Bien souvent considérée comme un art immatérial, la littérature offre pourtant des traces bien visibles de son existence. Les maisons d'écrivains, les musées et les expositions littéraires ainsi que les parcs à thème constituent des espaces qui matérialisent la littérature. L'objet de notre thèse sera d'étudier ces différents dispositifs et d'interroger leurs liens avec la manière même de concevoir la littérature. / Often classified as an immaterial art, literature however offers real and visible tracks of its existence as evidenced by writers’ houses, museums and literary exhibitions spreading all over France. The increasing number of theme parks and the development of literary theme parks offer new interesting perspectives. In a multidisciplinary approach involving cultural history, sociology of literary practices and literary theories, the aim of this research work is to question the representations of literature conveyed by these literary spaces. This reflection results from the following paradox: what can be shown to evoke an art of words, only accessible in the act of reading?

'Museum Communication: Learning, Interaction and Experience' is a study of how museums have evolved and handled their communication approaches at both theoretical and practical levels. It discusses questions like; how has museum communication developed? What influences do these developments have on museology and its related disciplines? How will museum communication develop in the future? These are questions closely connected with essential concepts of learning, interaction, participation and experience, which will be discussed throughout the thesis. Learning and exhibition theories will be considered alongside discussions of epistemological and philosophical approaches, interpretation, and social development of museological research. The research forms a discourse analysis of museums' own views and opinions of these issues through replies of a questionnaire. It also focuses on specific case studies and examples in order to combine theoretical definitions and empirical approaches with museological developments. To form a deeper understanding of how museological communication is developing, the research includes interviews with professionals of philosophy and storytelling as well. Finally, the approaches are summarised in a new museum model developed from future studies. This model, called 'The Transformative Museum', identifies essential points in which museums have developed their communication practices and theories, and discusses how these may develop in the future. As the responsibilities of museum curators develop, museums have to embrace the concepts of transformation and flexibility too. Inquiries, research, learning and participation have to be transformed into all kinds of experiences in order to respond to changing needs and flexible structures of communities and societies. The transformative museum will have to acknowledge past traditions, current trends and future opportunities simultaneously in order to become a museum of both present and future relevance for all kinds of visitors and users.

Cette thèse examine l’influence de la nuit sur la réception d’une visite de musée. Elle propose d’envisager le paramètre horaire comme participant de la construction de l’expérience et plus largement du sens donné à sa visite. Or, ce rapport de la nuit à l’expérience de visite est encore peu interrogé malgré les nombreuses occasions qui permettent de visiter de nuit des institutions culturelles telles que les musées ou les monuments historiques. L’analyse phénoménologique et sémiotique de cette situation de réception permet de comprendre ce que les visiteurs vivent et ressentent au cours d’une visite nocturne. Elle révèle une variation du sens qui se construit autour de l’émergence de la nuit à la fois comme donnée physique, naturelle, dans l’exposition et comme donnée mentale dans l’état d’esprit des visiteurs. À travers l’étude comparative de la réception de la cour Marly au musée du Louvre, de jour et de nuit, c’est l’univers du discours des visiteurs qui est mis en question. Les interactions entre la nuit, les visiteurs et l’exposition marquent, par rapport à la journée, un processus de transformation du sens donné par le message de l’exposition et du sens reçu par les visiteurs. Autrement dit, le changement lumineux intervenant entre jour et nuit influence la recomposition du discours de l’exposition par les visiteurs de nocturnes. La dimension émotionnelle ainsi que la fantasmatique de la nuit interviennent dans l’interprétation du discours de l’exposition et le transforment. / The aim of this work is to analyse the impact of the night on the visitors’experience. Here, the time of the day is considered as a parameter of the processof meaning building within the visitor’s experience.The link between visitors’ experience and night has not yet been thouroughlyresearched although a lot of cultural events take place at night time and provideand occasion for visiting museums.The phenomenological and semiotic analysis of the night impact, and perception,lead to the understanding of the emotional experience of the visitors during anight time visit. It reveals a variation of the meaning created by the apparition ofthe actual night in the museum and of the idea of night in the visitors’ mind.A night and day comparison of the reception of the cour Marly, in the musée duLouvre, questions the visitors’ speeches. It shows a network of interactionsbetween the night, the visitors and the exhibition which initiates a transformationof the meaning given by the exhibition and received by the visitors.In other words, the lighting modification between night and day affects thereconstruction of the exhibition’s message operated by the visitors at night. Theemotional aspect as well as the night phantasmagoria partake in the interpretationof the exhibition’s message and change it.Key words: night - reception - visitors’ experience - interpretation - - - - - phantasmagoria - night visit

