Experiencing Exhibitions: A review of studies on visitor experiences in museums

This article reviews significant, empirically oriented studies from the United States and Europe concerning visitor experiences in museum exhibitions in order to pinpoint similarities and differences among them. In the last twenty years, only a few scholars have tackled this research question in multifaceted empirical ways (although some of them extensively so). By comparing theoretical and methodical issues, as well as main results we are able to outline several analytical building blocks that compose a complex framework of visitor expectations, experiences and outcomes. The gathering of credible data on the exhibition or museum experience of visitors – although dating back to the tracking records of Robinson (1928) – is an ongoing challenge for an empirically inclined museum science. Since the last twenty years, however, an array of social scientists of varying disciplines at universities and museums have been examining the various dimensions of museum or exhibition experiences. What are the findings of these behavioral factors of exhibition experiences? What are the blind spots and which questions should be researched to gain a deeper understanding of experiencing exhibitions?