Learning ThroughART
How is meaningful engagement valued practiced in Europe’s Art
Field Research Project Funded by the Peter Kirk Me
Learning Through Art:
How is meaningful engagement valued and practiced in Europe’s Art museums?
By Alana BullockIn 2019, I had the privilege of being awarded the Peter Kirk Memorial Travel Scholarship. At the time, I was a recently graduated art student working as an Art Stagiaire in a boarding school in Switzerland. My proposed project was to research and explore the impact of learning and engagement in some of Europe’s popular art museums during the summer of 2020. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances (a global pandemic), my trip was postponed until the summer of 2022 Since then, I have completed my teacher training and now work as an Art Teacher at a SEN (Special Educational Needs) school in the beautiful county of Devon.
These significant life changes have meant that the focus of my research has organically shifted and developed. Through my teaching practice, I have learnt more about various learning styles and the barriers young people may face to their learning Although there is no ‘right’ way to interact with art, meaningful engagement can often be challenging for the young people I teach due the barriers they face in their learning. However, this can apply to anyone as there are many different factors that contribute to successful, meaningful engagement. Therefore, for the purpose of this report I have divided my research into common areas that I explored.
Cities visited: London, Cambridge, Barcelona, Milan, Bergamo, Munich, Berlin, Prague and Amsterdam
Accessibility and Social Inclusion
The Activist and Artist Keith Haring famously said, ‘The public has a right to art’. Everyone should feel welcome and have the opportunity to engage with art. However, there are barriers that may stop somebody from even having the opportunity to step into an art museum, such as cost, location, opening times or physical disability. COVID lockdown was a
common barrier that we all shared which meant that with new, innovative ways of engaging their audienc outside being physically present in a building. As a result, virtual tours and exhibitions grew in popularity and gained new audiences, and many exhibition visits and tours can now be accessed virtually from the comfort of your own home However, this is not to say that if people can access it from home that should be enough. In relation to physical access, lifts were available at many if not all of the museums I visited over the summer, and in places like Fondazione Prada, where the space is vast, wheelchair users and prams would be able to access the space However, in very crowded galleries or small spaces such as the Picasso Museum and the Mucha Museum, this would be extremely tricky and potentially uncomfortable. I did not see any wheelchair users or people with obvious physical disabilities on my trip, although I was visiting in the peak of Summer, which many people avoid due to the busyness. The Museum Brandhorst in Munich has managed to consider this and has tours designed for those with babies in tow The availability of more options like this could have avoided instances such as when I visited the David Hockney exhibition in Cambridge, wh found myself holding my breath as a toddler came extremely close to the artwork!
Art museums can also be intimidating from an intellectual perspective Exhibitions like the Moco museum showcase work by artists such as Guillermo Lorca where the contextual clues can be found in the work itself or enjoyed simply for its aesthetic value and impressive size. However, in contemporary galleries the artwork is not necessarily as easy to enjoy at face value (nor is this always its intention) I clearly remember as a teenager visiting the Saatchi Gallery in London, only to leave confused and deflated at having not understood what an unexplained shoe rack in the middle of the room was meant to represent. The STRAAT exhibition in Amsterdam addressed this before even entering the gallery, stating that you could simply enjoy it for its visual aesthetic or delve deeper into the meaning of the work through the explanations available This straight away made me as a visitor feel welcome and the descriptions were extremely accessible and interesting to read. I found the Sant Mónica in Barcelona to have the opposite effect, as I explored its many rooms unable to engage with the work as much as I would like due to a lack of any explanation.
