shapeshifting - transformations in native american art at pem

31
Jim Olson, Director of Integrated Media Brian Jungen (born 1970), Dunne-Za Nation. Cetology, 2002. Plastic chairs.

Upload: jimolson

Post on 21-Jun-2015

713 views

Category:

Technology


1 download

DESCRIPTION

This session will explore the lessons learned in creating an interactive for Shapeshifting at the Peabody Essex Museum. The exhibition included four organizing themes, Changing, Knowing, Locating, and Voicing, that address touchstones in Native art over time: artistic evolution, worldview, identity, and politics. The show's goal was to encourage visitors to rethink their preconceived notions about Native American art and to share their thoughts with the museum and other visitors. The interactive engaged visitors by asking them to contribute dialogue at iPad stations adjacent to four works in the exhibition. Visitors watched videos of the artists and then answered a question related to each object, with words from their responses projected in the galleries on a large, dynamic word cloud, in a comments section on the iPads, in a summative plasma display at the end of the show, and on our website.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Jim Olson, Director of Integrated Media

Brian Jungen (born 1970), Dunne-Za Nation. Cetology, 2002. Plastic chairs.

Page 2: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 3: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 4: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Yup’ik artist. Mask representing walaunuk, early 1900s. Wood, feathers, and paint. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 9/3432.

Page 5: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Aleut). Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan (We Will Again Open This Container of Wisdom That Has Been Left in Our Care), parts I and II, 2006. Digital video: 5 minute loop each, performances by David Elsewhere (part I) and Dan Littlefield (part II). Courtesy of the Artist.

• Premise

• Impetus

• Thematic approach

Page 6: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Opening the Dialogue

• Changing: Expanding the Imagination

• Knowing: Expressing Worldview

• Locating: Exploring Identity and Place

• Voicing: Engaging the Individual

• Advancing the DialogueKent Monkman (Cree). Théâtre de Cristal, 2007. Plastic beads, simulated buffalo hide, and Super-8 film: Group of Seven Inches, 2005 (7:34 minutes).

Page 7: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Artworks

• Design

• Interpretation

• New media

Page 8: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Multi-directional

• Insights

• Close looking

• Support themes

• Accessibility

Page 9: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 10: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Changing

Knowing

Locating

Voicing

Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo). CSST V2.0, 2011. Stainless steel. Courtesy of Leslie M. Beebe and Bruce Nussbaum

Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee). La Primavera, 2005. Oil and gold leaf on wood. Courtesy of June Kelly Gallery.

Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo). Emergence of the Clowns, 1988. Ceramic and paint. Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona 

Possibly Pokanoket Wampanoag artist. Ball-headed war club, ca. 1675. Maple, whelk, and quahog. Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts

Page 11: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 12: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Pat Pruitt in his workshop, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico

Roxanne Swentzell at Tower Gallery, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico

Page 13: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 14: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Trigger and induce

• Draw from the personal

• Minimize cultural bias

• Produce interesting answers

Source: Simon, Nina, “Design Techniques for Developing Questions for Visitor Participation.” Museum 2.0. April 28, 2009.

Page 15: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

CHANGING

What other influences can you see in Pruitt’s work?

KNOWING

What do you imagine these figures are seeing as they look out on this world for the first time?

Page 16: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

LOCATING

Can you recall a place in your life that transformed you?

VOICING

Can you describe an object that voices a powerful story to you?

Page 17: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 18: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 19: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 20: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 21: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 22: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 23: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 24: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Establishing protocol

• Making time

• Rating system•Criteria•Trash

Page 25: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM
Page 26: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

160 users observed:

60% users only watched the video

32% watched the video, and left a comment or read other comments

•Demographic•Time spent•Looked at artwork•Headphones

Page 27: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• 3000 total responses• 1300 approved• 1700 trash

• 710 praise for show or cogent comment, but did not answer the question• 30 messages addressed to artist• 10 “I like pie” • 10 relating to other works in exhibition (+9 in

approved responses)• 990 junk

Page 28: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Changing 335Knowing 459 Locating 283Voicing 226

Rating breakdown, totals1: 634 2: 190 3: 2714: 1465: 62

Page 29: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

Word Cloud | Before and After

Page 30: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Word Cloud placement

• Summative experience

• Web component

• Advance testing of final questions

Page 31: Shapeshifting - Transformations in Native American Art at PEM

• Karen Kramer Russell, Curator of Native American Art

• Michelle Moon, Assistant Director of Adult Programs

• Jim Olson, Director of Integrated Media

Contact me: [email protected]