The lecture will present the reactions of adult viewers to IRWIN’s Kapital, on view since 2011 in the new permanent exhibition of 20^th century Slovene art at the Moderna galerija. The empirical research project encompassed both the “general” and “expert” publics, as museum visitors are traditionally categorized by museologists. It was carried out on a sample of 23 people who were either professionally qualified or unqualified in the field of fine arts. With the technique of gathering the thoughts, associations and feelings triggered in the interviewees when observing the works of art, the author determined the ways in which museum visitors responded to the focal works, what kinds of knowledge they used in understanding them, what motivated them in this, and how their previous experiences and other interests affected their experience. In the case of IRWIN’s Kapital, the majority of interviewees had trouble understanding the concept and artistic expression of the pieces, while some did not even wish to understand the works and simply avoided the exhibit. The author will present the reasons for this, based on the opinions of the visitors.

Art historian Rajka Bračun Sova holds a PhD in educating educators, and specifically education in the field of art. She teaches art history as part of the informal education of adults, and carries out research in museum pedagogy, in particular education in art museums, and in art-related didactics.