Overall, many projects were analysed; not least the artist in residence programme at the V&A (info here). Often, there was more of a focus on the relationship between artist and institution. Whilst the visitor was implicit in this discussion; fewer presentations dealt directly with the voice of the visitor and the impact of the residencies on their museum experience or understanding of the museum collections.
Tom Freshwater from the National Trust spoke about their new Contemporary Art Programme (info here). This was really interesting as he had used visitor comments to highlight how visitors had reacted to seeing 'art' when they weren't expecting it. Whilst many visitors appreciated the interventions, many threatened to cancel their membership citing that visiting a national trust property was all about getting away from the hubbub of modern life, rather than encountering the modern world in the form of 'contemporary art'. ( This is exactly what I'd done in my paper which looked at visitor comments about the contemporary art programme at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.)
There was a great presentation by artist Rebecca Jewell (website) who has been artist in residence at the British Museum. Her perspective as an artist was interesting as she has been working very much in an anthropological context; her work crossing boundaries between scientific illustration and fine art. It was particularly interesting to see an example of the British Museum displaying one of her drawings in place of an object which was too fragile to be displayed. Another project commented on the changing nature of scientific illustrations at the Natural History Museum, which are now seen as the 'art' collection, and little used or considered by the curators, their role having been supplanted by newer technologies.
Artist Stephen Farthing suggested that within the new REF framework for measuring impact; the most successful project he had been involved with was a residency at Birmingham City Football club, where he received an overwhelming response from football fans, interested in the subject rather than the content of his work.
A couple of other interesting residency programmes included:
Irish Museum of Modern Art (residency info here)
Luton Museum Truck Art project (exchange between Romany artist and Pakistani Truck artist; info here)
It sounds like an interesting conference Nick, reminds me of the residency I did at Hovingham Hall three years ago. The Hall was only open to the public for one month each year, which happened to coincide with the last month of my occupation of their former squash court. The tours were rerouted to end in my studio and it was fascinating observing the different reactions, especially the perception of the space as either public or private. Some would be happy to talk and root around and perform a kind of ownership while others would stand in the doorway as if the velvet ropes somehow continued to exert an influence, occasionally with the result that I almost became an exhibited object. Certainly an interesting position to be in!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an interesting position; in fact, one of the case studies at the conference was called 'don't feed the animals' and told of a residency at the New School House Gallery in York by a glass artist. The paper examined how people behaved in relation to this 'exhibited object' and their experience is comparable. I very much like this idea of 'imagined velvet ropes' too.
ReplyDeleteMark's post is also thought provoking, I wonder what kind of art works pass the 'appropriateness' test in order to be offered for sale in this context; I wonder (perhaps provocatively) that this would be 'contemporary but not challenging'?