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Dieses Kapitel untersucht das Konzept der Pflege im Kontext digitaler Erbanwendungen und stützt sich dabei auf philosophische und ethische Theorien, um seine Bedeutung für die Bewahrung des kulturellen Erbes zu verstehen. Der Text geht der Rolle von Empathie und emotionaler Verbindung bei der Förderung eines Gefühls der Fürsorge gegenüber historischen Artefakten und Stätten nach und betont die Bedeutung des Verständnisses der Beziehung zwischen Pflegern und Empfängern. Das Kapitel untersucht auch die Auswirkungen von Kunst und Multimedia auf die Beschwörung von Sorgfalt und liefert Beispiele dafür, wie verschiedene Formen des Engagements emotionale Reaktionen auslösen und eine tiefere Verbindung zum kulturellen Erbe fördern können. Darüber hinaus stellt das Kapitel einen vorläufigen Rahmen für das Verständnis und die Umsetzung von Sorgfalt in Anwendungen zum digitalen Erbe dar und betont den zyklischen Charakter des Pflegeprozesses und die Rolle der Auslöser bei der Katalysierung jeder Phase. Das Kapitel schließt mit einer Diskussion über das Potenzial digitaler Technologien zur Verbesserung des Gefühls der Sorgfalt gegenüber dem kulturellen Erbe und bietet Einblicke in die Zukunft digitaler Kulturerbeanwendungen.
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Abstract
Cultural heritage care emphasizes preservation, ethical duty, empathy, and relational bonds, with museums fostering deeper connections and historical understanding. This paper develops a design approach to interactive media applied to coloured collection, by focusing on a “care theory” for cultural heritage. The work also analyses art from diverse periods and media, exploring how various engagement types—visual, emotional, interactive—evoke care in viewers. Multimedia art similarly fosters empathy and reflection. The study utilized a Cultural Probe Kit to analyse caring behaviours, revealing traits and triggers that prompt a caring attitude. A proposed framework outlines emotional and empathetic aspects, emphasizing meaningful connections between caregivers and cultural heritage, enhanced through storytelling, engagement, and interactive technologies. Museums, as social spaces, benefit from user participation, fostering care and meaning making. Two prototypes like ColorColab and MyTISSE are described, focusing on their capacity to engage visitors with hands-on, multi-sensory technology, enhancing their personal connections to artifacts and social interactions. The chapter closes testing the framework and caring trigger on a number of different interactive projects.
1 Literature Review on “Care Theory”
It has been outlined that “the discourse on cultural heritage is mainly centred on the concepts of ownership and conservation, of national identity, (…) of preservation and exploitation” [1]. This sensitivity has a long history and can be traced back at least to the famous letter by Raphael to Pope Leo X [2]. In this document, which undoubtedly laid the foundations for modern sensitivity to cultural heritage, the artist invites the Bishop of Rome to take care of the remains of classical monuments and artworks.
This caring approach stems mainly from the need and the duty to preserve what Raphael defines as “little remains” from risks and degradation factors and it is often driven by an intergenerational ethical imperative. However, despite the relevance of the “care theory” towards cultural heritage, a formalization of this concept is still absent. Major research has indeed been carried out only in the field of health care or pedagogy. The “care theory” in the cultural domain is thus often reconstructed through philosophical, literary, and art-historical sources, as well as psychological and neuroscientific studies.
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Indeed, one of the most relevant frameworks for analysing and understanding the concept of care derives from ethico-philosophical studies. For instance, in one of his recent essays, Philosophy of Care, Borys Groys reconstructs the origin of “care” from ancient Greece, particularly Plato, to modern times [3]. If we limit ourselves to the history of 20th century philosophy, Martin Heidegger offers an interesting interpretation analysis of this concept from a metaphysical and existential perspective. In his speculation, the human being is defined as a Dasein, literally meaning “being (sein) - there (da)”, which is continuously threatened by death and hence lives in a “basic state-of-mind of anxiety” [4]. His existence is permanently projected into the future, which presupposes that he continuously cares for his life. Consequently, “Care” (in German: Sorge) is the Being and the source of the Dasein.
Although this reading is particularly evocative, the modern interpretation of care from an ethical, moral, as well as political perspective is greatly influenced by the pivotal contribution of Carol Gilligan. She seems to go back to the tragic conflict between Antigone and Creon, as the concept of care is in dichotomy with the concept of justice. This analysis has been summarized as follows [5]: according to Gilligan, some people base ethical decisions on principles of justice, equality, impartiality, and rights. This is the justice perspective. But others base their decisions on a care perspective, in which the need to preserve relationships and minimize hurt takes precedence over considerations of justice and rights. The care perspective places special significance on attachment and compassion, Gilligan writes, “the moral injunction not to act unfairly toward others, and not to turn away from someone in need, capture these different concerns”.
Gilligan’s reflection is indeed based on a “care theory”, which Soto [6] describes as follows: “in its purest form, [it] assumes that the actors [caregiver and care-receiver] are willing to develop relationships with each other and that care will emerge from those relationships”. The goal of this intimate bond is to “strive for competence because we want to do our best for those we care for”. An essential component of this framework is therefore the necessity for a mutually fulfilling relationship; when this equilibrium is disrupted, caring mechanisms falter [7]. In human-to-human relationships, exemplified by the attachment between a parent and a child, the robustness of the bond is evident, as observable actions trigger reciprocal responses (e.g., a crying child prompts parental attention). Conversely, in human-to-object relationships, this responsive reciprocity is lacking due to the inherently weaker connections between individuals and inanimate entities.
For the understanding of the “care theory” within cultural heritage, a crucial observation is provided by Joan Tronto and her essay Moral Boundaries [8]. Here, the author provides a definition of care that extends the horizons of Gilligan’s theory also to include objects and introduces an intergenerational ethical dimension that is vital to the preservation of cultural heritage. This updated definition highlights “the ways in which care can function socially and politically in a culture” (103): “On the most general level, we suggest that caring can be viewed as a species of activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, ourselves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web”.
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In this perspective, caring is no longer seen as a disposition or a “perspective”, but as a set of practices. The author also describes a possible relevant framework for describing the relationship between caregiver and care recipient. It is based on the key concept of responsibility and foresees a phase of “care-receiving”, where “the object of care (responds) to the care it receives. For example, the tuned piano sounds good again, the patient feels better (…). This phase provides the only way to know that caring needs have actually been met” [8].
This claim paves the way to an essential question for the understanding of caring for cultural artefacts as the identification of this possible “reward” may not be immediate. Groys suggests a persuasive solution to this impasse based on a double interpretation of each artwork [2]. In the first one, cultural artefacts are reduced to a “mere object”, i.e. only their pure material aspects (e.g. its support and the materials used in its production) are considered. The cultural value is instead the core of the second perspective, which recognises the power of each work of art to unveil the “world” and the context in which the artist lived. While the former can be easily recognised, the latter one requires a deeper understanding, which may derive from different sources. For the purpose of the PERCEIVE project, the most relevant one is museum mediation.
Groys devoted a previous essay on curatorial practices to this topic [9]. In his interpretation, museums can be compared to hospitals as institutions devoted to care. This claim does not hold exclusively to conservation professionals, rather it engages civil society as a whole (bold added): “Artworks seem to be genuinely sick and helpless - the spectator has to be led to the artwork, as hospital workers might take a visitor to see a bedridden patient. It is in fact no coincidence that the word “curator” is etymologically related to “cure.” Curating is curing. The process of curating cures the image’s powerlessness, its incapacity to present itself. The artwork needs external help, it needs an exhibition and curator to become visible.” The medicine that makes the sick image appear healthy - makes the image literally appear and do so in the best light - is the exhibition.
This approach, which focuses more on the message of the artworks rather than on its mere material aspect, is also at the basis of Montanari’s sentimental approach to cultural heritage, according to which an artwork is the “witness of the presence of another Time within our Time” [1]. His approach seems the most effective to sum up these considerations on the ethical and political practices of care. The function of Cultural Heritage in a mass democracy is precisely that of allowing not only those who do intellectual work, but potentially all citizens, to ‘detach themselves from the present’, to come into contact with the ‘force of the human in man’: the human that is in ourselves, and in the other humans we are given to meet. This is the condition for walking ‘at a human pace’ again, that is, for building a more human world. Consequently, resolving the challenge of art collections’ safeguarding suggests the potential of strengthening the relational bond between them and individuals, thereby diminishing the perceived distance between the viewer and the piece. This can be encouraged by fostering a deeper understanding of the artwork, facilitating a transformation of the encounter into a personalised experience, and ultimately empowering citizens to actively engage with and contribute to our cultural heritage through collaborative and co-creative endeavours.