Other contemporary galleries, such as the KW Institute in Berlin, are becoming increasingly aware about potentially excluding their audience and therefore, changing their approach
The Chief Director Emily Blumenstein spoke about creating more ‘audience-friendly programmes’ and returning to engaging with the public. Over the summer, the KW Institute hosted the Berlin Biennale and I found their programme and exhibitions to correspond with this intention There was a huge amount of art to engage with, many different levels and fun spaces to explore, as well as interactive spaces such as lying down on pillows to watch a projected video on the ceiling. As conventional art exhibitions typically deny physical sensory satisfaction, pockets of interactive spaces can leave you feeling more fulfilled than other galleries where touching is completely prohibited In certain galleries such as the Fondazione Prada in Milan, you are watched like a hawk to ensure you did not touch the art work. I remember walking into a room empty of people and the security promptly following me in. In fact, there were more security, dressed in military-style uniform, than visitors. The art on
display was of high quality with several rooms and floors to explore but, on this occasion, I did not really enjoy the exhibition due to the constant feeling of being watched. I felt like I was doing something wrong in the same way that you feel when you go through security at an airport!
Tickets & £££
The majority of exhibits that I visited during my trip had an entry fee. In London, a lot of the major art exhibitions are free, relying on donations Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). We know that admission fees can make a big impact on audience numbers in museums, example, in 1997 The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London saw their visitor numbers drop by half after they started charging £5 for admission (equivalent to around £10 today) They have since made admission free again. At an exhibition in Prague, the lady at the counter asked if I was 25 or a student to qualify for a discounted fee
‘Unfortunately, no.’ I replied. She asked again with her eyebrows raised. I thinking that she had not understood. Slowly, she slid the ticket across the counter
pay’ This interaction not only made my day, but the museum in question was huge. I managed two thirds of it before needing a serious brain break. I was unable to finish the museum that day and began to feel like I had not made the most of the money, before remembering I had not paid. There was less pressure to enjoy myself or explore every inch of the museums that were free. After all, it is not guaranteed that you will enjoy an art exhibition. I paid €10 to get into the Haus Der Kunst in Munich, but spent the majority of the time wondering where all the artwork was By contrast, I paid the same price to visit the National Gallery in Prague yet spent hours exploring the vast amount of artwork on offer. This can be particularly off-putting for people who do not necessarily visit art exhibitions often and may influence their decision as to whether to do so again in future. It can leave you feeling a little short-changed or, as one visitor said about the Haus Der Kunst, ‘a complete waste of money’.
However, a lot of galleries have discounted fees for young people, elderly, students and other concessions; one gallery in Barcelona had free entry for holding an account with a certain bank! Similarly, the majority of galleries, especially in Barcelona, also had an afternoon during the week where entrance was free, such as the Picasso Museum (but you need to be organized and often book well in advance or be caught out like me when I found out that this did not occur during the Summer holidays). Luckily, I arrived 15 minutes early and had prebooked tickets before the free Saturday afternoon entrance at the Macba Museum, because the queue grew and grew until it was around the other side of the building This told me that people do want to see art but cost can definitely be a barrier.
Nevertheless, I discovered that price is not always a factor of why people may not visit an exhibition. The Centre d’Art Santa Monica in Barcelona was free and huge, but completely empty when I visited. In contrast, some of the most expensive entry fees (all around £20) such as the Picasso, Moco Musuem and the Van Gogh were full to the brim. I had to book a lot of the popular museums in advance otherwise it was impossible to get in. I feel as though in these cases ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) comes to mind and visitors are often there because it is a popular place to visit on a ‘Top Ten Things To Do’ list However, if this gets people to go and see art, that must surely be a good thing.
Opportunities for Learning & Audience Engagement
During my trip, there were many exhibitions that encompassed large rooms with large playing (often very loud) video art installations. One of the most impressive spaces was in a large church in Bergamo where a video of a record player floating through space was projected onto a screen bigger than a cinema screen as part of the Anri Sala Exhibit isitors did not stay for long or watch the video for its entirety. ‘I don’t get it!’ was one remark by a viewer. In contrast, the small Mucha Prague had a small box TV playing a rather old documentary of the artist’s life surrounded by lots of wooden and uncomfortable chairs. Everyone who sat down to watch it stayed for the whole thing. It was incredibly interesting and engaging, and it was lovely to hear other visitors comments afterwards who seemed to agree such as ‘I really enjoyed that!’, and ‘I didn’t think I would like that as much as I did’. After watching the documentary, I to look at the artist’s work again, able to understand and appreciate it on a different level.
