What Do Audiences Want from a Public Art Gallery in the Digital Age?

This paper outlines the human-centred design approach taken to create a new analytical framework to understand audiences and establish themes, patterns and behaviours at MOSTYN, a public contemporary art gallery in Llandudno, North Wales. Wrexham Glyndwr University PhD student Clare Harding collaborated with Dr Adrian Gradinar, and Dr Mark Lochrie from Media Innovation Studio, University of Central Lancashire, to test the conceptual framework with the EDGE (Experiential Display to Generate Engagement) research project that secured Innovate UK and the Arts Council of Wales funding. EDGE applied a Human Centred Design process to MOSTYN, Wales’ foremost contemporary Art Gallery MOSTYN to investigate audience expectations of a public art gallery in the digital age. EDGE was designed to help MOSTYN define their purpose as a public art gallery in the face of rapidly developing, culturally competing technologies. Phase one of the project used design thinking and iterative processes to explore new and authentic ways in which MOSTYN can co-design their visitor experience with audiences. Phase two, from April 2019, will use findings to build a digital interface within the gallery to create an interactive exhibition of digital art. This will be accompanied by a six-month engagement programme to build links with new audiences and up-skill both the general public and regional artists. The scope and limitation of the research as identified so far are discussed with a focus on how human-centred design approaches were used to create a new analytical framework. The testing of lo-fi prototypes will be discussed within the gallery setting and the insights uncovered by deployment of the framework, tools and MOSTYN’s engagement programme with a critical review of the methodological approach used and findings to date.

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Author and article information

Conference

Publication date: July 2019

Publication date (Print): July 2019

Pages: 137-143

Affiliations

[0001]Wrexham Glyndwr University Faculty of Art Science and Technology North Wales

[0002]Lancaster University, UK

[0003]University of Central Lancashire, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.27

SO-VID: fe136c0d-5af2-4e06-8e1c-610deb91b4e2

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2019

Conference acronym: EVA 2019

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Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 8 - 11 July 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.27

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

E. Belfiore 2012 “Defensive instrumentalism” and the legacy of New Labour’s cultural policies Cultural Trends 21 2 103—111 doi: 10.1080/09548963.2012.674750
D. DawsonA. GrantP. MillerJ. Perkins 2004 User Evaluation: Sharing Expertise to Build Shared Values D. BearmanJ. Trant Museums and the Web 2004: Proceedings Toronto 8 Available at Archives and Museum Informatics http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/dawson/dawson.html retrieved 11th March 2019)
Y. Engeström 1987 Learning by Expanding: An Activity-theoretical approach to developmental research (.pdf) Helsinki, Finland Orienta-Konsultit
M. Haley GoldmanK. Haley Goldman 2005 Whither the Web: Professionalism and practices for the changing museum D. BearmanJ. Trant Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings Toronto Available at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/papers/haleyGoldman/haleyGoldman.html retrieved 11th March 2019 )
J. A. Hartley 2015 Museums and the Digital Public Space: Researching digital engagement practice at the Whitworth Art Gallery (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.677756) 14
V. Kaptelinin 2005 The Encyclopaedia of Human-Computer Interaction 2nd Ed 453 Available at https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/activity-theory retrieved 16th March 2019)
C. S. Ross 2014 Radical Trust Works: An Investigation of Digital Visitor Generated Content and Visitor Engagement in Museum Spaces (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.634698)
Lev S. Vygotsky 1978 Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press
D. Walker 2015 Towards the Collaborative Museum? Social Media, Participation, Disciplinary Experts and the Public in the Contemporary Museum (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.681251)
L. C. Yamagata-Lynch 2007 Confronting Analytical Dilemmas for Understanding Complex Human Interactions in Design-Based Research from a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) Framework The Journal of the Learning Sciences 16 4 451 484

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] E. Belfiore 2012 “Defensive instrumentalism” and the legacy of New Labour’s cultural policies Cultural Trends 21 2 103—111 doi: 10.1080/09548963.2012.674750

[2] D. DawsonA. GrantP. MillerJ. Perkins 2004 User Evaluation: Sharing Expertise to Build Shared Values D. BearmanJ. Trant Museums and the Web 2004: Proceedings Toronto 8 Available at Archives and Museum Informatics http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/dawson/dawson.html retrieved 11th March 2019)

[3] Y. Engeström 1987 Learning by Expanding: An Activity-theoretical approach to developmental research (.pdf) Helsinki, Finland Orienta-Konsultit

[4] M. Haley GoldmanK. Haley Goldman 2005 Whither the Web: Professionalism and practices for the changing museum D. BearmanJ. Trant Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings Toronto Available at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/papers/haleyGoldman/haleyGoldman.html retrieved 11th March 2019 )

[5] J. A. Hartley 2015 Museums and the Digital Public Space: Researching digital engagement practice at the Whitworth Art Gallery (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.677756) 14

[6] V. Kaptelinin 2005 The Encyclopaedia of Human-Computer Interaction 2nd Ed 453 Available at https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/activity-theory retrieved 16th March 2019)

[7] C. S. Ross 2014 Radical Trust Works: An Investigation of Digital Visitor Generated Content and Visitor Engagement in Museum Spaces (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.634698)

[8] Lev S. Vygotsky 1978 Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press

[9] D. Walker 2015 Towards the Collaborative Museum? Social Media, Participation, Disciplinary Experts and the Public in the Contemporary Museum (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved March 2019 from EThOS database (uk.bl.ethos.681251)

[10] L. C. Yamagata-Lynch 2007 Confronting Analytical Dilemmas for Understanding Complex Human Interactions in Design-Based Research from a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) Framework The Journal of the Learning Sciences 16 4 451 484

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