Numerous factors contribute to the cultivation of caring attitudes and can be embraced: attachment, personification, uniqueness and idiosyncrasies, sense of wonder, compassion, perception of fragility, and sense of justice. Noddings, for example, elucidates the intrinsic drive towards moral conduct, rooted in the ethics of care, particularly empathy [7]. Importantly, research on empathy underscores its malleability throughout life, influenced by a range of strategies [10, 11].
Scholarship within the Cultural Heritage domain has delineated a distinct form of empathy known as “historical empathy” characterised as a cognitive and affective process involving engagement with historical figures [12]. This form of empathy can be nurtured through a “facilitated dialogue” approach, which encourages individuals to share their perspectives, personal beliefs, and experiences while also challenging them to critically examine presented information and consider alternative viewpoints. This methodological approach was implemented in the BrancacciPOV project, utilising an “interpretation-reflection loop” framework within a hybrid virtual reality collaborative and guided experience [13].
In this context, our focus is on understanding how to elicit and assess a caring attitude specifically towards cultural heritage artefacts. We define the term caring attitude as “a deliberate and action-oriented event that occurs between two actors, where one needs help and protection and the other provides whatever they need” [14]. Given the absence of specific studies on how to evoke and measure this caring attitude in the context of (coloured) cultural heritage, in the next section, we detail our dedicated study and exploration. These efforts were based on the analysis of alternatives perspectives from art and multimedia and on the use of a Cultural Probe Kit, facilitated by a Master’s thesis at the University of Bologna.
2 Alternative Perspectives on Care from Art and Multimedia Application
Art.
The research enquiry of this section is to explore a selected number of artworks stemming from various periods and genres that address the subject of care. The study aims to analyse how these artworks trigger a sense of care in viewers and how different forms of engagement in the artworks contribute to this experience. The intention of the artist and the reception of the viewer of the artist’s intentions differ by various degrees. The intention of the artist is described as the element of care present in the artwork, but the viewer’s reception of it is defined as what triggers a sense of care in the viewer. The research is based on critical analysis and interpretation of the artworks, aiming to shed light on how artists connect with their audiences, evoke emotions, and foster a sense of care through their creations. The methodology used in this study involves a selection of artworks from contrasting periods, genres, and diverse media that explore the theme of care, with the goal of presenting a comprehensive review and analysis of these artworks, focusing on their forms of engagement with viewers. The core material used in this study is based on a selection of artworks from contrasting periods, genres, and which made use of diverse media. The artworks’ level of engagement is categorised into five key aspects, or forms of engagement: visual, emotional, interactive, intellectual, and conceptual, which are described in the following paragraphs.
The Factor Engagement.
All acts of care are inherently tied to engagement. Whether it is showing kindness, compassion, or concern, caring requires active involvement and interaction with others. To care about someone or something, one must be willing to invest time, attention, and genuine interest in their well-being. Care is not a passive emotion; it necessitates acting and providing support. This engagement can be driven by various factors, such as biological needs, a sense of justice, or a profound connection with someone or something. Ultimately, care is a dynamic and interactive process that fosters empathy, understanding, and a sense of responsibility towards others and their welfare. A sense of care can be generated by engagement with artwork. Art has a unique ability to evoke emotions, prompt introspection, and foster connections with the subject matter or themes portrayed. When viewers actively engage with art, whether through contemplation, interpretation, or participation in interactive installations, they may experience a range of emotions, including empathy, compassion, and concern. Artists are able to infuse their works with elements that resonate with human experience, addressing issues related to society, nature, personal struggles, or emotional states. By exploring these themes, art triggers a sense of care by encouraging viewers to reflect on their own experiences and bring about empathy for others, and perhaps even contemplate challenges and solutions. Therefore, the act of engaging with artwork allows individuals to establish a connection with the art’s message or the artist’s intentions, creating an emotional response that may translate into a genuine sense of care and appreciation for the artwork’s subject matter or the broader human experience it represents. A comprehensive review of artworks listed in the table is presented here, focusing on their forms of engagement with viewers. Each artwork’s level of engagement is categorized into five key aspects: visual engagement, emotional engagement, interactive engagement, intellectual engagement, and conceptual engagement. Through this examination, we aim to shed light on the diverse ways in which artists connect with their audiences, eliciting emotions, contemplation, and participation. The artworks’ varying degrees of engagement offer valuable insights into the profound impact art can have on evoking a sense of care and fostering connections between the artwork, the artist, and the viewer.
Visual Engagement: Approximately 40% - Visual observation is the most common form of engagement, as viewers interact with the artworks primarily through visual perception, interpreting and contemplating the imagery presented.
Emotional Engagement: Approximately 30% - Many artworks evoke emotional responses from viewers, fostering a sense of empathy, compassion, and care. Emotional engagement is prevalent in artworks that explore themes of vulnerability, loss, love, and human experiences.
Interactive Engagement: Approximately 15% - Several artworks incorporate interactive elements, inviting viewers to actively participate in the artwork. These interactions may involve touch, movement, or engagement with digital interfaces, creating a more immersive and participatory experience.
Intellectual Engagement: Approximately 10% - Some artworks prompt intellectual engagement as viewers reflect on the symbolism, themes, and deeper meanings conveyed by the artists. Intellectual engagement often arises in artworks that address social issues, cultural heritage, and the human condition.
Conceptual Engagement: Approximately 5% - A few artworks involve conceptual engagement, where viewers contemplate the underlying concepts and ideas explored in the artwork. These may involve reflections on care, self-awareness, and the relationship between art and technology
The Factor Medium.
Based on the ranking of forms of engagement in the artworks mentioned, it does not necessarily suggest that any particular media is inherently better for engagement. Different forms of media offer unique opportunities for artists to engage with their viewers. For example, interactive installations and augmented reality art provide direct and immersive engagement, while traditional media like painting and sculpture can evoke emotional and intellectual responses through their visual representations. Ultimately, the effectiveness of engagement depends on how well the artist leverages the chosen medium to convey their intended message and connect with the audience. A skilled artist can create engaging and impactful artworks across a wide range of media by understanding the strengths and limitations of each medium and using them to complement the overall artistic expression. Rather than focusing on which media is better for engagement, artists prioritise understanding their artistic vision and based on that that, artists select the medium that aligns best with their artistic intent, and which will maximise the potential for engagement with goal of creating meaningful and memorable experiences for the viewer. To provide clarity and streamline the analysis of the artworks, three pieces were deliberately chosen from contrasting periods and media. By delving into “The Gleaners” by Jean-Francois Millet, “Tent” by Tracey Emin, and “Ecce Homo” by Arthur Clay and Ingo Lie, readers will gain profound insights into the themes of care and empathy beautifully depicted in these iconic masterpieces. As viewers engage with these images, they can experience the care factor inherent in the artworks and connect emotionally with their content. Each piece evokes a profound sense of care and appreciation for the diverse facets of human existence, sparking contemplation and fostering a deeper understanding of the artists’ intentions. Depicted in Fig. 1 is the iconic artwork “The Gleaners” by Jean-Francois Millet which captures a profound moment in the lives of three peasant women. Depicted gathering leftover crops from a field after the harvest, the painting’s significance lies in its portrayal of caring for the less fortunate and the essence of community support. The artwork’s aspect of care is evident through the women’s act of gleaning. With unwavering determination, they toil in the fields, labouring to provide sustenance for themselves and their families.
Fig. 1.
“The Gleaners” by Jean-Francois Millet, 1857. Oil on canvas. Located at Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.
Their dedication and effort symbolise the essence of care, reflecting the laborious journey of those who face challenges in meeting their basic needs. As viewers encounter “The Gleaners,” a profound trigger of care and empathy is invoked brought on by how the painting conveys the dignity and perseverance of the working class, inspiring feelings of compassion and recognition for those facing hardships.
Fig. 2.