Examples like the Mucha Museum and the lack of visitors at the Santa where explanation of the exhibits was scarce, tell me that visitors are willing to engage with and understand the work when he information is digestible and accessible. In Prague, the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art stood out to me as a great example of ing what the art was and what it meant, without necessarily feeding you. One visitor who said they did not normally visit contemporary galleries found it to be ‘eye-opening’ This is a stark comparison to the Fondazione Prada where you are left to ponder how a cot with a large bar of soap surrounded by apples explore sexuality and politics. A visitor to the gallery said ‘There was more information in the leaflet but it was boring and didn’t really explain it well, I didn’t really understand what I was meant to feel’ Whilst it is impossible for everybody to ‘like’ everything, I think instances like these where someone has tried to access the work and
cannot, can leave them feeling rejected. I personally found the set-up of the exhibition to be appealing, with various buildings to visit, but again, I observed many people walking through quickly, and therefore less likely to engage with the work in a meaningful way.
Ironically, the more popular the gallery, the harder I personally found it to meaningfully engage with the work. Two examples of this were the Picasso museum in Barcelona and the Van Gogh in Amsterdam. As mentioned before, it is necessary to book well in advance When I arrived at the Van Gogh around 10am, there was already a sign stating that there were no more tickets available that day. The Picasso museum was made easier to navigate by enforcing a one-way system, although, security were constantly shuffling you along to get more people through, thus hardly giving you much time to read and enjoy the vast amount of explanatory text provided on the wall. The Van Gogh was more of a free-for-all, with many floors to explore and many crowds surrounding the artwork. It was not enjoyable to try and fight your way to the front. I also think that many people, including myself, experience lingering consequences after two years of social distancing, where crowds tend to put me on edge more than I would like.
The Van Gogh museum stood out to me as one of the best museums in terms of quality and opportunity for learning and engagement. There were perspective drawing tools that you could use to experience the same methods that the artist practiced, alongside a stall giving out clipboards and paper for visitors to draw and study his artwork. One of my favourite parts of the exhibition was a large wall that displayed paintings by artists that Van Gogh was inspired by, like a giant Pinterest board Not only was this extremely interesting, but it provided visitors an opportunity to see if they could spot those influences in his work whilst exploring the gallery. However, as stated above, I found it difficult to enjoy the exhibition to its full potential due to the large number of visitors In contrast, the museum was presenting another exhibition, ‘Colour as Language’ by Etel Adnan, which was one of the most beautifully curated exhibitions I have had the pleasure of visiting. Due to it not being as crowded as the main exhibition, I was able to take my time and take in all of the art and information that surrounded it One of my favourite bits of the gallery was the room that they had laid out in the shapes and colours of one of her paintings. Another thing the exhibition did well was to compare Adnan’s work side by side with Van Gogh. This was also done in the David Hockney exhibition in Cambridge and again, shows the artist’s inspiration
with a visual comparison for visitors who may be unfamiliar with these lesser-known influences.
I think one of the reasons the Van Gogh is so popular (other than displaying work by one of the world’s most famous artists) is that the exhibition is set up for families by having lots of activities for young people to engage with. For a young audience, many museums provided booklets or art activities to complete throughout the exhibition, such as the Museum Brandhorst, where free activity booklets were available, or the DOX who provided an interactive pack full of tasks and art materials. This was a great way to encourage young people to engage with the artwork as well as help guide their carers on how to educate whilst
of learning through play, and some of the work they had seen throughout the exhibition, prompting cognitive development and problem-solving skills through play
Language is something I took for granted before embarking on my tour of European museums. The majority of museums used not only their native language, but English as well. There were some museums that did not have this multilinguistic approach and I had to take out my phone to translate the writing. Before embarking on my project, I underestimated how much of a role technology now plays in the majority of popular exhibitions. QR codes now provide free audio guides in many galleries, although some places such as the Van Gogh still charge for their headsets. Museums such as the Moco museum in Barcelona embrace phone usage and encourage you to download an app which brings the artwork to life through animation. Although this adds another layer to the museum experience, it can be off-putting
to some visitors, as one person described the Moco museum as ‘Instagram hell’ I was very surprised by the number of people taking selfies with the artwork, and it was fascinating to observe the number of people who would walk up to a piece of artwork, take a picture and then immediately walk away. These particular interactions felt like simply ‘tick box’ exercises.
