoming popular go-to entertainment venues, stepping out of their traditional image of high art catering to the educated.
The yearly average number of mentions of "art museum" on social media amounted to 280,000, according to research released Monday by big data company Daum Soft on posts on blogs and tweets published between 2012 and 2016.
Especially mentions of "night openings" of art galleries had increased threefold on social media, from 366 in 2012 to 1,037 in 2016. Of the mentioned words related to night openings, 58 percent of them were positive such as "expectation," "go visit" and "see," expressing their wishes to go in contrast to the 6 percent who answered negatively.
Such reactions follow recent cases of art venues extending their hours to greet visitors who are unable to come during the daytime or office hours. A notable example is Dongdaemun Design Plaza, which holds various exhibitions and extended its hours last summer to 10 p.m., in line with the opening of night markets in the region.
A noticeable change in trends over the past three years was who the visitors came to the art gallery with. According to big data on the persons mentioned along with art museums, the number of times the word "alone" was mentioned increased by 1.8 times in 2016 since 2014 and the word "friend" increased by 6.5 times during the same period.
The changed rules on taking photos inside galleries also transformed the viewer experience. Whereas taking photos had been prohibited inside galleries due to copyright issues and concerns about damaging the works, photography is now allowed in many venues ― hence the online increase in the term "proof shot" from 1,427 in 2012 to 3,106 in 2016. The term refers to taking photos to certify one's presence at or participation in a certain location or event.
While many point to this change as one started by the art galleries to attract more visitors, Daum Soft analyzed that the strategy has successfully attracted younger generations who are purposefully visiting art museums as part of their entertainment activities.