“Tent” by Tracey Emin, 1999. Tent with appliquéd text and light. Destroyed.
The artwork “Tent” by Tracy Emin that is depicted in Fig. 2 is a conceptual artwork exploring themes of intimacy and emotional care. Through the text appliquéd on the tent, Tracey Emin reveals the names of everyone she has ever slept with, along with intimate reflections. The artwork invites viewers to encounter the personal and confessional nature of the text, evoking feelings of care and empathy. The tent serves as a private space where the artist reflects on her past relationships, revealing the vulnerability and emotional connection involved in intimate experiences. Viewers may gain a deeper understanding and compassion for the complexities of human relationships and the emotional care involved in such encounters.
Fig. 3.
“Ecce Homo” by Arthur Clay and Ingo Lie, 2017. Augmented Reality (AR). Present Location: Am Markte, Hannover, Germany.
The above two artworks contrast the use of media in artworks created more than a century apart. In modern art, however, an even larger contrast of approach can be seen when the use of electronic media is introduced in the creation of an artwork. The artwork in Fig. 3, “Ecce Homo” is an Augmented Reality (AR) artwork that delves into the impact of the digital age on human self-perception. Created by artists Arthur Clay and Ingo Lie in collaboration with Virtuale Switzerland, the piece presents the artist’s self-portrait as an apparition above church ruins. The self-portrait is intricately divided into eight cubes forming a three-dimensional cross, intersected by red and blue lines. This innovative use of colour-theoretical and cosmological concepts highlights the interconnectedness of humanity with the surrounding world while symbolizing the loss of holistic self-awareness in the modern digital era.
The artwork contemplates the aspect of care by depicting a concern for the profound changes in human perception caused by the digital age.It prompts viewers to consider how technology and digitalization influence their self-awareness and connection to the world. “Ecce Homo” triggers this in the viewers as they explore the work on their own smart devices and witness the impact of modern technology on self-perception as become conscious of the fragmented self-portrait and the symbolic nature of the artwork, encouraging contemplation about one’s own interactions with technology, imagination, and self-awareness in the rapidly evolving contemporary world. The following summaries provide an overview of the diverse artworks listed in the table, which all explore the theme of care. The referenced traditional artworks capture emotions of vulnerability, highlight maternal love, and depict acts of compassion. In contrast, modern art explores recognition, empathy for refugees, and the significance of human connection. Additionally, electronic artworks delve into emotional care, the complexities of relationships, and the power of empathy. Each of the works cited in the table evokes deep emotions and fosters a sense of care and appreciation for the diverse facets of human existence. Through their powerful imagery and symbolic representations, these artworks invite viewers to contemplate the significance of compassion and support for one another in shaping meaningful human connections.
Care Factor Summary for the Traditional Artworks referenced.
The presented artworks, created using a diverse range of media such as painting, sculpture, and photography, share a common aspect of triggering care in the viewer. Each artwork explores various facets of care, including emotional care and understanding for those experiencing turmoil and vulnerability, maternal care and love, mutual care and camaraderie in a collective effort, ultimate acts of caregiving and compassion, the preservation of innocence, the significance of medical care and empathy, and the importance of caring for the less fortunate and providing community support. Through their powerful imagery and evocative representations of human experiences, these artworks evoke deep emotions, empathy, and contemplation, fostering a sense of care and appreciation for the diverse facets of human existence and the significance of compassion and support for one another.
Care Factor Summary of Modern Artworks Referenced.
The presented artworks, spanning a range of media from mixed media installations and street art to documentary photographs and performance art, share a common aspect of triggering care in the viewer. Each artwork explores various facets of care, including recognition and appreciation for women’s achievements, compassion for refugees and the vulnerable, emotional care in the face of loss and adversity, the significance of presence and human connection, nurturing and sustaining loving relationships, and the empathy and understanding required in intimate encounters. Through their powerful imagery, symbolism, and interactive elements, these artworks evoke deep emotions, empathy, and contemplation, fostering a sense of care and appreciation for human experiences, connections, and vulnerabilities.
Multimedia Applications.
Focusing on a peculiar aspect of multimedia application, the following summaries provide an overview of the diverse games listed, which all explore the theme of care. The referenced games capture emotions of maternal protection, empathy for vulnerable characters, and the significance of making moral choices to safeguard a group. In contrast, other games focus on emotional care, nurturing virtual relationships, and the power of cooperation and support. Each of the games cited evokes deep emotions and fosters a sense of care and responsibility for the well-being of characters and virtual worlds. Through their immersive gameplay and storytelling, these games invite players to contemplate the significance of compassion and empathy in the context of survival, adventure, and human connections. “Shelter,” developed by Might and Delight, is a compelling survival game that immerses players in the role of a mother lynx (Fig. 4). In this heart-warming experience, players must navigate a challenging and hazardous wilderness to protect and guide their vulnerable cubs. The game’s central theme revolves around maternal care and the instinct to safeguard the young lynx cubs from predators and environmental threats. As players search for food and shelter, they experience a profound sense of responsibility for their offspring, evoking strong feelings of empathy and protectiveness. The emotional narrative and depiction of the mother-offspring bond in “Shelter” create a touching experience that resonates with players, forging a deep connection between the player and the virtual world of the lynx family.”
Fig. 4.
Screen shot of trailer for the video game ‘Shelter’ by Might and Delight.
The game “This War of Mine,” developed by 11 Bit Studios, is a gripping survival experience set in a war-ravaged city, where players take on the role of a group of civilians striving to endure amidst the brutal conflict (see Fig. 5). The game confronts players with the stark realities of war and the weighty moral decisions they must confront to safeguard their group. In the game’s exploration of care, players are immersed in the challenging context of survival, where every decision holds profound consequences for the well-being of their group. The fundamental tasks of providing sustenance, medicine, and shelter become crucial in the face of morally complex dilemmas. As players navigate this emotionally charged landscape, they may develop a strong sense of care and responsibility for the survival and safety of their group members. The game’s power lies in its poignant storytelling, which presents players with moral quandaries that evoke empathy and concern for the welfare of the characters they control. As they grapple with these moral challenges, players may experience a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of care in the context of survival and the profound impact of their decisions on the lives of those they lead through the harrowing landscape of war.
Fig. 5.
Screen shot of trailer for the video game ‘This War of Mine’ by 11 bit studio
All the featured games found in the list share qualities with those cited above although they encompass a variety of game genres and platforms, share a common theme of triggering care in players. Each game explores different aspects of care, from nurturing virtual farms, guiding young cubs through perilous environments, cooperating with strangers on a mystical journey, to forming bonds with mythical creatures. The emotional narratives, gameplay choices, and virtual connections evoke deep feelings of empathy, attachment, and responsibility. Through their immersive experiences, these games foster a sense of care and appreciation for the diverse facets of human existence and the virtual worlds they offer. These features can be traced also in other classes of multimedia products: creators can craft impactful art and digital applications that foster empathy and care by following various approaches. Cultivating empathy, addressing social issues, fostering inclusivity, and utilizing interactive elements are some of the guidelines that can elicit a sense of care in the audience: besides the videogame “This war of mine” by 11bit studio, “The Key” by Celine Tricart is a meaningful example. It consists of a VR immersive experience where players are led by the narrative to experience the sense of loss to reach understanding and a caring attitude toward refugees (Fig. 6).
A sense of care might be triggered also through colour reconstruction tasks. In this sense, a good example is that of learning-based colourization methods where, typically, the reference datasets consisting of pairs of colour and monochrome images are obtained by digitally converting available colour images to neutral tones. However, if the aim is to recolour historical photographs, then we ought to be aware that several pioneering photographic techniques were prone to a loss of information and a misrepresentation of reality. For instance, the wet-plate photography collected by early European settlers in New Zeeland failed to capture the tattoos (known as “as tā moko”) of the Māori indigenous community. As a matter of fact, photographer Michael Bradley recently raised awareness about this important cultural symbol lost in the meanders of a colonization process, with his project entitled Puaki, where he took portraits of Māori people, with modern colour photography, as well as the old wet-plate technique. These pairs of portraits would represent a more caring and empathetic option for a dual colour-monochrome image dataset, towards use in colourization methods (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7.
