Mediation as connection and objection Multiple, mediated modes of engagement with a museum exhibition

Presentation for DASTS 2011, Center for STS-studier, Århus Universitet, 09-10-06.2011Conference theme: Inventing connectionsSession: Design Connections and Objections

Connie Svabo, PhD, Assistant ProfessorSpace, Place, Mobility and Urban Studies (MOSPUS) Research Unit& Centre for Experience Research (COF)Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change (ENSPAC) Roskilde University (RUC)

Mediation

• To associate; to communicate between two parties

• Inspired by Serres and Latour: simultaneous establishing of a connection and the distortion which takes place in the connection

• Materials, technologies, objects mediate spatial experiences and modes of engagement

Naturama

• Museum of natural history• 65.000 annual visits• 50% of visitors are under 18

• Association of visitors and exhibition

• 14 months, several later re-visits• Observation

– 39 days, 21 days in exhibition, the rest in offices

– written notes, audio recordings, video recordings, use of spy-wear camera glasses

• Interviews– 26 on-site visitor interviews + staff

interviews• Focus increasingly on children and

youngsters

Method: ethnographic fieldwork

Fellow visitors

Exhibition

visitor

phone camera

visitor

animal costume

visitor

exercise pamphlet

Mediation as connection and objection

- Portable technologies help visitors associate to the exhibition, but/and they do this in enactments of specific versions of the exhibition and the visitor

- Understanding relations between users and built space needs to take into account hybrid users and the complexities of ’use logic’ where action is heterogeneously negotiated between staff, users, exhibition and other mediators