Host Lieve Raymaekers at BOZAR in Brussels, Belgium writes of their Slow Art Day 2017 experience,

It was again (our second) great experience. Very mindful and peaceful, joyful…We started with a group meditation of 5 minutes around a Pol Bury fountain. We walked in silence throughout the exhibition before starting the slow looking exercises. The guides used hourglasses to measure the time and bell to mark the beginning and end of each exercise. The participants chose works themselves to look at. Most works of Pol Bury move very slowly and in unexpected ways. They invite you to look slowly and take your time. The drawing exercise – choose one work to draw (what you see, feel, imagine…) for 10 minutes – worked very well. The discussions after each exercise and at the end (we took 2 hours) were very inspiring.
Some quotes:

– When you look slowly you’ll remember better what you’ve seen
– Slow looking helps to better understand the artist
– When you look at less works you see more
– The experience of Slow Art Day makes the experience of the visit of the exhibition so much more interesting than when it’s “just another exhibit you’ve seen”
– When you take your time to look you can feel emotions coming up

Slow lookers at BOZAR, Brussels. Image © Amélie Detienne.