Screenshot of the main website of the “Puaki” exhibition by Michael Bradley, 2020 (https://www.puaki.com/)
3 Qualitative Analysis on Behaviours and Perception of Care
With the aim of improving the understanding of caring, an experimental analysis was conducted in 2022. A specific Probe Kit survey was designed to gather inspirational information to define caring attitudes more accurately and to comprehend their peculiar characteristics and triggers [15]. According to Burrows, Mitchell, and Nicolle [16], a Cultural Probe Kit is a tool for generating ideas used in the design process. The probes are boxes given to participants that contain evocative tasks and any kind of artefact (such as a map, postcards, cameras, diaries, activity notebooks), allowing them to document specific sensations, feelings, or encounters. Various qualitative techniques, including surveys, the compilation of a diary, and the reading and writing of stories, were employed in this particular use case. Twenty participants from the first year of the Master’s program “Digital Humanities and Digital Knowledge” at the University of Bologna took part in this exploration. They were questioned, through a diary (Fig. 8) and an activity notebook, on a range of topics, including their daily routines, attitudes toward caring for cultural heritage, and their thoughts on stereotypes that may have an impact on such attitudes. The information gained has improved our knowledge of the traits and triggers of the sense of caring. The findings include: 1) peculiar traits, which are the qualitative traits that characterise the caring attitude, and 2) triggers, which are behaviours, actions, and circumstances that cause it to develop. With regard to the peculiar traits, we understood how the caring attitude is greater when it is directed towards something that one owns, even metaphorically. In fact, the diary entries and responses to the essay prompt, “Write a life episode in which you felt such an urgency to care for something, that you were encouraged to act, to do something,” suggested that some of the objects the participants cared for were metaphorically theirs because they were emotionally attached to them.
Fig. 8.
Layout of the diary with questions related to caring attitude.
Furthermore, the resulting data clarify that caring attitudes are solely associated with the emotional sphere and specifically related with empathy and the positive and negative feelings experienced during the caring activity. Emotional storytelling is another conceivably important trigger; indeed, it has the power to manipulate the activation of the sense of care through the use of a skilfully prepared story. Additionally, from the results we have understood how developing a caring attitude towards something or someone is more likely when you already have a personal relationship with them (in fact, 70% of the participants claimed that they already knew the person or item they cared about when compiling the diary).
4 A Preliminary Conceptual Framework of Care
The threefold analysis previously described in this chapter has led to the identification of recurrent components that can support the definition of a first framework describing the breadth of “sense of care” in the cultural sector. These components of “care” are yet not defined as a single characteristic: conversely, in analogy with the methodology used in the analysis of “Authenticity” (see Chap. 3), we adopted the “family resemblance” principle, defined by Wittgenstein in his Philosophical Investigations. In this perspective, each of them can be conceived as a set of semantically close traits.
4.1 Single Components and Triggers
Literature review, art and multimedia contributions, and experimental surveying demonstrated how caring for CH is multifaceted and articulated in several components. Scholarly research on “care theory” has emphasised the importance of the relationship between the caregiver and the care-receiver. As outlined by Gilligan, this bond can be established on the basis of different needs. On the one hand, the “justice perspective” plays a significant role as laws, social norms or expectations may ultimately lead citizens to show interest in CH. On the other hand, as in interpersonal relationships (e.g. parent and child), an emotional and personal involvement brings about deeper connections due to the “special significance of attachment and compassion”. The more intimate sphere of the caregiver, i.e. identity, emotion, and cognition, are here at stake and the resulting “sense of care” is stronger. Studies also outlined the relevance of the care-receiver, i.e. the cultural artefact or site. Best exemplified in “The Keys”, caring is often associated with a dimension of loss, weakness, and, in general, frailty. This emerges clearly also in the definition provided by Tronto’s Moral Boundaries, which identifies the main goal of care as “maintaining, continuing, and repairing our ‘world’”. At the same time, the reading of the “The Gleaners” (see Fig. 1) puts forward an additional component: effort. Particularly in the case of inanimate care-receivers, care is expected to emerge when the uniqueness of the artefact and the time and effort required to create it are explained. On the basis of these factors, caregivers feel responsible for what they care about and are willing to take action to satisfy its needs. These activities are heterogeneous, and literature traditionally refers to them with the term of “caring attitude”. They are usually associated with the time and devotion spent to properly “take care” of the artwork and the most intuitive example is the conservation and restoration activities daily made by cultural heritage professionals. Nonetheless, at a closer look, it appears clear how caring attitudes also entail behaviours and actions within civil society’s reach: for instance, simply worrying for the potential loss of a cultural artifact, visiting cultural institution, individually researching CH-related topics and donate time (e.g. volunteering, petitions, subscription to associations as ICOM) and money for this cause. The analysis of works of art presented in thi chapter described the involvement of the visitor and the artwork in terms of engagement (taxonomised in five distinct categories: visual, emotional, interactive, intellectual, and conceptual). This concept plays a crucial role in the museological perspective on care embraced by the PERCEIVE Project, since it is often associated with the relationship between audience’s participation in cultural institutions [17]. As a matter of fact, the recent Routledge Dictionary of Museology [18] defines “engagement” almost as a synonym of “participation” and mentions some possible “caring attitudes” for visitors of cultural institutions:
ENGAGEMENT (AUDIENCE) (fr. Engagement (des publics), Participation (des publics)), n. – Encouraging someone to participate, take an interest and become involved in an organisation’s project or work. Museum audience engagement or participation occurs in several areas: firstly – social networks, with the creation of communities of users who are taking an increasingly active interest in the museum, and visiting and interacting with it regularly; and secondly – direct participation, which can be seen at community museums and Eco museums (in this case, we usually refer to actors and volunteers rather than visitors).
The theoretical enquiry on care also stressed how these attitudes should be reciprocated through feedback. Tronto underlines how a response should be provided by the care-receiver to communicate that the initial needs have been actually met [8]. Following the reflection by Groys and Montanari [1, 3], this phase coincides here with the unveiling of the message of a work of art, its artistic, historical, aesthetical value together with its power to make visitors “come into contact with the ‘force of the human in man’: the human that is in ourselves, and in the other humans we are given to meet” [1]. A final remark pertains to potential triggers for sense of care. Albeit literature review provided meaningful food for thoughts to this regard, Sects. 1 and 2 identified several elements which may support designers and CH professionals to enhance civil society attachment to cultural heritage. As exemplified above, they can act on different care components, yet they often focus on caregivers (e.g. the visitors of a cultural institution or venue) and aim at bringing about an emotional, behavioural, or cognitive transformation. A first selection of potential triggers is provided in the following – not exhaustive – list:
Cultivate Empathy, understanding emotions, experiences, and struggles of others, and let art communicate and connect with viewers on a deeper emotional level.
Focus on Human Stories connected to the artwork, its subject, message, and material history. The exploration of themes of vulnerability, compassion, love, and support should resonate with viewers’ emotions and life experiences.
Address Social and Real-World Issues: the mediation process should address social issues that require care and attention. Raising awareness about topics may foster a sense of collective responsibility and care. “Darfur is Dying” provides an example of a game that explores care in the context of the hardships faced by refugees.
Foster Inclusivity and Embracing Diversity, which can promote a culture of care and understanding among diverse audiences.
Use Symbolism and Metaphor, which can be powerful tools for conveying care in artworks. Employing visual metaphors and symbolic representations that communicate the themes of care, nurturing, and emotional support can elicit contemplation and emotional responses.
Disseminate Cultural Heritage Conservation Methods illustrating to the visitors the daily effort CH professionals make to preserve artworks and cultural sites.
Evoke Personal and Collective Memories, which can evoke a strong sense of care and nostalgia, fostering an emotional connection that transcends time and place.
Inspire Action in the audience. Engagement should motivate positive change, encouraging individuals to be more caring and compassionate in their everyday lives and communities.
Emphasise Nurturing and Building Relationships, e.g. incorporating elements requiring care for virtual entities, such as animals, crops, or characters, to develop meaningful relationships with them. “Stardew Valley” and “Animal Crossing” are excellent examples of games that emphasise nurturing and fostering connections with virtual entities.
Introduce Emotional Storytelling, crafting compelling narratives that tug at visitors’ heartstrings and present moral dilemmas. “Undertale” and “This War of Mine” showcase the power of emotional storytelling, where players’ decisions impact the well-being of characters and evoke empathy and attachment.
