Participatory Action Research in a Contemporary Art Museum: Findings from a Researcher/Practitioner Partnership (original) (raw)
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Participatory museum experiences and performative practices in museum education
Is it possible to challenge the hegemony of ‘vision’ while experiencing art in a museum, thus pursuing a more dynamic sensorial experience? What does it mean to widen one’s perception to ensure a richer, more rounded experience? How to make sure that the visitor transforms into an active protagonist of the experience? Within this context, an approach that puts the body firmly at the centre is key to recover ‘feeling’ in addition to ‘thinking’: perception in addition to rationalisation. This form of ‘embodiment’ is the premise of my educational projects. I research and design participatory museum experiences: starting with the body and integrating movement into the experience, I construct ‘spaces’ of knowledge.
Abstract It is time to revisit the way we describe and advocate for the “learning power” of museums. Museum learning is unique, multi-faceted and inspires higher-order affective and cognitive development. Yet, when museums describe their educational impact to stakeholders, it is often described narrowly, using the measures of formal education rather than focusing on its capacity to model intrinsically-motivated, joyful, open-ended learning that supports self-knowledge and positive social behavior. Museum educators are not doing enough to make a case for the value of museum learning in its own right with political, civic, educational and even museum entities.
Practice-led Research in the Art Museum
Information-an International Interdisciplinary Journal, 2021
As art museum education practices get more ambitious in form and content, and to a higher degree inform the overall audience strategies, the need for a research framing is required. The art museum is facing new and high expectation from society and policy makers in terms of being a relevant social and democratic platform inclusive for everyone. To manifest the changes, the institution must draw on all the different museal knowledges, not least the one about the audience. There has been a history of professional hierarchy and knowledge hegemony inside the art museum, where the object-based knowledge has trumped the practice-based. An important reason for this imbalance has been the lack of adequate practice related research methods and a theoretical framing within art museum education. Research in art museum has to a large extent operated within the classical art historical field, but more and more museums are looking to and are drawing on other models outside the museum disciplines ...
2003
This study explores the ways and means that museum educators build their expertise to practice museum education. A qualitative methodology was utilized in this examination, incorporating aspects of grounded theory and phenomenological research Fifteen museum educators in science-related museums in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who work extensively with teachers, were selected as respondents. Two one-hour individual interviews were conducted with each museum educator The interviews were transcribed and analyzed to determine how these museum teacher educators perceive their professional role, and what things they associate with their professional growth Findings from this study show evidence that museum educators build their expertise to a great extent within the context of their practice. According to this study, critical elements contributing to this situated learning process are: self-direction in learning, high motivation to participate in and learn museum work, job-embedded ...
Archivists to Activists: The Evolving Role of Museum Educators
2015
Traditionally, museums have displayed their collections with a tendency towards a single, authoritative interpretation. Many contemporary museums, however, now design their exhibitions to be approached as a dialogue between artifact and audience so that the visitor can "complete the meanings of the object-technology interface through their own emotional and experience-based responses" (Andermann and Arnold de-Simine 2012). Such dialogue can be deconstructive and indicative of a postmodern approach to analyzing culture. As a result of this shift in the museum's mission, many have become "collaborative, hybrid institutions that are also part community center, part contemporary art space, part digital information hub, and part city plaza" (Tisdale, 2013). This has resulted in a radical reinterpreting of history, culture, and the arts, questioning mainstream acceptance of cultural concepts and giving a voice to alternative views and minority interpretations. Museums thus need to adapt to change through architecture, layout, curatorship, display methods, technology and educational policy. In this study, we report on a survey comparing two United States museums with two Japanese museums (in the historical, arts and design, and cultural museum genres). The survey was designed to address a question concerning what the changing educational roles and responsibilities of contemporary museum educators are, incorporating such ideas as those of Gardner on multiple intelligences, Housen and Yenawine on visual thinking strategies, Dewey on experience and education, and Piaget on cognitive development. A model for identifying external causative factors precipitating changes in museum curatorship and education is presented.
Contested Exchange: A Practice-based Exploration of Museum Learning Communities
Over the years, there has been a rising interest in the concept of the learning community in education departments in contemporary art museums and galleries. This development can be attributed to changes on a political as well as institutional level in Europe as well as the US. The change of art policy has meant more funding for community-centred art education projects, while institutional developments have increased the interest in and opportunities for democratically-oriented, critical education in the museum and art world. Essentially, the word ‘community’ in the term ‘learning community’ cannot be understood uncritically, as there will always be a certain tension between a community and the museum as a result of that institution’s power and position. This study therefore analyses the different underlying frameworks of learning communities in museums and galleries for contemporary art and the implications that are related to them. The differences and similarities between a learning community inside and outside the museum are illustrated by two case studies: the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam’s Blikopeners and the South London Gallery’s Looking for Sierra Leone. Blikopeners is strongly connected with the museum, which determines every learning goal in the programme. The main focus of this learning community is instigating institutional change. Contrastingly, Looking for Sierra Leone focuses on democratizing the institution’s resources in order to build a relationship with its neighbours, in which the institute is not separate from its surroundings but a part of them, as a stakeholder amongst many other stakeholders. Besides the theoretical research, the education project Mapping Osdorp was organised by me to intertwine theory and practice. In this project, a group of Stedelijk’s Blikopeners stepped outside the confines of the museum and explored the neighbourhood of Amsterdam Osdorp through artistic practices inspired by mapping and psychogeography. The participants compared the traits of their learning community inside the Stedelijk Museum with an alternative education project taking place in a local neighbourhood outside the museum. In this way, the frameworks of both forms of learning communities have been analysed in the form of practice-based research. A conclusion is that museums and galleries frequently engage in educational activities for specific reasons and want certain outcomes from specific communities or individuals – while these communities are often not aware of an institution’s underlying aims. Museums and galleries should therefore be aware and critical of their own position and power, to prevent the creation and consolidation of learning communities completely for their own benefit. External critic: Frances Williams (freelance writer and curator specialized in community arts engagement, PhD researcher, Manchester Metropolitan University)