Experiences and Engagement:
An Investigation of Young
Persons’ Visits to ARTIST
ROOMS on Tour
Stephen Vainker
Centre for Sport, Leisure and Tourism Research - University of Exeter
Research Showcase Event - April 23rd 2012
Church House, Westminster, London
Galleries and visitors
Galleries and museums were created so that culture could be available to all
THEN
NOW
‘Object-centred’
Passive audience
‘Visitor-centred’
Active audience
• Galleries contained
important pieces
from which the
visitors learnt
• Visitors find meaning in the
artworks for themselves
• Galleries serve the needs of the
visitors.
• Galleries aim to dissolve the
boundaries between the
institution and the community
(Hooper-Greenhil, 2000)
ARTIST ROOMS
• Art collection donated to
the nation by art dealer
and collector Anthony
d’Offay.
• Owned and administered
jointly by Tate and
National Galleries of
Scotland. The Art Fund
supports the touring
costs
• Made up of the works of
35 artists. Each artist
forms a ‘room’ that tours
around the UK
independently.
2012
Tour
ARTIST ROOMS and young people
Aim
• To engage ‘new’ young audiences (13 – 25 years
old) across the UK with the ARTIST ROOMS
collection and artists in a meaningful and
enjoyable way.
Practice
• Associate Galleries collaborate with an
‘ambassador’ group of young people over an
extended period of time.
• E.g. New Walk Museum, Leicester: young people
worked with the gallery to create an iPad app
that displayed their responses to the artworks
and was available within the exhibition.
(Ganley, 2011)
Research
Focus
• The purpose of the ambassador groups is to enable
young people to help shape the relationships galleries
have with their audience.
• This means enabling the agency of young people to
flourish within the gallery space.
• The challenge for the galleries: for the young people to
express themselves at the same time have an impact.
• The research will look at how far this is able to happen
in practice.
Hallet and Prout, 2003
Methods
• The research will examine the groups at 4-6 galleries
during 2012.
• To understand people’s experiences in a group, the
details are important. This means:
-observation over an extended period
- participating in the groups
- audio-visual recordings of the groups
- interviews with participants and staff
Impact
• The research will contribute to our knowledge of the
experiences of young people in galleries within this
new collaborative framework.
• It will have practical and theoretical implications for
galleries, museums and public services more widely
(Silverman, 2009)
References
•
•
•
Books
Hallett, C. & Prout, A., 2003, (eds.) Hearing the Voices of Children: Social Policy for
a New Century. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer
Hooper-Greenhill, E., 2000. Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture.
London: Routledge.
Lynch, B., 2011. Whose Cake is it Anyway? Report for Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Silverman, D., 2009. Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text
and interaction. London: Sage.
Images
In the Flesh, ARTIST ROOMS: Ron Mueck at Aberdeen Art Gallery, 2009. © Mike
Davidson, Positive Image.
Grace Jones, 1984, Robert Mapplethorpe. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Untitled (Hand Circle), 1996, Bruce Naumann. © ARS, NY and DACS.
Winter Bears, 1988; Jeff Koons. © Jeff Koons.
Untitled , 1985, Gerhard Richter. © Gerhard Richter
All images:
ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Acquired jointly through
The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund
and the Art Fund 2008.
Thanks – questions.
• Research presented here was conducted
during an ESRC Studentship under its
Capacity Building Clusters Award (RES187-24-0002) in partnership with Tate
and National Galleries of Scotland.
• For more information about this project
and the work of the Centre for Sport,
Leisure and Tourism research, see
www.ex.ac.uk/slt.
• For more information about ARTIST
ROOMS, see
www.artfund.org/artistrooms
• Stephen Vainker, srv202@ex.ac.uk,
07792299494.