Encourage Cooperation and Teamwork: promoting cooperation and mutual support allows visitors to form meaningful connections without traditional communication. “Journey” beautifully illustrates how cooperation with strangers can evoke feelings of care and camaraderie.
Showcase the Impact of Choices: implement gameplay mechanics that highlight the consequences of players’ decisions, encouraging them to think about their responsibility and the implications of their actions. The game “Papers, Please” serves as an example of a game that explores care in the context of moral dilemmas and the responsibility of making life-changing decisions for others.
Engage with Humour and Playfulness, as the incorporation of light-hearted and playful elements into the game to evoke feelings of amusement and affection. “Untitled Goose Game” effectively uses humour to explore care in a playful manner.
These triggers can also be easily set in a digital ecosystem: interaction can significantly enhance the sense of care by inviting viewers to actively engage with the artwork. Incorporating elements that encourage participation, self-reflection, and introspection can indeed deepen the emotional connection between the artwork and the audience.
4.2 PERCEIVE Care Framework
On the basis of the caring components and triggers identified in the previous section, it is possible to draft a preliminary framework adapting the multifaceted nature of the “care theory” to the purposes and goals of the PERCEIVE Project. The resulting reference definition of care expands the concept beyond emotional consideration, describing it as an: active process of protection initiated by various factors like biological needs, ethical values, and perceived urgency and which may be catalysed by specific triggers. It consists of a set of attitudes which are made by caregivers to satisfy a situation of urgency of the things or the person they care about. In response to each attitude, care-receivers provide an implicit or explicit feedback to communicate that the initial needs have been met.
Figure 9 articulates this proposal in the conclusions drawn from the state of the art. Firstly, caring for CH is conceived as a process of four main stages (labelled in this study as care components). As seen, the essential prerequisite is the presence of a relationship between caregiver and care-receiver. This bond can derive from both external factors (law or society: the “justice perspective”) or internal motivations. In the previous paragraph, it has been outlined how this latter category may produce a stronger sense of care as it taps the deepest chords of the caregiver. Emotion, identity, and cognition are indeed at stake as seen in the CPKs, care often stems from emotional involvement and from potential threats to personal possessions. Moreover, a cognitive appreciation of an artwork inevitably leads to the creation of similar connections.
The essence of the care theory is then the perceived urgency to act. The frailty and the potential loss of the artwork has an impact on the caregiver who feels responsible for the care-receiver. This eventually can lead to a variety of responses, defined in literature as caring attitudes and which may considerably differ in terms of purpose, effort, or involvement. In a museological perspective this coincides with audience engagement. This concept entails multiple dimensions, describing how a visitor relates with a work of art: this spectrum ranges from simply worrying for the preservation of an object to more pro-active behaviours, such as the intellectual, cognitive, or conceptual appreciation, as well as visitor’s emotional involvement. Museum studies shed light on how engagements (and hence similar caring attitudes) can be actually associated with participation. This concept, which will be better described in Sect. 5, is broad and identifies multiple contributions to cultural institutions and their mediation activities. According to Maieresse, visitors’ behaviour plays an essential role [18]: Encouraging visitor participation is a proactive approach distinct from simply offering cultural content for consumption. This methodology invites visitors, or the individuals comprising what is usually called ‘the public’, to consciously bring something of themselves to the museum in exchange for what they receive. Conversely, the museum must recognise the value that its visitors bring to its various missions.
Lastly, the process culminates in the reward, which coincides with the phase of “care-receiving” mentioned by Tronto [8]. As shown, in the context of the cultural heritage, this can be associated with multiple outcomes: following the analysis of Groys [2, 3] and the sentimental approach by Montanari [1], it may correspond to the decoding of the true meaning of an artwork and its “force of the human in man” (see supra). This phase is implicit in the caring process per se, even though the caregiver may not seek an explicit reward for their attitude (as seen in the CPKs). As this ultimately contributes to strengthen the relationship between the visitor and the artwork, caring can be seen as a cyclical process:
Fig. 9.
Caring Components in the preliminary PERCEIVE Care Framework.
Each phase of the caring process can be catalysed by specific triggers. The heterogeneity of these solutions is shown in the first list presented in Sect. 4.1, while a possible mapping between triggers and components is proposed in Fig. 10. Below. In this Sankey diagram, triggers have been grouped into five core classes: in this preliminary framework each of them can operate on or more component of the framework:
Collaboration and Relationship, entailing all potential actions which can foster a deeper cooperation among the visitors. Eventually, these triggers aim at bringing about deeper transformation in the audience, with potential impacts on civil society as a whole, enhancing social inclusion and cohesion (for the analysis of social cohesion in interactive experiences on Digital Cultural Heritage [19, 20]. Possible examples for this class are fostering inclusivity and embrace diversity, emphasizing nurturing and building relationships, encouraging cooperation and teamwork, having the right mindset, and redrawing in/out group boundaries.
Embodied Engagement. In the Blackwell companion to Digital Humanities, Kenderdine recognised immersive and embodied experiences as the most relevant characteristics of contemporary approaches to digital cultural heritage [20]. Relying on the thought of the French phenomenologist Merleau-Ponty, who stressed the intimate relationship between perception and cognition [21], embodiment recognises the impact of engaged bodily interaction with artefacts for the creation and manipulation of meanings. More specifically, “in terms of the trichotomy of the system-user-spectators, [it] implies a reciprocal relationship with the context, encompassing users, interactive systems, spectators, co‐users, physical surroundings, and the meanings ascribed to these entities” [20]. For a more detailed analysis on the impact of embodiment in Digital Cultural Heritage, also refer to [23]. Inspiring action, engaging with playfulness, facilitating a creative engagement through art practices, create simulations, and simulating effort can be effective strategies to create an embodied experience. In addition, research in the domain of interaction design and human computer interaction managed to develop more organic design programs or theories on this type of engagement, e.g. [13, 24].
Empathy, which, as seen in Sect. 4.1. is an essential component for the care theory as it can strengthen the relationship between caregiver and care-receiver. Studies have shown that this personal trait may be changed and enhanced to specific strategies [11, 25], also when dealing with inanimate objects or with distant people in time and space. They include perspective taking, perspective giving, active listening, focus on human stories, fostering historical empathy. In addition, in a study on visual arts, Iosifyan demonstrated the correlation between the use of “theory of mind” stories, i.e. a narration able to depict the mental state of the artist during the creation of the work of art, and an increasing aesthetic appreciation [18].
Meaningfulness: as it will be later discussed in Sect. 5, visitors are seeking meaning in cultural experiences. Moreover, the care theory assumes that the care-receiver is important (i.e., meaningful) for the care-receiver, which is at the core of the caring relationship. Any trigger stressing the relevance of the artwork visitors are looking at may eventually result in stressing their responsibility to act and, thus, in a general improvement of their sense of care. As analysed throughout this chapter, these factors may concern either more personal / psychological elements (labelled in this study as factors of internal meaningfulness) or be related to a “justice perspective” (factors of external meaningfulness). Some possible examples are addressing social and real-world issue, evoking personal and collective memories, showcasing the impact of choices, focusing ethics / social norms, or getting visitors reflect on themselves (identity, emotion, and cognition) starting from the observation of the artwork.
Storytelling and Mediation. An essential element in cultural heritage experiences is the narrative framework, which can catalyse profound emotional or cognitive processes in the visitor. From a museological perspective, this coincides with the concept of mediation, “to increase the sharing of artworks and knowledge, provide concrete solutions to socioeconomic and sociocultural inequalities in accessing culture and, by extension, encourage public participation”. Traditionally, it is indeed associated with “an act of language, whether verbal or non-verbal or the means by which a heritage, museum or contemporary art professional connects an artefact (work of art, object, historical account, natural space, etc.) with an audience, in an institutionalised setting” [12]. Several techniques may be adopted to foster care, such as using symbolism and metaphors, disseminating cultural heritage, introducing emotional storytelling, filling visitors with wonder and enchantment, choosing appropriate media to convey information, creating relaxed mood, facilitating dialogue [17], highlighting the risk of the loss or of an irremediable damage of the artefact, and improving visitors’ knowledge on the work of art.
