Instructions
You will visit and analyze a museum of your choice as a critical visitor. You can analyze the entire museum, or you can choose to focus on a single exhibition if it is large enough. Check with the instructor if you are unsure. You must visit a museum specifically for this assignment. Past museum experiences do not count. You must choose a museum that we did not visit as a class this semester. You may choose a museum from the list below or you may seek approval from the instructor for an alternative museum.
A critical visitor is someone who considers whose voices are included, as well as whose voices are excluded from exhibitions. You will consider every pertinent aspect of the museum and exhibition, including the architecture and layout of the building, objects on display, wall texts, interpretational and educational materials, interactions with museum staff and other museum visitors, and the exhibition design. While you are exploring the museum, use the attached worksheet to take notes. You will use this experience to construct a written analysis of the museum. Structure your essay according to the criteria outlined below.
Criteria
Introduction: Introduce the museum/exhibition you are visiting and why you chose it.
Part 1: Narrative: Considering Falk & Dierking’s Contextual Model of Learning, describe your experience, make observations, and discuss the objects and ideas on display and how they are presented. As Margaret Lindauer did in The Critical Museum Visitor, you can discuss your thought process during the visit. Discuss what you did, if anything, in relation to the museum visit immediately afterwards (I.e. post images on social media, tell friends and family about the museum, write a review online about the museum, etc.) Write in first-person!
Things to consider:
What are the first things you see when you arrive at the museum? What does the building and its grounds look like? What does the signage say? Are there banners advertising the exhibition you are going to see?
What is your experience as a visitor like? This includes arrival, check-in, and your time in the galleries or museum space.
As you explore the museum and exhibitions, make connections to your lived experiences, knowledge, past museum visits, and topics discussed in class.
Describe key objects on display, their relation to one another, their relevance to the exhibition, and how they are organized and displayed.
Part 2: Analysis: Analyze your experience, drawing conclusions from your observations, focusing on access and inclusion in the museum and exhibition.
Access refers to access for all visitors regardless of their mental and physical abilities, their primary language, and their levels of knowledge regarding specific objects or concepts. For instance, an exhibition displaying impressionist era paintings is not very accessible if you need have a formal education in art education to appreciate and understand the exhibition.
Inclusion refers to the inclusion of people with various backgrounds and perspectives in the exhibit, as well as the inclusion of community members with various backgrounds and perspectives in the museum environment. For instance, an exhibition that only appeals to people of the dominant identity in a community is not inclusive of people with different backgrounds.
Things to consider:
What elements did the museum staff use in the exhibition to peak your interest in the subject matter?
Wast the exhibition successful in engaging you with this subject matter?
Were voices left out in the interpretation or content of this exhibition? Was anyone left out in the design of this exhibition?
Were there multiple ways to engage with this exhibition?
What would you change about the exhibition to make it more inclusive?
Were there barriers that would prevent groups of people from enjoying the exhibition?
Is the exhibition designed in a cohesive and organized way? What kind of voice is the wall text/didactics written in? (I.e. authoritative, open to interpretation, etc.) Do any aspects of the exhibition stick out to you as irrelevant, inappropriate, or awkward?
Who is the ideal audience for this museum or exhibition?
How could the exhibition and/or museum in general have further engaged you as a visitor? (access)
What barriers prevented you from engaging deeply with the exhibition? (access)
Conclusion: Provide a final, overarching analysis of the experience, stating your most important findings.
Grammar/Format
Write in first-person
12 pt font, Times New Roman
Double-spaced
1-inch margins
Write in your own words. Do not use direct quotes. Paraphrase and cite appropriately instead.
Include a works cited page with at least 5 references
4-5 pages (not including the works cited page)
Class lectures and PowerPoint presentations do not need to be cited, but do not copy them.