Cette recherche a pour objectif d’étudier les processus d’intégration topologique et narrative des technologies numériques de communication au sein des expositions proposées par les musées archéologiques de site. Alors que les techniques numériques sont d’utilisation courante dans les pratiques de recherche, leurs réelles implications dans les processus communicationnels des musées archéologiques restent encore peu identifiées. Le musée de site se présente comme un contexte muséal particulier, synthèse entre exposition muséale, où il est possible d’intervenir sur l’écologie de l’espace d’exposition, et vestiges archéologiques qui sont au centre d’un processus de valorisation du patrimoine. La recherche sur le terrain s’est concentrée sur deux musées archéologiques de site : les Musées du Capitole, et tout particulièrement la Section consacrée au Temple de Jupiter Capitolin, et le Musée Archéologique de Grenoble Saint- Laurent. Prenant en considération les formes d’intégration des dispositifs de médiation par rapport à l’exposition, à l’orientation du visiteur entre la réalité archéologique et la reconstitution proposée et à l’organisation des contenus, cette recherche identifie certains éléments jugés fonctionnels c’est-à-dire servant à la création de sens de la part du visiteur au cours de son expérience de visite. Ces éléments sont mis en évidence grâce à une analyse spatiale et pragmatique des différentes sortes de dispositifs présents dans les expositions. Cela permet de comprendre l’importance de l’apport des technologies numériques dans les processus de médiation culturelle, au-delà du sens commun qui leur attribue une valeur positive sans tenir compte de leur effet réel sur le fonctionnement communicationnel du musée. La recherche met en outre en évidence certains aspects pouvant distinguer des types de stratégies de communication indépendamment des caractéristiques spécifiques des dispositifs intégrés. Cette recherche propose une définition des différents degrés d’intégration topologique et narrative des outils numériques par rapport aux autres outils de médiation culturelle utilisés au sein des expositions archéologiques. Ce modèle d’analyse peut donner aux professionnels du secteur muséal la possibilité d’évaluer la communication des musées et d’introduire, d’une façon pondérée, d’éventuelles modifications. / This research focuses on the spatial and narrative integration of information and communication technology (ICT) applications within archaeological site museums. While the use of new technologies in the archaeological research and the adoption of digital tools in museum exhibits are widely spread, their real implications in the communication processes of archaeological museums are less defined. The site museum is as a peculiar museum context where an archaeological site is communicated as the final outcome of a preservation and enhancement cultural heritage process. The research was carried out through the analysis of exhibitions in two site museums: the Capitoline Museums (Section dedicated to the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter) and the Archeological Museum of Grenoble, Saint-Laurent. The ways ICT are integrated in the exhibitions are analyzed focusing on their spatial positions, the visitor orientation both in the real archeological site and the virtual reconstructions displayed, and the organization of the content. The research aims at identifying functional elements that can enhance an active role of the visitor in meaning making. These elements are detected through spatial and pragmatic analysis of different exhibition devices. This approach allows the understanding of ICT role in cultural mediation strategies, overcoming the common sense that assigns a positive value to digital devices, regardless of their actual effects on museum communicative functions. The research also highlights some aspects that can help in identifying the application of specific communication strategies despite of the devices characteristics. This research suggests a definition of different levels of spatial and narrative integration for ICT, in relation to other cultural mediation tools used in archaeological exhibitions. This analysis model can provide museum professionals with an assessment tool for their museum communication actions.

by Arjang A. Assad. / Includes bibliographical references. / Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Advanced Research Program (TARP) DOT-TSC-1058

No description available.