Lastly, conceiving care as a circular process provides useful food for thought in the designing and in the preparation of visitors’ experiences pursuing this goal. Indeed, any component can be identified as a possible starting point. As a result, caring relationships may be both the premise and result of a caring prototype. For instance, engagement can work as an elicitor of visitors’ attention towards the needs of a cultural artefact (caring attitude): if its meaning and relevance are effectively communicated during the experience, visitors may result in feeling a deeper connection with the artwork. In this perspective, interactive technologies offer a unique opportunity to realise a similar behavioural change.
4.3 Tool for the Design of Experiences Strengthening Visitors’ Sense of Care
In analogy with the methodology followed for the study of “Authenticity” [26], an extension of the Visitor Toolbox has been put forward, including a new possible deck of cards for the “Audience Goals” stage and the “Ideation” phase. We include here the description of the different elements that we have included.
Stage 3. Audience Goals
1.
Make Visitors Reflect on Irreversibility
2.
Use Universal Concepts to Trigger Ethical Behaviours
3.
Stimulate Visitors’ Individual Memories
4.
Encourage Introspective Contemplation for Personal Growth
5.
Assign Tasks Involving Caring Actions
6.
Promote Non-Verbal Interactions
7.
Increase Empathy
8.
Extend Knowledge
9.
Boost Enchantment
10.
Promote Citizens’ Protection Behaviours
11.
Make Citizens Learn about the Importance of Coloured Collections
12.
Make Citizens Learn about Heritage Protection
13.
Promote Citizens’ Respectful Behaviours Towards Local Heritage and Coloured Collection
14.
Make Visitors Willing to Pay for Sustainable Services and Products
15.
Involve Visitors in Taking Care Activities at the Museum
Stage 5: Ideation
1.
Simulation. Sense of awareness is stimulated in visitors through visual simulation of irreversible changes to something important.
2.
Ethic. Visitors are involved in metaphors and stories fostering connections to ethical themes felt as priorities for them (human rights, climate, war, gentrification, etc.).
3.
Personal. Visitors are engaged in experiences that evoke individual memories about life aspects such as family, known places, and relevant objects.
4.
Self-reflection. Visitors are involved in experiences that prompt introspective thoughts and inner exploration encouraging self-awareness.
5.
Action. Experience encourages the visitor to use symbolic tools or resolve tasks performing caring actions to something or someone.
6.
Embodiment. In the experience, visitors’ body movements can trigger actions and events, enhancing cognitive processes through non-verbal interactions.
7.
Historical Characters. A narrative that mixes historical facts and evocative plot empowers a deep emotional connection between visitors and cultural heritage.
8.
Empathy. The visitors spend time in contexts unusual to them or outsiders, doing theme-specific activities (volunteering in museum guides, laboratories, workshops, etc.).
9.
Perspective Taking. The visitor adopts another person’s viewpoint improving understanding and empathy from a diverse perspective (different expertise, social group, religion etc.).
10.
Active Listening. A specific character’s story is presented to the visitors which are actively invited to empathise with the protagonist’s sentiments and thoughts.
11.
Theory of Mind Stories. Visitors are told a story with characters acting with specific behaviours and are invited to imagine motivations, feelings and sentiments behind these characters’ actions.
12.
Perspective Giving. Visitors are invited to give their perspective on certain arguments.
13.
Having the Right Mindset. People’s Empathy isn’t immutable: it’s a fluid trait that could be increased. It can be reinforced by proposing to visitors, stories with deep-changing characters and self-improvement processes.
14.
Redrawing In/Out Group Boundaries. Visitors imagine themself acting inside (increasing their sense of belonging) or outside a group (reflecting and reacting to a sense of rejection).
15.
Social Norms. Visitors are informed about the emphatic actions and reactions of others strangers, producing a positive mirror-effect on their behaviour.
16.
Appropriate Media to Convey Information. Information that is far from visitors’ understanding (too complex data and articulated reasoning) are humanized by adopting specific media and correct communication strategies.
17.
Art Practices. Visitors are involved in artistic activities crafting self-made artworks or and collaborative performance.
18.
Relaxed Mood. Provide a relaxed and positive environment to the visitors adopting strategies to avoid anxiety and reduce preoccupations that otherwise may reduce empathy.
19.
Enchantment. Develop a sense of wonder in the visitors.
20.
Facilitated Dialogue. Include active dialogues with experts/guides and among participants; provocative questions and alternative perspectives are proposed to visitors.
5 Participation: A Care Component in Cultural Interactive Experiences
A crucial contribution for the understanding of participation in the museum and cultural context has been put forward by Nina Simon, with the publication of the Participatory Museum [17]. Her definition relies on an audience-centred institution, where visitors can “construct their own meaning from cultural experiences” (II). User’s voice should hence be listened to and guide exhibition and interactive experiences design in the cultural sector. In this perspective, traditional approaches are overcome as (2):
In traditional exhibits and programs, the institution provides content for visitors to consume. Designers focus on making the content consistent and high quality. (…) In contrast, in participatory projects, the institution supports multi-directional content experiences. The institution serves as a “platform” that connects different users who act as content creators, distributors, consumers, critics, and collaborators.
Therefore, thanks to this participatory approach, museums have become a system of relations among the institution, its personnel, the collection and the audience. Therefore, not only are museums the places where our cultural heritage is preserved, but also catalysers of social experiences. As a result, musealia are considered as social objects, i.e. “engines of socially networked experiences, the content around which conversation happens” [27]. In this perspective, the importance of direct involvement of visitors is indeed crucial, as “demonstrations that involve ‘guests from the audience’ or encourage small groups of visitors to handle objects allow visitors to confidently connect with objects in a personal way” (152). To allow audiences a more significant participation in cultural institutions, direct interaction with the collection is hence essential. In addition, the participatory experience may rely also on other approaches to ignite an active critical process in the visitors. For instance, asking questions is by far one of the most implemented. The author specifies that perspective-giving strategies may be effective only if they fulfil two main requirements (140):
The question is open to a diversity of responses. If there’s a “right answer,” it’s the wrong question.
Visitors feel confident and capable of answering the question. The question draws on their knowledge, not their comprehension of institutional knowledge.
Recent technological advances have afforded new participatory and interactive approaches to knowledge and increased the tangibility of cultural objects and ideas. Some of these approaches have allowed for the combination of cognitive, sensorial, historical, and artistic aspects into one experience. As such, the advent of new technologies has paved new avenues for tackling education about cultural artefacts, their interpretations, and their implications. This is especially true of coloured cultural artefacts. In this section, we will investigate the ways digital technologies can be used in an interactive media participatory design perspective. In particular, we believe that a fruitful approach is through participatory and interaction design.
The attempt to more fully integrate the use of technology with the materiality of a heritage display is part of a wider line of debate on making the museums and their artefacts more engaging for visitors, overcoming the separation between technology and heritage holdings. Increasing interest in the physicality of the experience with cultural objects (hybridity) is also shown by many works in museum studies [28, 29] as well as the rise of public installations focused on multiple levels of engagement [30, 31]. Petrelli and colleagues [31] believe that “the digital and the material can become components for the design of a holistic visitor experience that crosses the digital-material boundary. The challenge is in weaving the digital and the material to create seamless immersive and novel visitors’ experiences”. There are numerous recent examples of new museological approaches that take a decidedly multi-disciplinary approach with human and ludic factors in computing, such as adding content layers on exhibitions through technology, enhancing audience immersion through digital techniques, developing virtual museums and serious games [32], personalising hybrid museum experiences through digital gifting [33], controlling interactive exhibitions through the use of tangible smart replicas or tangible data souvenirs, and more.
5.1 Alternative Texturizations and Personalization: ColourColab (2020)
In 2020, a prototype for an interactive art installation was designed within a Master’s thesis of Digital Humanities and Digital Knowledge (DHDK) at the University of Bologna: ColourColab [34]. ColourColab was a proposed interactive installation cantered around colour and multiple classical sculptures or their copies. The experience would enable users to select one or several polychromy visualizations of the sculptures, either through an online tool or an augmented reality (AR) interface (Fig. 11). A range of pre-made palettes would be available in the lab for users to explore and experiment with. Some palettes are grounded in scholarly research on ancient pigments. Another category of pre-made palettes is based on iconic paintings, art history masterpieces, or artist-commissioned works. A third type of available palettes is inspired by the top fabric patterns of the year and the most prevalent colours and trends in the modern fashion world. Additionally, a database of user-uploaded palettes is provided for inspiration. Importantly, users would have the option to dynamically create their own palette, including colours from their own skin, body, clothes, and surroundings. ColourColab’s educational purpose in the context of museums relates to the notion of awakening, which aims to arouse curiosity, to lead to questioning and developing the capacity to think.
