Tag Archives: Fotomuseum

Mindful Slow-Looking with The Fotomuseum

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For their 5th Slow Art Day, The Fotomuseum in Antwerp, Belgium, provided a virtual slow-looking mindfulness exercise (in Dutch) for people at home during the Covid19 pandemic.

Title picture of the instructions for the event Slow Art Day at Home organised by the Fotomuseum, Antwerp.

Participants were encouraged to choose an image, drawing or photo to look at for 5-10 minutes and find a comfortable seated position. The Fotomuseum outlined 5 stages for its meditative slow-looking activity:

1) Relax

“Close your eyes. Pay attention to your breath, and put one hand on your stomach to feel it. If your mind wanders, return to your breath. Breathe in for 4 seconds and out for 6. Repeat this 5 times.”

2) Look at your artwork

“Open your eyes and look at the artwork with the same alertness you had for your breath. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What do you notice?
  • What colors, composition, shapes and materials do you see?
  • Does the artwork remind you of events from your own life?
  • Would anyone else notice the same things as you?

If your mind wanders, try to return to the image.”

3) Breathe

“Close your eyes a second time, and return focus to your breathing. Take a few deep breaths so you feel the air flow deeply into your lungs, and then breathe as normal again. Pay attention to any thoughts about the artwork, but try to not lose yourself in them. Return to your breathing again.”

4) Look a second time

“Open your eyes and look at the artwork for the second time.

  • What stands out to you now?
  • Do you notice anything new?
  • Does the artwork take on a new meaning for you?”

5) Reflect

“Take a moment to reflect on the exercise.

  • Did you notice yourself thinking or looking in a different way?
  • Do you have a new or different connection with the artwork?”

The original in-person event planned by the museum attracted interest from over 150 prospective attendees, and the online instructions were shared to Facebook with 50+ interactions.

At Slow Art Day HQ we have loved using these thoughtful instructions for our own slow-looking. Try them out at home for yourself!

We look forward to The Fotomuseum’s 6th Slow Art Day in 2021 ― hopefully in their actual museum.

– Johanna

Note: The above instructions were translated from the original Dutch.

PS – You may want to take a look at the webinar they did for Slow Art Day last year.

Belgium Goes Big Again for Slow Art Day

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Four different museums and one church will host Slow Art Day across Belgium this Saturday, April 14, 2018.

Katrijn D ‘Hammers, writing in Dutch on the Blog for Faro, a nonprofit cultural center in Brussells that supports museums throughout the country, outlines what’s happening and directs Belgians to go look at art slowly this Saturday.

Here are the five venues with descriptions of their events quoting from Katrijn’s blog post:

  • Red Star Line Museum
    “During Slow Art Day, you zoom in on the paintings by Emigrants from Eugène Laermans and Belgian Emigrants from Louis van Engelen.”
  • Fotomuseum
    “…the Fotomuseum invites you to zoom in on one photo during a 45-minute session.”
  • Saint Paul’s Church
    “…discover The Lamentation of the Zonnekind of Kristo, a beautiful statuette that has been set up in the Kruisweg chapel for several months.”
  • Arentshuis – Groeninge
    “Choose from a Slow Art Talk in the Groeninge Museum, the Sint-Janshospitaal and the Arentshuis (collection presentation Gruuthuse in a gallant company).”
  • BOZAR
    “…a BOZAR guide will give you a few highlights from the Spanish Still Life exhibition and you will have time to ‘enjoy’ paintings by Cotán, Goya, Picasso and Dalí.”

Sounds like a great Slow Art Day across Belgium. If you are in Antwerp, Brussels, or Bruges, I hope you go slow down at one of these events.

To read Katrijn’s post in full, click here.