Cultural Authority and the Art Museum:The Use of Digital Video in the Visitor's Encounter with the Work of Art.
Lead Research Organisation:
London South Bank University
Department Name: Fac of Arts and Human Sciences
Abstract
The application is for a research student to work on an extended programme of practice-led research and video ethnography mapping and testing approaches to the uses of video related to the production and reception of art works at Tate. The aim is to develop new knowledge for museum professionals on how digital video mediates and relays meanings and experiences of art. It is envisaged that the research will be of direct use in practical approaches to learning, interpretation and marketing and media.
The rationale behind this programme lies in a wider grasp of how digital technology is rapidly bringing about a cultural convergence between producer and user generated content. Digital Video, is an integral component of digital mobile media and online media in new cultures of participation, (Jenkins.2009) Digital video is a powerful medium through which meaning is constructed and communicated and its increasing use by both museum professionals and the public forms the basis for the proposed research in looking at how forms of media practice can inform the art museum of the relationship between professionals and visitors digital mediation of art.
Tate along with other international and national museums is increasingly turning to the use of video for a variety of informational as well as engagement purposes, ranging from: interviews with artists; qualitative education documentation and evaluation; market research; interpretation and online exhibition feedback. The use of digital video in these different contexts across Tate is generating a wealth of visual data for which there is currently a limited overview of the differing methodologies which underpin the use of video. Further, whilst there is an increasing use of video related to the professional production and exhibition of works, there is only limited access for the visitor to use mobile media as part of their gallery experience.
The research will produce new understandings of the use of digital video in the mediation of the experience of and value for the art museum and draw upon the conceptual insights of the AHRC/DMI funded Tate Encounters research programme (2007-2010) in furthering the application and reach of the concepts of transvisuality and the transmedial. These related concepts will form an initial hypothesis for developing new practice-led approaches to meaning formation in the art museum experience given that they represent a challenge to any unproblematic notion of video providing unmediated or indexical knowledge of events in time and space. Importantly the approach to practice-led research will also develop methodological understandings in the area of digital video practice as a reflexive research form capable of producing new analytical knowledge, rather than being understood as a medium for gathering research material for subsequent textual analysis.
The research proposes to look at this broad analytic and theorised context of cultural change in digital culture through an extended empirical study. The research will systematically explore the staging of mediation in terms of premediation, (Gruisin.2004), remediation (Bolter & Grusin 2000) and transmediation, (Siegal 1995), which will provide the methodological basis for a micrological and qualitative focus upon how meaning is constructed in the encounter with and interpretation of works of art displayed and exhibited at Tate. This proposal also develops from the work of Tate Encounters and aims to develop and extend understandings of how visitors from a wide range of cultural backgrounds construct meaning in their encounters with works of art in a gallery space and what experiential and cultural resources they draw upon. The partnership will continue the fruitful and productive collaboration between Tate and the Centre for Media and Cultural Research at LSBU.
The rationale behind this programme lies in a wider grasp of how digital technology is rapidly bringing about a cultural convergence between producer and user generated content. Digital Video, is an integral component of digital mobile media and online media in new cultures of participation, (Jenkins.2009) Digital video is a powerful medium through which meaning is constructed and communicated and its increasing use by both museum professionals and the public forms the basis for the proposed research in looking at how forms of media practice can inform the art museum of the relationship between professionals and visitors digital mediation of art.
Tate along with other international and national museums is increasingly turning to the use of video for a variety of informational as well as engagement purposes, ranging from: interviews with artists; qualitative education documentation and evaluation; market research; interpretation and online exhibition feedback. The use of digital video in these different contexts across Tate is generating a wealth of visual data for which there is currently a limited overview of the differing methodologies which underpin the use of video. Further, whilst there is an increasing use of video related to the professional production and exhibition of works, there is only limited access for the visitor to use mobile media as part of their gallery experience.
The research will produce new understandings of the use of digital video in the mediation of the experience of and value for the art museum and draw upon the conceptual insights of the AHRC/DMI funded Tate Encounters research programme (2007-2010) in furthering the application and reach of the concepts of transvisuality and the transmedial. These related concepts will form an initial hypothesis for developing new practice-led approaches to meaning formation in the art museum experience given that they represent a challenge to any unproblematic notion of video providing unmediated or indexical knowledge of events in time and space. Importantly the approach to practice-led research will also develop methodological understandings in the area of digital video practice as a reflexive research form capable of producing new analytical knowledge, rather than being understood as a medium for gathering research material for subsequent textual analysis.
The research proposes to look at this broad analytic and theorised context of cultural change in digital culture through an extended empirical study. The research will systematically explore the staging of mediation in terms of premediation, (Gruisin.2004), remediation (Bolter & Grusin 2000) and transmediation, (Siegal 1995), which will provide the methodological basis for a micrological and qualitative focus upon how meaning is constructed in the encounter with and interpretation of works of art displayed and exhibited at Tate. This proposal also develops from the work of Tate Encounters and aims to develop and extend understandings of how visitors from a wide range of cultural backgrounds construct meaning in their encounters with works of art in a gallery space and what experiential and cultural resources they draw upon. The partnership will continue the fruitful and productive collaboration between Tate and the Centre for Media and Cultural Research at LSBU.