Fig. 11.
The design of the ColorColab experience, allowing users to explore colourisation of multiple sculptures with a variety of palettes that the user may choose from or create.
5.2 Fostering Caring Attitudes and Participation Through Art Practices
As seen, sense of care is a broad concept: it entails several attitudes and interacts with multiple possible cognitive goals for interactive applications. Recent studies stressed the essential role of curiosity, as “we are curious for things we care about” [35]. Curiosity (see also Chap. 5) has been indeed defined as a quest for information to close a knowledge gap [36]. However, if this gap is enhanced and put into relations with high level “Concepts”, which embrace “life themes” of “high levels of intensity” and “self-related information”, interest can be elicited, which may succeed in catalysing a deeper behavioural change in the visitor [36].
In turn, triggering interest towards an artwork within an interactive application may succeed in allowing the audience to live a meaningful and authentic experience. Chen and Rahman [37] indeed showed that visitors intrinsically seek for meaning as meaning-making is proved to facilitate the understanding of what has been lived. More specifically, meaning-creation is inherently linked to the establishment of mental connections [38]. This active process is also considered to stem from several needs: among these, major emphasis has been laid on the key terms of Self and the identity.
This pursuit of interest and meaning creation processes as a cognitive goal of an interactive application share with contemporary musicological approaches the emotional and psychological involvement of the visitors, who should be able to “construct their own meaning from cultural experiences” [17]. The proven effectiveness of hands-on activities in this domain paved the way to Bilda and colleagues’ study on creative engagement, i.e. the adoption of art practices at the basis of visitors’ participation: this solution entails a transformative dialogue between the user and the interactive systems and results in “a shift in intentions and expectations”, associable also to an actual behavioural change [39].
To verify the possibility of implementing a similar approach to polychrome’s collections, a first caring prototype is being developed, which focuses on a peculiar asset of museum collection, i.e. conservation data. They are indeed a precious resource, enabling visitors to explore hidden details lying under the pictorial film. Nonetheless, also when exhibiting these objects, museums often rely on a monodirectional top-down approach: specific details are for instance shown to the visitor, who is now able to read in that specific fragment of data the history of the painting (the most intuitive case is compositional arrangements implemented by the painter). Albeit it might succeed in the acquisition of limited pieces of knowledge, this approach ignores other potentially more participatory strategies to the works of art, which may elicit visitors’ sense of care and interest, as well as, eventually, catalyse collaborative processes of meaning creation. In this analysis, we have tried to exploit the current research in this field to guide the design of a first UX to pursue these goals in the cultural sector. The case study has been drawn from the collection of an Associate Partner of the PERCEIVE Project, the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and is a masterpiece of Fauvism, an historical avant-garde who gave a prominent role to the semantic of colours: Bathers by a River by Matisse (1869 – 1954). The painting, which has been thoroughly described by D’Alessandro [40], was conceived together with La Musique and La Danse II and is characterised by a difficult gestation (1909 – 1917). Physicochemical analyses (X-Radiography and cross-section photomicrographs) demonstrated in fact the presence of at least six versions: the bright, “aggressive”, typically Fauvist colours were turned in darker and paler hues, and the position of the characters and of the natural elements was radically changed. Among the most plausible justifications for this change, two are the most convincing: i.e. the contact with Cubism and African art, and the historical context. In fact, the Great War might have had a serious impact on the painter’s psychological status and concerns might be reflected also in the choice for darker hues and in a more rigid and vertical position of the female figures.
The developed prototype, named MyTISSE, focused on the X-radiography (Fig. 12) as a starting point for creative engagement, as participants are expected to draw their reinterpretations (which results in a trigger of type “Embodied Engagement”, see 4.4) directly on an image of X-Ray scan1. A first testing session was hence organized to prove the soundness of the initial research question on a qualitative sample of twenty-four master students, PhD candidates and young researchers of the field of digital humanities at the University of Bologna. Participants, who had no previous knowledge of the painting, were asked to read and sign an Informed Consent form and they were given a tablet and an interactive pen. The device contained the application Ibis Paint X with a preloaded image of the X-Ray scan and two-colour palettes, reflecting the initial (reconstructed) and the final version of the painting (see a more detailed description of the testing protocol and of the retrieved results [41]). The initial drawing and painting phase being concluded, participants were provided a brief explanation on the history of the painting (which, in the PERCEIVE Care Framework, corresponds to the trigger “Storytelling and Mediation” acting on the “Reward” component) and were later asked to answer a brief summary. The data were later saved as *.csv file and processed in Python.
Fig. 12.
X-radiograph of Matisse, Bathers by a River, after [40]
The huge differences in the reinterpretation (e.g. Fig. 13) show how the activity is participatory as “open to a diversity of responses” and the obtained results from the survey eventually show how through creative engagement it is possible to foster audience’s care towards the collection and impact on visitor beliefs. The survey indeed asks visitors to summarise the experience and, secondly, provides a selection of relevant elements, whose salience should be assessed by the participants, re-ordering them from one to five: these tasks are aimed at detecting which aspects of the experience are perceived as more important.
Fig. 13.
Reinterpretation of Matisse, Bathers by a River, Participant C3
The results are hence consistent with the initial hypothesis: the most frequent words in the summaries are painting, Fig. / shape (here considered synonyms, given the context), colour and interesting. Similarly, the answers to the second question show the importance of the change of colour, the possibility to reconstruct the different versions of the painting through conservation data and the impact of the war in the composition of the Bathers. On the contrary, a secondary role was played by the contact with other artistic avant-gardes (e.g., Cubism) and the fact that it was conceived together with other two famous paintings. To efficiently assess the development of caring relationships with the artifact, a fictitious scenario was provided in the survey: the artwork would be undergoing an irremediable corrupting process and, in a few years, the damages to the pictorial film may be unrepairable. Participants are asked to state how sorry they would be for this loss on a Likert scale (values from 1 to 5). Their answers demonstrate anew the creation of an intense sense of care, since all the values are either high or extremely high. The survey also invited participants to describe the major takeaways from this experience: almost one participant out of four indeed claimed to have received a benefit. In addition, a closer look at visitors’ feedback shows how MyTISSE succeeded in filling knowledge gaps and questioning visitors’ beliefs on art, colour, and cultural experiences, as shown by the following answers:
Yes. I think it helped me to approach art in a new, different way, a way I had never thought of before. I’ll probably attend exhibitions and visit museums with a different mindset from now on!! (Participant A1).
It helped me to fill the curiosity that this exercise arose (Participant A4).
It was helpful - also through the use of this questionnaire- to put down the feelings that this painting gives me, because I often do not consciously think about that when I look at pieces of art. (…) It is inspiring, thought provoking and admirable the way a painting of a casual, carefree activity such as bathing by a river, brought me a sense of sadness and fear considering the style of the painting but especially the context of the artwork. (Participant A6).
I think it did somehow. I think that it has helped me with questioning my own perception of colour and of different ideas. It certainly has me question my own idea of art and colour (Participant C2).
It helped me in developing a sense of care for art and overcoming stereotypes about styles and colours associated with an author. (Participant C4).
This enthusiasm towards this kind of activity is also mirrored by other two explicit questions, which reported a unanimous agreement: the first one concerned the possibility for museums to encourage similar activities, while the second one asked to the participants if they would be curious to see the reinterpretations of the other visitors. In particular, this latter result paves the way to possible pursuit of collective participation, a direction which is particularly promising to convert the cultural institution into “a social place, full of potentially interesting, challenging, enriching encounters with other people” [17].
6 Examples of Digital Experiences Enhancing Sense of Care
To verify the soundness of the framework described in Sect. 4, in the following paragraph we scrutinise a restricted selections of different projects and multimedia products (part of them have been already mentioned in Sect. 2), exemplifying different strategies through which sense of care towards historical sites and CH – and in particular coloured collection - may be strengthened. In this overview, the Sankey diagram proposed in Fig. 10 Has been adopted as a useful guide to identify the most relevant features of these projects.
