Co-production: Visitors, Knowledge and PoliticsHelen Graham

Workshop for the CETAID project, Portugal, 20th February 2013

https://www.facebook.com/CETforAID

What are the key words you have been using in your workshops so far?

Q1.

Are there examples of co-produced and user-generated content you’ve been involved in at

your museums?

Why do museums do co-production? What do we hope co-

production will achieve?

Q2.

It is probably not excessive to suggest that the profound feeling of unworthiness (and of incompetence)

which haunts the least cultivated visitors as if they were overcome

with respect when confronted with the sacred universe of legitimate

culture, contributes in no small way to keeping them away from

museums. (p. 53)

It’s not really news that art galleries might be exclusive!

Northern Spirit: 300 Years of Art in the North East,Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle

Images: Nicola Maxwell

http://vimeo.com/33648485

Artists have seen the North East in lots of different ways. How does the North East look to you today?

Level playing field?

Visitor research: Success in one way (…but did the co-produced content help?)

• 50% split on whether the gallery was about ‘art’ or about the ‘north east’

• Phase 1 visitor research: noticed was little use of the AV

• Phase 2 visitor research: focus in on each AV element

• Space matters – wall space counts!

But…

• Form matters – touchscreens = ‘information’

When asked to listen or look at the co-produced media then visitors gave positive comments –

It’s quite cool to see the city from a local’s point of

view…

It’s interesting to see the changes (e.g.

Tyne, between then and now)

Interesting mix.. (between known photograph and unknown photography)

[support idea that’ ‘anyone can take pictures

and capture a nice moment’

I think it adds to your experience and understanding. You look at the paintings and you have your own perspective and then if you add someone else’s perspective, you get a different idea of how it has

developed…

[Listening to people’s stories] ‘makes it a little bit more real, how it used to

exist’

‘makes it a bit more personal to the people

around here which is good’

• Not strong enough connection between paintings and co-produced media (as a result felt ‘too much’)

• Need for stronger explanation about why co-produced content was there – give authored and personal reasons (because this is what gives it it’s value)

Maybe it would be nice if you used people’s comments to explain

the significance of the place for them…

Doesn’t really say how the content has been

generated…

What are the issues with displaying collections and co-produced and user-generated content side-by-side? Is it helpful to treat them differently? And if so, in what ways?

Q3.

Experiential knowing is through direct face-to-face encounter with person, place or thing; it is knowing through the immediacy of perceiving, through empathy and resonance.

Presentational knowing emerges from experiential knowing, and provides the first form of expressing meaning and significance through drawing on expressive forms of imagery through movement, dance, sound, music, drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry, story, drama and so on.

Propositional knowing ‘about’ something, is knowing through ideas and theories, expressed in informative statements.

Practical knowing is knowing ‘how to’ do something and is expressed in a skill, knack or competence

(Heron, 1992, 1996a).

Individual/communities Visitors/Public

Museum/professional

mediating role?

v.?

Do these different ‘ways of knowing’ reflect your experience of developing exhibitions? Is anything left out?

Q4.

Workshop

Visitor Experiences of Co-produced Exhibits/Exhibitions:Sharing research and exploring approaches

18th December, St Mungo Museum of Art and Religious life

Experiential knowing is through direct face-to-face encounter with person, place or thing; it is knowing through the immediacy of perceiving, through empathy and resonance.

Presentational knowing emerges from experiential knowing, and provides the first form of expressing meaning and significance through drawing on expressive forms of imagery through movement, dance, sound, music, drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry, story, drama and so on.

Propositional knowing ‘about’ something, is knowing through ideas and theories, expressed in informative statements.

Practical knowing is knowing ‘how to’ do something and is expressed in a skill, knack or competence

(Heron, 1992, 1996a).

Museum control

TELL

Museum decides and then informs

others

SELL

Museum decides then sells

positive aspects of the decision.

CONSULT

Museum invites input before

deciding

JOIN

Museum invites others to make decisions with

them.

DDELEGATE

Museum turns decision over to

others.

Participant control

Courtesy of Kinharvie Institute and Curious Conference,St Mungo Museum of Art and Religious Life.

5th and 6th December 2012.

Museum control

TELL

Museum decides and then informs

others

SELL

Museum decides then sells

positive aspects of the decision.

CONSULT

Museum invites input before

deciding

JOIN

Museum invites others to make decisions with

them.

DDELEGATE

Museum turns decision over to

others.

Participant control

Courtesy of Kinharvie Institute and Curious Conference,St Mungo Museum of Art and Religious Life.

5th and 6th December 2012.

Think about the projects you are working on – Can you think (or not!)of an example where you think the museum can legitimately: Tell, Sell, Consult, Join, Delegate

Sherry R. Arnstien’s Ladder of Participation (1969)

What is core to the museum?

Austerity and co-production

Q5.

Does content produced by visitors present a different challenge and possibilities to co-produced material by a group working with the museum?

Q6.

Return to our motivations for doing co-production…

How might co-production and visitor-generated content renew museums for 21st century and in the context of cuts?

More on Northern Spirit and the co-produced content see:artontyneside.wordpress.com

Helen Graham: helengraham@wordpress.com