When queuing for the temporary CJ Hendry exhibition in London, I waited with other fans of her work for over two hours in the very hot sun to see her exhibition which had been postponed by two years due to COVID. The exhibition was held in a church and had confetti falling down throughout, this element had been filmed numerous times and had gone viral on Tik Tok which meant that there were people queuing who had no idea who the artist was or that the ‘photographs’ inside were actually hyper-realistic drawings. Some of the visitors did not even attempt to go look at her work and instead spent the 15 minutes’ allotted time playing and filming themselves in the confetti. This had the unexpected consequence that I almost had the artwork all to myself!
By inviting the audience to participate in the exhibition, there is an opportunity for visitors to engage on a deeper level as they feel a part of the work through collaboration. I observed this through activities such as the animation and projection game in the STRAAT gallery, and also at the Pnakothek der Moderne in Munich, where visitors were invited to measure their
height as a record on the wall as part of the ‘Measuring the Universe’ exhibition. It was a cool feeling to know you had made your mark in an art exhibition as part of a collective. The Design Museum in Berlin asked questions throughout the exhibition, encouraging you think critically with questions such as ‘what does heading outdoors mean to you?’ and prompting you to post your answer on the wall for other visitors to read. At the Museum Brandhorst, there was a reflection room at the end of the exhibition where you could sit, read, draw and process the exhibition, and I was pleasantly surprised to find an open research library and archive in the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art which is currently the largest collection in Czechia
I came across many ways the museums aimed to prompt and stimulate learning and engagement, but in all cases, it is the visitors themselves who have to take responsibility for their learning.
Community Outreach
As well as providing activities inside of the gallery, many of the museums conduct workshops in their community. As well as family workshops, The Picasso museum hosts a weekly memory workshop for the Elderly, ‘Picasso In the Memory’ in order to help those who attend with their cognitive capacity. In order to reach more people, they are now proposing longer one-off sessions for people who may not be able to commit long term. This commitment to public participation breaks down barriers and therefore enhances the community.
The STRAAT museum is the world’s largest street art museum and was recently opened in 2020. The space was inspired by the community itself, creating a self-made and independent gallery space in one of Europe’s largest ship yards, ‘inspired by the creative dynamism that surrounds us.’ STRAAT was the last exhibition I visited and I absolutely saved the best until last. Both the space and the size of the paintings were incredible. They even had a few artists working on their paintings! It was wonderful to see the work in progress and also have an opportunity to talk to the artists about their work. Another way the artists communicated to their visitors was through questionnaires, such as at the DOX Centre, where there was a woman conducting a questionnaire for the artist about what I had learnt during the visit. The exhibition, MADe IN CHINA is the first solo show by Badiucao, the pseudonym of a Chinese artist-activist known for his protest art who is currently working in exile in Australia. The
questionnaire was used to inform his practice and shows his commitment to ensuring his message is understood by his audience. I personally took a lot away from his work and learnt a lot more about Chinese politics through his visual resources, which compelled me to research more when I returned to my hotel for the evening.
I would like to thank again the Peter Kirk memorial foundation for the fantastic opportunity this fund provided. The experience of travelling to different cities in Europe to visit Art Museums has given me a clearer and deeper insight to meaningful engagement, as well as a stronger first-hand overview of the methodologies that can help implement and promote this. Visiting art museums can stimulate curiosity, promote discussion and inspire. Since returning from the trip I have written a ‘Graffiti and Street Art’ module for my students, inspired particularly by the STRAAT and the Moco Museum This has included bringing in an artist to workshop with the students to deepen their engagement with the topic. Maybe one year I will be able to take them to the STRAAT in person!