Les élèves faisant le voyage dans la journée pour visiter le Musée-Mémorial d’Auschwitz-Birkenau font une expérience particulière à la fois de ce site et de l’événement dont il est la trace. Ils ne se contentent pas de recevoir passivement les informations qui leurs sont donnés, mais les réinvestissent dans leur propre champ d’expérience. Ils l’élaborent à partir des différents élément matériels et des différents informations qui leurs sont donnés sur le site. L’image de l’espace est le moyen par lequel quelque chose est communiqué et le résultat de cette communication. Le compte-rendu de la manière dont un groupe d’élève parle de sa visite quelques semaines plus tard permet d’observer la constitution de cet espace vécu et cette mémoire, lorsque ce qui a été éprouvé se met en mots malgré la difficulté du passage de la perception éprouvée à l’élaboration discursive qui se manifeste dans la plupart des situations d’interlocutions. Chaque moment de la visite est associé à des informations apprises sous forme de notions générales dont ils se rendent compte et de représentations mentales qu’ils imaginent, ainsi qu’à des ressentis. À travers cela, ils prennent conscience du caractère à la fois morbide et empathique de la nature humaine. Il s’agit d’une expérience touristique particulière. Se crée alors une certaine communauté entre ceux qui ont eu cette expérience et la volonté de la transmettre qui est à la fois une exigence civique et un besoin de mettre en mot un vécu intime pour le comprendre. Cependant, dans la mesure où cette transmission engage l’intimité d’un vécu et non des informations historiques, elle ne se fait qu’à des proches perçus comme étant intéressés / Pupils making the day trip to visit the Memorial Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau have a particular experience both of this site and the event the event of which is the trace. They do not passively receive information given to them, but reinvest it in their own fields of experience. They do it from various material elements and informations which are given during the day into the site. The image of the place is both the way by which something is communicated and at the same time the result of this communication. The report of how a group of pupil speaks about its visit a few weeks later allows to observe the constitution of this living space and this memory. What was felt puts itself in word, despite the difficulty of the passage perception proven to the discursive development manifested in most interlocutions situations. Every moment of the visit is associated with learned information that are general concepts they realize and mental representations they imagine, and with feelings. Through this, they become aware of the human nature that is both morbid and empathetic. So this is a different experience of those are touristic entertainment. There is a community between those who had this experience and the will to transmit that is both a civic requirement and a need to put in word an intimate real-life experience to understand it. However, to the extent that this transmission engages the intimacy of a real-life experience and not af a historical information, it is made only to close people perceived as being interested

Over eighty polar-themed exhibitions were held in Britain between 1819 and the 1930s, a time of intense exploration of both the Arctic and Antarctic. These varied from panoramas and human exhibits to displays of ‘relics', equipment, photographs and artwork, waxworks and displays shown as part of a Great Exhibition. This period also saw the creation of the first dedicated polar museums. These displays were visited by thousands of people throughout the country, helping to mediate the subject of exploration for a public audience. Despite this, the role exhibitions played in forming popular views of the polar regions has not been fully assessed. This thesis addresses this gap. It is the first to consider all the polar exhibitions held during this period as a collective body, making it possible to study how they developed over time and in response to changing circumstances. The thesis uses a variety of archival sources to both reconstruct the displays and place them in their historical and museological contexts. The study shows that exhibitions evolved in response to changes both in the museum sector and in exploration culture. It demonstrates that, while they were originally identified with the shows of the entertainment industry, polar exhibitions began to take on more of the characteristics of museum displays. At the same time their dominant themes changed; the natural world was relegated in favour of ideas relating to the human experience of the regions such as heroism, adventure and everyday life in an exotic environment. While other media may have been more effective in disseminating ideas about exploration, visitors could find the experience of visiting an exhibition more compelling. This thesis contributes to our understanding of this distinct role that exhibitions played in presenting the polar regions to the British public.

