Can Vandalism Reshape the Way We Perceive Cultural Heritage?

Through an empirical approach, this article examines people's responses to vandalism on cultural heritage using eye-tracking technology. Analysing visual heatmaps, the work provides some preliminary insights into vandalism's influence on individual’s visual perception and appreciation for cultural heritage. The results indicate that acts of vandalism on cultural sites evoke varied visual and symbolic responses and are not perceived in a uniform manner. Four are the key factors appear to influence the visibility of graffiti and vandalism acts: position, visual salience, content, and context.