[Xmca-l] Re: discussing "Posing the question"

[Vadeboncoeur, Jennifer]

Hello Rolf and Everyone,

I would be interested in hearing more about the differences between design experiments, interactive analysis, and more micro-analytic methods, what are the overlaps and differences? This might be too broad, so carve this in a manner that feels useful.

I was also thinking of the three other exhibits and the outcomes there, what were they like and how did they engage young people? Were there aspects of engagement with these three exhibits that made visible participants' embodiment as a sense making activity?

Another thought is about the "museum as an institution" ... when interaction shifts, does it become more "school-like"? What are other possibilities?

Lots here to think about, best - jen


On 2014-05-23, at 3:47 AM, Rolf Steier wrote:

> Hello All,
> Thank you to Jen for inviting me to this discussion and to everyone who
> wishes to participate! I'll look forward to some interesting thoughts and
> questions.
> 
> Maybe I can start by providing a little context for the research project
> that wasn't necessarily the focus of the article. As a whole, this "design
> experiment" involved a partnership with the National Museum to introduce
> digital technology and interactive activities in order to engage young
> people. Working with the museum, we found that teenagers' experiences with
> the museum were almost exclusively limited to school field trips. So first
> of all, the museum was interested in engaging this underrepresented
> demographic in non-school contexts. Second, the museum's use of interactive
> media (and really, interpretive resources in general) had been limited to
> audio guides as well as some simple wall texts through out the museum. The
> museum then was also interested in experimenting with news ways of
> communicating with the public and engaging them with these artworks.
> 
> In designing this project room (which included 4 interactive stations, of
> which this posing activity was one) - the broader goals including looking
> at how the introduction of such interactive activities might influence the
> practices of the visiting public, but also of the museum as an institution.
> One small example that I found really interesting involved the role of the
> guards, which seemed to shift from protecting the art to also facilitating
> some of the interactive activities in this project room.
> 
> In any case, the phenomenon of posing was not necessarily intended to be a
> focal point. The activity was designed based on the pedagogical goal of the
> curator of exploring Munch's use of self-portraits. This one activity
> became really popular, and it was only after starting to look more closely
> at these prompted acts of posing did I return to looking at the visitors in
> the rest of the gallery. These posing practices then became visible as part
> of visitors normal interpretive practices. I should also note, that since
> the exhibit closed, curators at the museum decided to adapt the posing
> activity to a classroom setting using photographs that students could pose
> for and then paint over with an iPad. (This can be read about in a
> conference paper here -
> http://mw2014.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/posing-with-art-researching-and-designing-for-performative-acts-of-interpretation-2/).
> Another outcome of the project room will be in the design of a new
> national museum that will incorporate spaces for such interactive
> activities. In regards to the iterative nature of design experiments, I
> think this aspect is very much present in the work.
> 
> So for me, it was this broader design experiment that allowed the
> phenomenon of posing to emerge as a visible and relevant practice. The
> specific method of analysis in the article might be better described as
> interaction analysis then. But maybe this is a question that people have
> thoughts on? The relationships between design experiments and more
> micro-analytic methods?
> 
> 
> Looking forward to some thoughts or other directions for discussion,
> Rolf
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 6:09 PM, Vadeboncoeur, Jennifer <
> j.vadeboncoeur@ubc.ca> wrote:
> 
>> Dear XMCA,
>> 
>> Rolf Steier is now on XMCA, and his article "Posing the question" is open
>> on the T and F website:
>> 
>> http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmca20/.U3zs4Sjsq24
>> 
>> Just click on the green button to the right side of the article.
>> 
>> There is loads to talk about, and one question that comes to mind is in
>> relation to the museum installation as a design experiment. In what sense
>> is it a design experiment? What does it make visible? How is learning
>> shaped by access to this experience in a museum?
>> 
>> More questions?
>> 
>> Best - jen
>>