Planned Impact
During the last five years there has been a significant increase in the use of digital video in the museum sector, primarily as a response to the need to develop and diversify audiences, and particularly young audiences (14-24) through increased access and new forms of engagement, both on site and remotely. Within Tate itself the recognition of the demand for a more creative and interactive relationship with audiences is contributing to a major redesign of the Tate Website, as outlined in the published strategy paper produced by John Stack, Head of Tate Online (accessed in Tate's online research publication Tate Papers, Spring 2010).
The opportunity presented by this proposal will have impact in three ways. Firstly, as a practice-based project in the museum which will directly involve staff it will build critically reflexive professional skills in a relatively new area of museum work that holds cultural, social and economic value in its development in terms of the future of Tate Online and Tate Media. Secondly, it will offer an account and analysis of digital video use which Tate does not have the skills or resources to interrogate independently. Thirdly, it will enable Tate to share useful information to our national regional partners in the Tate Plus scheme who look to Tate as a national sector-leading museum to share new research and insights into pressing issues of mutual concern, such as digital development.
To this end, the student will lead three seminars organized under the auspices of the Tate Research Centre: The Art Museum of the Future which will be held at the end of each of the three years. The first seminar will be for relevant Tate staff to share the findings of the Literature Review, refined research questions, and a discussion of the practice-based methodology. The second seminar will be for Tate staff and selected colleagues in other national museums involved in digital video production and will be focused around the presentation of the student's video paper. For the third and final seminar to which all participants, relevant Tate Directors and Heads of Department and LSBU staff will be invited, the student will present the key findings and final video film to be submitted for doctoral evaluation.
During the third year the student will also contribute to the programming of a one day conference at Tate (to take place after the completion of the doctorate) which will showcase the student's video thesis and open it out to discussion; examine the benefits and challenges of practice-led research in the museum; assess the usefulness of sociological models of research in relation to audience research and the digital realm of the museum; and, review current cultural policy on museum audiences and the digital realm. The aim of the conference will be to demonstrate the practical value of situated and empirical interdisciplinary research and to encourage other arts organizations to approach disciplines outside of the sector's usual reach and create confidence in considering new types of research expertise and knowledge other than that generated by the predominant form of quantitative research and analysis. The conference will be aimed at institutional members of the National Museums Directors' Conference, the UK regional art galleries of the Tate Plus partnership scheme; Arts Council England, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Both the seminars and conference will be audio recorded and uploaded to the Tate player, along with the student's video film, and linked to the student's research page which will carry working papers, seminar presentations etc.
The opportunity presented by this proposal will have impact in three ways. Firstly, as a practice-based project in the museum which will directly involve staff it will build critically reflexive professional skills in a relatively new area of museum work that holds cultural, social and economic value in its development in terms of the future of Tate Online and Tate Media. Secondly, it will offer an account and analysis of digital video use which Tate does not have the skills or resources to interrogate independently. Thirdly, it will enable Tate to share useful information to our national regional partners in the Tate Plus scheme who look to Tate as a national sector-leading museum to share new research and insights into pressing issues of mutual concern, such as digital development.
To this end, the student will lead three seminars organized under the auspices of the Tate Research Centre: The Art Museum of the Future which will be held at the end of each of the three years. The first seminar will be for relevant Tate staff to share the findings of the Literature Review, refined research questions, and a discussion of the practice-based methodology. The second seminar will be for Tate staff and selected colleagues in other national museums involved in digital video production and will be focused around the presentation of the student's video paper. For the third and final seminar to which all participants, relevant Tate Directors and Heads of Department and LSBU staff will be invited, the student will present the key findings and final video film to be submitted for doctoral evaluation.
During the third year the student will also contribute to the programming of a one day conference at Tate (to take place after the completion of the doctorate) which will showcase the student's video thesis and open it out to discussion; examine the benefits and challenges of practice-led research in the museum; assess the usefulness of sociological models of research in relation to audience research and the digital realm of the museum; and, review current cultural policy on museum audiences and the digital realm. The aim of the conference will be to demonstrate the practical value of situated and empirical interdisciplinary research and to encourage other arts organizations to approach disciplines outside of the sector's usual reach and create confidence in considering new types of research expertise and knowledge other than that generated by the predominant form of quantitative research and analysis. The conference will be aimed at institutional members of the National Museums Directors' Conference, the UK regional art galleries of the Tate Plus partnership scheme; Arts Council England, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Both the seminars and conference will be audio recorded and uploaded to the Tate player, along with the student's video film, and linked to the student's research page which will carry working papers, seminar presentations etc.
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| Andrew Dewdeny (Principal Investigator) |