Dans la rencontre entre l’architecture contemporaine et le patrimoine bâti, la thèse propose de s’affranchir de la polarité conservation-création en analysant l’actualisation patrimoniale en tant que phénomène culturel à l’œuvre. La cohabitation entre le nouveau et l’ancien en architecture, si elle se pratique depuis plus de deux mille ans, est devenue un enjeu au XXe siècle.L’explosion des formes en architecture contemporaine, parallèlement à la montée d’une prédominance de la signature de l’architecte, semble a priori difficilement réconciliable avec l’extension de la notion de patrimoine, extension autant sémantique que géographique et spatiale. Or, que ce soit pour des raisons économiques et environnementales, fonctionnelles ou patrimoniales, les insertions d’éléments d’architecture contemporaine sur des bâtiments patrimoniaux transforment désormais le patrimoine d’objet-relique en un projet dynamique, constituant un genre architectural particulier et indépendant.L’actualisation est une façon de réinterpréter le patrimoine en lui donnant un sens actuel grâce à une action (en l’occurrence, un ajout architectural dans un style contemporain), ce qui modifie les représentations du lieu tout en lui ajoutant une couche de significations. Ce processus communicationnel se pose ainsi comme une réponse à l’obsolescence patrimoniale ; en transformant les représentations d’un lieu par un langage contemporain et en s’immisçant dans son processus de patrimonialisation.À travers trois cas espagnols récents, l’actualisation est observée dans trois types de manifestations : la « ponctuation » à l’œuvre dans l’accès au centre CaixaForum de Barcelone (Arata Isozaki), la « prolongation » du musée national Centre d’art Reina Sofía à Madrid (Jean Nouvel) et, finalement, la « révélation » du musée du Théâtre romain de Carthagène (Rafael Moneo) / In the relationship between contemporary architecture and built heritage, the concept of actualization (as a cultural phenomenon) offers an alternative to the opposition between old/new. Even if new architecture in old buildings has existed for 2,000 years, it became an important issue in the field of conservation during the 20th century.The explosion of new forms in contemporary architecture, together with the rise of iconic architecture and so-called starchitects, seems difficult to reconcile with the extension of heritage signification—semantically, geographically and spatially. However, new architecture within an existing fabric is sometimes necessary for economic, environmental or functional reasons, as well as for the sake of heritage. It is thus part of the actual praxis. From relic-object, heritage converts itself into a dynamic project, thus creating a particular and independent architectural style.Actualization is a way of reinterpreting heritage by giving it meaning through action (as in this case of grafting contemporary designs onto existing structures). This process of communication acts as a response to the obsolescence of heritage; by transforming a site’s representations and significance with a contemporary language and by intertwining itself in the patrimonialization process.The resulting architectural hybridity helps to create a mediation space that is both physical (with the architectural forms) and symbolic (through heritage and its representation). Three recent Spanish transformations are the object of a case study to analyze actualization through different manifestations: “punctuation” with CaixaForum access in Barcelona (Arata Isozaki), the “prolongation” of the National Museum Reina Sofía in Madrid (Jean Nouvel) and finally, the “revelation” of the Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena (Rafael Moneo). These cases are supported by international examples

Grounded in multi-sited fieldwork within an agro-pastoralist highland village in Southwest Angola and in ethnology museums in Europe, Angola and Namibia, my research interweaves an ethnographic and a historical approach to better understand the meanings and social relationships generated by what I call “elusive dolls”: dolls that are difficult to find and slippery when encountered. The study explores postcolonial significances of African dolls, made by agro-pastoralist people, which have been sparsely collected for display in museums since colonial times. Using multiple field methods such as participant observation, archival research, photo-elicitation, and filmmaking, I trace the social relationships involved in the making of dolls in Southwest Angola and in the housing of the same kind of dolls in ethnology museums, paying particular attention to the material and social networks established around the practices of making and collecting them. Following the logic of local languages (olunyaneka, oshikwanyama), I use the notion of “crafted ‘children’” to define handcrafted dolls made of different materials, and address the meanings these dolls embody for makers, collectors and museum curators. I take a historical perspective to examine the dimensions of storage, research and display and address contrasting curatorial approaches to dolls in museums. While most curators have tended to focus on dolls and their supposed functions, a few have engaged with dolls in relation to other domains of the lifeworlds of rural makers and their skilled practices. Examining the limits of historical ethnographic research about local doll-usage, I build upon these alternative approaches by curators and ethnographically explore the relational dimensions of these dolls in two worlds in which they have material and social lives: Southwest Angola and ethnology museums. Firstly, I examine the regional diversity of these dolls, as crafted “children”, in the rural context through a situated understanding of ethnic and ecological diversity and rural-urban relations. Secondly, I explore the twofold notion of labour – that is, the labour in crafting and the labour in making a living - in the regional domestic economy of agro-pastoralist populations, showing how a resilient rural lifestyle, local and urban resources, seasonal demands, and personal skills linked to age and sociality generate and shape the practices of doll-making. Finally, I examine drawing and photography in published and unpublished material about dolls and show how the visual connects the worlds of curators, field-collectors, makers and ethnographers. A large part of the literature on ethnology museum collections tends to focus on “repatriation”, discussing relations between museums and “source communities”. By contrast, an analytical framework connecting doll-making and collecting, the regional conditions of a crafting practice and its local immersion in rural everyday life, appears only marginally in the literature - this is where my research makes a significant contribution. My thesis contributes to critical museology research, Africanist studies, and visual anthropology and engages with debates on materiality and skill. The film that accompanies the thesis, Making a Living in the Dry Season, is grounded in a long-term stay in a village, and examines the twofold notion of labour mentioned above through the practice of doll-making. I recommend first reading the thesis up until Chapter three, followed by watching the film, and then turning to the remaining chapters.