Esperienza museale e Positive Design
A study on the Malmerendi Civic Museum of Natural Sciences
Description
In recent years, with rigorous evidence, psychology has highlighted the role of museum attendance in the psychological well-being of people, together with its ability to protect against cognitive decline in old age. First in England, the United States and Canada, then in Italy (in Naples, Rome and Florence), numerous museums have been involved in the study of activities dedicated to people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, with the result of a reduction in basic medical visits and hospital admissions, so much so that one of the practices recently adopted by doctors is the ‘social prescription’, i.e. a real prescription to visit places of culture, for people from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, people at risk of social isolation (e.g. the elderly) and people with chronic conditions of physical or mental infirmity. This research, however, was mainly conducted regarding art museums. This discipline has always been known as a means of support for various therapies, where the influence of such experiences on the well-being of visitors was analysed. The purpose of my work is to verify, through the application of the principles of Communication Design, whether a visit to a natural science museum can also contribute to the visitor’s cultural enrichment (hedonic growth) and, consequently, to arousing positive emotions that improve the individual’s psychophysical wellbeing, a wellbeing that is often also reflected in the community to which it belongs (eudaimonic wellbeing).
Taking a cue from the pioneering studies conducted by the University of Delft, that see Design applied to Positive Psychology, immersive installations were designed for the Malmerendi Museum of Natural Sciences in Faenza, so that it could make the visit more engaging, arousing positive emotions in visitors.
In particular, three finds in the museum were selected: the Cave Bear, the Grouper of Rio Albonello and the skull of the Mammoth of Oriolo. Regarding the cave bear, a stylised graphic representation of the Pocala Quarry, the site where its remains were found, was created as the background of the showcase. The considerable size of the three-metre-high animal was emphasised by reproducing its silhouette on a 1:1 scale on cardboard, to provoke an emotional reaction in visitors and, at the same time, offer a graphic and visual comparison with the size of other species.
For the second installation, dedicated to the Grouper of the Rio Albonello, a corrugated cardboard column was created in which a hole was cut (similar to a porthole) through which visitors can observe a 3D projection of the grouper as it swims in its primordial sea. To realise the third installation, an interview with Professor Marabini, the geologist who witnessed the discovery, was filmed and edited, and enriched with archive material and explanatory graphics.
To assess the impact on visitors of the museum experience and the designed immersive installations, a questionnaire was prepared to investigate the eudaimonic well-being, personal growth, flow experience and positive emotions felt during the visit. The statistical analysis of the data on a sample of 105 visitors, reports that the experience at the Malmerendi museum generated the perception of personal growth, linked to the eudaimonic well-being of openness to the experience and a feeling of development; the analysis of the data showed that the flow experience is also able to manifest itself in a Natural Science museum. Furthermore, we can state the existence of positive and significant relationships between the four major factors considered and studied by this research: general personal growth, eudaimonic growth due to the experience, the Flow condition and the positive emotions felt.
