Slow Art Day 2012 is Saturday, April 28, 2012 in museums and galleries on every continent.
This ARTNews article is a good summary of our mission and global reach:
Slow Down, You Look Too Fast
ARTNews
April 2011
Online version
Thumbnail of offline article
Slow Art Day was started to invite novices - and experts - to experience the art of looking at art slowly.
It's a very simple process. Volunteer hosts (not necessarily experts) invite people to come to a local museum and view a small number of works of art for 5 to 10 minutes each. Then everyone meets for lunch at a nearby cafe to talk about their experience. And all this happens the same day around the world.
The result? Participants say they get "inspired not tired" and plan to return to that museum or gallery again and again (note: our not-so-secret agenda is to help more people experience the excitement of art and become regular patrons of their local museums).
90+ sites for Slow Art Day 2011
50+ sites for Slow Art Day 2010
16 sites for Slow Art Day 2009
Do you want to get involved in Slow Art Day 2012 - April 28, 2012
If you are interested in being a host or finding out more, then click here.
How did Slow Art Day get started and what's it all about?
Phil Terry, founder of the Reading Odyssey and CEO of Creative Good, started Slow Art Day with the hope of changing the "8-second rule" - i.e. the widely reported statistic that when visiting a museum most people spend only about 8 seconds at each piece of art. And, then leave the museum tired, not inspired.
What would happen if visitors were instructed to spend 5 or 10 minutes looking at only 5 or 10 total pieces of art? Would this make it possible to share the secret that art experts, curators, educators, artists and others know: that if you look slowly, your experience will be transformed?
The alpha test for Slow Art Day occurred in the summer of 2009 at MoMA in New York with four people. The success of that first, small experiment led Phil to run a larger "beta" test in October 2009, which featured 16 museums and galleries in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Attendee feedback was so enthusiastic that the volunteers decided to make Slow Art day an annual global event.
Slow Art Day 2010 - Saturday, April 17 - was the first truly global Slow Art Day and it featured volunteers hosting slow viewing sessions at 50+ museums, galleries and churches around the world (every continent except Antarctica). It was a big success - and all powered by volunteer effort without any funding or official support.
Slow Art Day 2011 kicked off in December 2010 when the scientists at McMurdo Station in Antarctica hosted the first Slow Art Day of the season. On Saturday, April 16, 2011, 90+ sites followed the Antarctic kickoff to host Slow Art Day on every other continent. Hundreds of volunteers - including a global team - made Slow Art Day 2011 possible. Still with no funding, this simple idea has proven that the general public wants to slow down and see art in a way that can inspire. Special thanks to the global volunteer team:Caroline Wingate, Birmingham host and registrar for all Slow Art Day hosts
Arielle Amir, social media manager
The many volunteer hosts who make Slow Art Day possible on every continent
Our sponsors who help make Slow Art Day possible. See and support sponsors here