Title. Animal Crossing: New Horizons & The Metropolitan Museum of Arts
Description.Animal Crossing, by far one of the most beloved videogames, is a social simulation game, where the player can choose an avatar. Thanks to a collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York, players can now customise their virtual homes directly browsing from the collection of the museum. The Digital Department of this institution has indeed released in open access more than four hundred thousand images of their collection, alongside with other institutions as the Cincinnati Art Museum or The Getty.
Caring Trigger.
Meaningfulness As other social simulation video games, Animal Crossing encourages players to take care of their own rural villages and homes. The main assumption of this joint project is that by using these paintings, even just for a simple decorative purpose, players can establish a potential caring relationship with them: artworks are now considered as players’ own possessions. As seen during the analysis of the results of CPKs, this factor can be considered as a trigger of internal meaningfulness.
Title. Colour The Temple (2015) – Chroma AR (2022)
Description. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has also developed interactive experiences on coloured reconstructions of ancient art and architecture, developing a tool that used projected light to digitally restore polychromy on The Temple of Dendur. Besides, the projection also presented animated versions of the stories depicted on the Temple. After this first experience, the MET has developed a new AR experience for the visitors of the exhibition the Chroma, with reconstructions of ancient sculptures and introducing a new polychromy reconstruction of the MET’s Archaic-period Sphinx finial.
Similar Projects.
In the past decade, several projects have been proposed to access lost polychromy of archaeological findings and ancient artworks. Possible examples have been already mentioned in Sect. 3.6: The Colours of the Ara Pacis (2014), L’Ara com’era (2017), and different exhibits of Keys to Rome [42]. Concerning this latter exhibition, the two installations by the MET are similar to Revealing Flashlight (see again Sect. 3.6) and AR-tifact, an AR installation2 on iPad through which the visitors could see a cultural artifact or a fragment of its, together with its reconstructive details, such as the polychromy (Fig. 15).
Caring Triggers/Component. Embodied Engagement.
AR and gesture-based applications fit well with the definition of embodiment (4.4) and are increasingly being adopted by museum to allow visitors to unveil the hidden secrets of their collection. Sarah Kenderdine provided a thorough description of how a similar AR application perfectly exemplifies embodied museography, focusing on the Pure Land AR exhibit, which allows visitors to discover the inaccessible Mogao Grottoes (Gansu Province, China) by means of a tablet [20]. The relationship between similar installations and the PERCEIVE caring framework finds support in the study by Groys on curatorial practices (see Sect. 1). Here the author states that “the artwork needs external help, it needs an exhibition and curator to become visible” and that “the medicine that makes the sick image appear healthy - makes the image literally appear and do so in the best light - is the exhibition”. In these projects, embodied engagement is a caring practice because it allows visitors and curators to work together to restore and make visible a feature of the artwork that would otherwise be lost forever.
As shown in. Fig. 14 and Fig. 16, these projects seem to implement one single trigger (or class of triggers) to ignite a reaction of the visitor on one of the four components of the PERCEIVE care framework. The following examples, on the other hand, show how this differentiation between classes of triggers is not immediate and can be milder. In particular, video games and narrative experiences in which historical or cultural heritage plays a major role (and not only a “decorative” purpose as in Animal Farm) provide food for thought in this perspective. In addition, these two examples will show how these multiple triggers are not isolated: on the contrary, a first trigger may catalyse an action or a behaviour in the visitor which in turn serves as a new trigger for another component of the framework.
Title. Father and Son
Description. Launched by Archaeological Museum in Neaples (MANN) in collaboration with TuoMuseo and Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in 2017, it is the first worldwide museum game. It tells the story of a MANN archaeologist and his son he has never met, Michael, who is also the main character of this game. This adventure through the museum takes the player through different historical contexts, corresponding to the three main collections of the museum, i.e. Pompeii, Ancient Egypt and the Farnese Collection.
Caring Triggers/Component.
Father and Son obtained a considerable success in the audience, which is in great part due to the deeply emotional narrative framework. It has been indeed outlined that [43]: “The video game is characterized by a preeminent narrative dimension, which supports and accompanies the journey of the main character, a journey that is not only physical, but also, and above all, psychological: the pain for the loss of a hitherto distant and little understood parent is in fact diluted through the emotions and feelings of universal value that the protagonist experiences during this journey. (…) This emotional aspect turned out to be of great importance for its success, arousing the involvement of the user and, often, a deep empathy between the player and the protagonist of the story”. As in traditional first-person games, also in Father and Son the visitor identifies with the protagonist: the overlapping of the player’s identity with the young orphan Michael lays the basis for the strong empathic bond described by Solima above. This is an essential condition as this encourages the visitor to proceed in the subsequent phases of the game. Storytelling is thus used either to describe a situation of loss or to set new challenges: Michael (and the player / visitor) feels responsible for completing these tasks and is therefore encouraged to act. The interactive experience as a whole provides in turn a new trigger: the direct involvement is a factor of internal meaningfulness. This ultimately strengthens the relationship between the player and the protagonist of the story and “to a certain extent, by extension, - as claimed by Solima [43] - between the player and the museum”.
Description. The Galata Museo del Mare (Sea Museum) in Genoa, Italy recently opened a new section “Memoria EMigrazioni” (Memories and Migrations). This section delves into the history of migration in Italy, starting from the Italian emigrants to North and Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries to the current immigrants from Africa and Asia. The permanent exhibition combines archival document, objects belonged to the migrants, and interactive installations. In one of these a vertical screen portrays an officer in the Registry Room at Ellis Island in New York Harbour: this was where migrants were inspected and, if they did not meet all the criteria for admission, they could be rejected and forced to return home. The visitor is here asked to answer some specific questions in the shoes of an Italian migrant at the beginning of the last century. The entire museographical project of this exhibition is based on a strong identification between the visitor and the migrants. The experience commences with visitors receiving a replica passport once/which belonged to one of the many migrants whose story and journey across the ocean is today documented in the archive. Immediately adjacent to the aforementioned video installation, which features orange walls (Fig. 17), are drawers labelled with the names of migrants. When these drawers are opened, the migrant stories are revealed, corresponding to the respective passports’ name. Finally, the experience concludes with an interactive kiosk that enables visitors to engage with the archives of the CISEI, the International Center for Studies on Italian Emigration (http://www.memoriaemigrazioni.it/), and to find out whether any of their ancestors emigrated to the America in the past centuries.
Similar Projects.
The videogame Paper Please (https://papersplea.se/) offers a similar experience: the player is an immigration inspector controlling the flow of people entering the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia. His job is using only the documents provided by travellers and the Ministry of Admission’s primitive inspect, search, and fingerprint systems to decide who can enter Arstotzka and who will be turned away or arrested. The theme of migration is moreover at the centre of the VR experience The Key, discussed in Sect. 2
Caring Triggers/Component.
The theme of migrations, presented in a complex narrative and interactive visit in “Memoria EMigrazioni” starting from single museum objects and archival documents, is of topical relevance. As a matter of fact, it merges different perspective and food for thought deriving from history, social sciences and has profound social and geopolitical implications. In their participatory nature, museums and cultural institutions become platforms of discussion of these themes and design complex experiences which involve almost the entirety of the triggers described in the PERCEIVE Care Framework (see Fig. 18). As in Father & Son, a deep identification and the establishment of a strong empathic bond between the visitor and the protagonist of the narration, i.e. migrants, are essential. Storytelling enables to strengthen this intimate relationship and structures the different sections of the exhibition, inviting the audience to directly engage throughout the engagement. Quoting Groys, also in historical heritage museums this participation enables to discover new hidden elements on the life of the migrants: they provide again triggers of internal meaningfulness, which strengthen the relationship between the visitor and the museum. Owing to the peculiar nature of this collection, this resulting intimate relationship provides important food for thought for the audience, which in the future is expected to be more empathetic for the situations of migrants and refugees. As anticipated in Sect. 4.2, similar behavioural triggers relying on the establishment of interpersonal relationship are potentially aimed to a stronger social cohesion.
This study was funded by the PERCEIVE project that received funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101061157.
Disclosure of Interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
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