Co-production: Visitors, Knowledge and Politics

Helen GrahamPresented at a workshop at Statens Museum for Kunst, Cophenhagen, 1st

February 2013

The workshop was part of the Museums and Cultural Institutions as spaces for Cultural Citizenship project

Workshop

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

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

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’)

Introductory Panel: Northern Spirit is a major new permanent exhibition celebrating the achievements of artists, manufacturers and makers from the North East of England. Internationally acclaimed art from the Laing Art Gallery’s collection feature in this new display, including work by 19th century painter John Martin, engraver and naturalist Thomas Bewick and the Beilby family of glass enamellers.

• 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…

Our Londinium, Museum of London

What makes co-production valuable? What are the theories of value behind the different contributions in your current projects?

Q1.

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.?

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 –which aspects have been Tell, Sell, Consult, Join, Delegate?

Sherry R. Arnstien’sLadder of Participation (1969)

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 as core?

Mainstream participation

Institutional approach

Can we justify small scale indepthprojects?

Mark O’Neill (2010) Journal of Public Health 9(4)

How do you see co-production linking to renewing museums for the 21st century?

Q3.

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

Also publications:

(in press) Rhiannon Mason, Chris Whitehead and Helen Graham, ‘From One Voice to Many Voices: Creating Polyvocality in an Art Gallery Display’.In Viv Golding and Wayne Modest (eds) Collaborative Museums:Communities, Curators, Collections. Oxford: Blackwell.

(2012) Rhiannon Mason, Chris Whitehead and Helen Graham.‘Place shaped and place shaping: The role of a civic art gallery then and now’.In Ian Convery, Peter Davis or Gerard Corsane (eds) Making Sense of Place. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer.

Helen GrahamUniversity Research Fellow in Tangible and Intangible Heritage,University of Leedsh.graham@leeds.ac.uk