Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience
Visits to heritage sites in later life and positive wellbeing.
About the research project
Four groups of older people, aged 55-82, were taken to visit a series of contemporary art commissions at British heritage sites. The settings and artworks were:
- Gogmagog: Voices of the Bells by Matt Stokes
- At Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland
- Orangery Urns by Andrew Burton, and Your Sweetest Empire Is To Please by Fiona Curran
- At Gibside, Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
- Landscape Miniatures by Mark Fairnington
- Cherryburn, Stocksfield, Northumberland
Focus groups and results
A series of focus groups were undertaken with participants. The results suggested that the respondents were using the experience to regulate their emotions.
Emotional regulation could be identified in:
- how the initial responses to art and heritage were constructed
- how participants responded to encountering the artworks in terms of which emotions were expressed and valued
Finally, the outcomes of the emotional regulation process were seen in terms of wellbeing.
Industry Stakeholders Report
The report can be found in:
- Black N, Burton A, Cass N, Farley R, King J, Newman A, Pollock V. Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience: Industry Stakeholders Report. Newcastle upon Tyne: Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2020.
You can read more about the project on the 'Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience' website.
Research team
Newcastle University
- Andrew Burton
- Judith King
- Andrew Newman
- Vee Pollock
- Rebecca Farley
- Niki Black
University of Leeds
- Nick Cass