A new poll suggests museum catalogs and other art publications are more likely to be used as coasters for soft drinks than read by anyone. The findings come amidst a nationwide survey of 1,618,034 United States households conducted by the CultureMulturePolls that sought to understand how Americans are interacting with culture and art today.
Only 9% of people in all 50 US states and territories reported owning what may qualify as a museum or art catalog, while only 3% of them reported opening the book, and only half of those said they flipped through it only to look at the images.
“This Kusama monograph is nice, but protecting my coffee table from spills is nicer,” said one survey respondent, according to the report.
Other notable findings included the fact that 90% of respondents had no idea what the difference between contemporary and modern art is, and 84% didn’t realize Manet and Monet were two different artists. A whopping 45% of respondents thought museums turned into casinos at night, while a surprising 25% thought curators were hired for their research and critical thinking skills rather than fundraising and networking abilities.
The poll also found that 68% of respondents considered themselves artists and 33% said they would consider themselves “collectors.”
The data about art catalogs also reveals that while 93% said they used art catalogs as coasters, and 3% of respondents said they actually “read” the book, the remaining 4% were split between those who said they used it for their collaging projects and those who explained they had lent the book to someone else and never got it back or regifted it with the plastic still on it and everything.
CultureMulturePolls’s forthcoming research project will analyze whether anyone actually likes art critics, art dealers, or Minimalism.
