Visiting the Visitor: An Enquiry Into the Visitor Business in Museums

by Ann Davis (Editor), Kerstin Smeds (Editor)

Overview

The study of the museum visitor has undergone radical transformation. Each author here has asked unfamiliar questions and responded with fresh answers. Some of these questions involve the visitor's identity, what she brings to her museum experience. Can we gain entry into this experience? Does more technology really increase access to the objects themselves? Others probe the very nature of museum going and exhibition making, demanding that we reexamine the traditional exhibition to reposition the visitor and her meaning-making at the centre. The volume provokes imaginative research and encourages new conclusions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783837632897
Publication date:	10/18/2016
Series:	Museum
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.86(h) x 122.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ann Davis (PhD), retired, worked as a museum director and university professor in Calgary, Canada.
Kerstin Smeds (PhD) is a historian and professor of museology in Umeå University, Sweden.

Table of Contents

Introduction Visiting the Visitor… 7

Affect-based Exhibition Jennifer Harris, Curtin University - Australia 15

Individual Identity/Collective History Personalizing Essence in the Museum M. Elizabeth Weiser, Ohio State University - United States 39

Describing and Understanding the Experience of Visitors Daniel Schmitt, University of Valenciennes - France 55

Viewing the Museum Experience through an Identity Lens John Fafk, Oregon State University - United States 71

Empowering the Visitors Process and Problems Ann Davis, Director, The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary (retired) - Canada 89

Here Comes Everybody! The Visitor Business in Museums in Light of Existential Philosophy Kerstin Smeds, Department of Culture and Media Sciences. Umea University - Sweden 105

Experiencing Dialogue Behind the Curtains of Museum Performance Bruno Brulon Soares, UNIRIO (Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro) - Brazil 127

Social Representation Theory and Museum Visitors Aida Rechena Francisco Tavares Proença Júnior Museum - Portugal 139

A Visitor-Centered Approach: Enhancing Museology with Perceptual Theory Anna Leshchenko, Russian State University for the Humanities, Museology Department Moscow - Russia 153

Reflections on Michail Bakhtin's Dialogue versus the Theory of Mirror Neurons Vitaly Ananiev, Saint Petersburg State University - Russia 165

Who do you Think they are? Museum Visitor Studies in Russia with a Historical Perspective Vitaly Ananiev, Saint Petersburg State University - Russia 171

Acknowledged and Empowered Visitors in Socialist Croatia Diachronic Exploration Zarka Vujic Helena Stublic, University of Zagreb - Croatia 183

Following Visitors' Comments in Dislgning a Museum Refurbishment Identity and Authentity Maria Cristina Vanning Soluzionimuseali ims - Italy 201

From Real Thing to Real Experience Rethinking the Museum Experience Wan-Chen Chang, Taipei National University of the Arts - Taiwan 213

Museums and Visitors Giving the Lions Powers to the Gazelle Colette Dufresne-Tassé, Université de Montréal - Canada 229

Authors' Biographies 249