published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

Zugl.: Halle, Univ., Diss., 2005

Master of Science / Department of Communications Studies / Gregory Paul / This report investigates how American art museums have adopted interactive technologies on their websites. The use of such technologies brings to the forefront a tension regarding authority over visitors’ experience of and interpretation of art both in person and online. Interactive tools on 15 art museum websites were coded as enabling one of three types of interaction: human-to-computer, human-to-human and human-to-content. Human-to-computer interactive features were most prevalent on museum websites, followed by human-to-human and human-to-content interactive technologies respectively. The findings demonstrate a tension between the goals of art museums in wanting to engage visitors in co-creation of meaning about art on the one hand and wanting to maintain their traditional authority over that meaning on the other. The report concludes by offering recommendations for how museums can use interactive technologies more effectively in order to maintain their role as centers of social and cultural life.

Dementia refers to a variety of diseases that are characterised by cognitive difficulties and an overall decline in daily living skills. Psychologically-informed arts and health interventions may be particularly valuable ways of improving the lives of people with a dementia and their carers. This study investigated arts-based interventions at two, London and Nottingham, art galleries where 12 people with mild to moderate dementia and their 12 carers were engaged in art-viewing and art-making. Post-intervention interviews with participants (n=12) and facilitators (n = 4), field notes and extensive written communication between the facilitators and research team was analysed using a grounded theory approach to establish how the intervention affected those involved. Three categories, a valued place, intellectual stimulation and social interaction, combined to create positive emotional and relational effects for both those with dementia and carers. In addition, there was evidence of a changed perception of dementia by facilitators. The resulting theory has potential implications for the use of arts within health and social care by applied psychologists, health, social care and museum professionals, as well as community services.

Previous research has shown that people with dementia and carers derive wellbeing-related benefits from group art-viewing, and that facilitated museum object handling is effective in increasing subjective wellbeing for people with a range of health conditions. The present study aimed to compare the impact of these activities on subjective wellbeing of people with dementia and carers. A quasi-experimental crossover design was used. People with early to middle stage dementia and their respective carers (N = 66) attended a museum session in small groups where they participated in three activities: museum object handling, a refreshment break and art-viewing. Visual analogue scales were used to rate subjective wellbeing pre and post object-handling and art-viewing. Mixed-design ANOVAs indicated wellbeing significantly increased for people with dementia and carers during the museum session irrespective of the order in which they participated in object-handling and art-viewing. Analysis of pre and post-condition scores across pooled orders indicated wellbeing significantly increased from object-handling and art-viewing for carers; wellbeing for people with dementia significantly increased from object-handling; the increase from art-viewing was not statistically significant. A refreshment break did not produce significant change in wellbeing for either group. An end-of-intervention questionnaire indicated that experiences of the session were positive. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed. Results provided a rationale for partnership working between museums and healthcare professionals.

Purpose - This thesis investigates how London art museums work to deconstruct heteronormative filters. The aim is to study how museums relate to LGBTQ content, and the influence of internal power structures. I have chosen to focus on the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Wallace Collection, and the British Museum.  Method - To answer my questions, I interview eight individuals who work with LGBTQ content in museums. I am also doing some activity-based observations during several LGBT History month events. Analysis - The qualitative data collected through interviews and observations will be analyzed and presented in case studies. I apply an intersectional perspective, and a critical theoretical method, encompassing queer theory. Findings - The findings show that museums are slowly incorporating more LGBTQ content and perspectives. This may be due to changing social norms as well as a conscious effort to address various target audiences to diversify visitor demographics. The current focus is on visibility. Ideally, this will encourage updating terminol- ogy in databases and galleries, staff training, policies explicitly supporting LGBTQ content and LGBTQ staff, increased online presence, publications, and community co-creation, to name some aspects. Museums still think of LGBTQ interpretation as optional. People often work with these efforts in their spare time. Increasingly, the legacy of these events is being evaluated, as well as how museum terminology can become more inclusive. There are no coordinated efforts shared by the museums, but they often look to each other for inspiration.  Originality/value - Previous research on LGBTQ museum projects has not evaluated their legacy. There hasn't been any particular focus on LGBTQ perspectives in art museums. I am taking into account aspects of gender and queer theory, discussing the act of labelling as a means to exercise power through language. Paper type - Two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies. / Syfte - Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och jämföra de insatser som tre konstmuseum i London, Stor- britannien, gör för att dekonstruera heteronormativa filter. Målet är att observera hur olika museum jobbar med HBTQ som tema och innehåll. Jag studerar vem det är som initierar normkritiska projekt på museerna, samt de maktstrukturer som projekten anpassar sig efter. Metod - Jag intervjuar åtta individer som på olika sätt jobbar med HBTQ på museum. Därtill företar jag mig ett antal aktivitetsbaserade observationer. Analys - De kvalitativa data som insamlats genom intervjuer och observationer analyseras utifrån ett intersek- tionellt perspektiv. Teori och metod inspireras även av kritisk kulturteori samt queerteori. Resultat - Resultaten visar bland annat att samhälleliga förändringar och besökarfokus öppnar upp för HBTQ- teman på museer. Synlighet ligger för närvarande i fokus. Detta kan utvecklas till arbete med t.ex. normkritisk personalutbildning, uppdaterade museipolicydokument som inkluderar HBTQ-fokus och skyddar HBTQ- personal, mer inklusiva etiketter och databaser, samt medskapande i dialog med olika sociokulturella grupper.  Värde - Tidigare forskning fokuserar på teoretiska utgångspunkter, och har sällan utvärderat existerande HBTQ- museumprojekt. Konstmuseum och HBTQ har inte heller specifikt utvärderats utifrån ett normkri- tiskt/intersektionellt perspektiv som involverar kritisk teori och queerteoretiska aspekter. Typ av uppsats - Tvåårig masteruppsats inom Arkiv-, biblioteks-, samt musei- och kulturarvsvetenskap.

The Great Recession dramatically reframed the debate on funding for the arts from a social one to a fiscal one. Instead of social ideology, economics came to the forefront; and fiscal conservatives replaced social conservatives as the loudest voice criticizing government funding for the arts. Under the shadow of an expanding government and staggering national debt, both supporters and critics argue in terms of the economic costs and benefits that the arts impose. These arguments against public funding for the arts are multi-tiered. Critics contend that the government arts agencies are ineffective, that federal arts funding is inefficient, and that government funding as a whole is an unjustified overreach of government. Fiscal conservatives also argue that private philanthropy is sufficient to sustain the arts independently without government involvement. But because public and private funding for the arts respond to recessionary impacts so differently and decreases in private philanthropy impact the arts disproportionately, public arts funding is absolutely justified on an economic basis. With the inclusion of social and political considerations, however, the final conclusion is that neither private nor public funding can or should independently provide a complete solution to the issue.

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"Playing with Aesthetics in Art Museums" presents a strategy for using design thinking to mediate engrossing art experiences for adult museum visitors. Built upon a substantiated family resemblance between art and play experiences, the study synthesizes a typology of aesthetic theories, ten germane tenets of game design, and a psychographic portrait of the "archetypal" museum visitor to create a practical framework for delivering engrossing art experiences to adult visitors who typically enter museums with limited art historical knowledge. The interdisciplinary approach used is intended to replace the singular methodologies (whether art historical, pedagogical or aesthetic) that have informed museum practice in the United States since the late nineteenth century.