Young people are the future preservers and curators of national collections of art and cultural heritage, and forthcoming participants in societal processes of collective remembering. In targeting this audience, museums have actively incorporated digital and social media into their education and communication programs – online, in public spaces, and onsite in galleries and exhibitions. An important aim is to engage young people in meaning making with art and cultural heritage.
At this closing conference for the CONTACT project (Communicating Organizations in Networks of Art and Cultural Heritage Technologies), approaches to engaging young people through media and meaning making are the focus of a full day of presentations. A unique collaboration between university and cultural sectors, the project has created a shared space – ‘experimental zones’ – for investigating how digital and social media for the future museum public may be conceptualized, designed and researched. Three activities will mark the close of the project:
CONTACT Conference
On September 27, a conference will be held for partners, policy makers, and participants from the cultural sector. Key findings from the CONTACT project will be presented along four themes: Places of Engagement, Methods for Engaging, Collaboration and Co-design, and Meaning Making. Conference participants will receive a bound illustrated report on the CONTACT project.
Observe product launch
As part of the conference, a presentation and hands-on demo of the mobile application Observe will be held. Observe is an innovative ‘visitor studies tool’ that has been developed in collaboration with the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design – a key CONTACT partner, as one of the project’s outcomes. CONTACT has received special funding from the Verdikt Program, Research Council of Norway, to make Observe commercially available.
PhD Seminar
On September 26, a pre-conference seminar will gather research fellows from the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom to discuss and present scientific work related to “Learning perspectives for media design for museums, science centers and heritage sites.” Dr. Alexandra Weilenmann, University of Gothenburg and Dr. Ingeborg Krange, University of Oslo are guest lecturers.
Keynote Speaker
Photos courtesy of Local Projects
On the topic of designing media now for the future public, we are pleased to have Dr. Caroline Goeser as guest speaker. Dr. Goeser directs the Department of Education and Interpretation at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where the newly launched Gallery One has drawn national and international attention and has been featured in an article in the New York Times: “Technology That Serves to Enhance, Not Distract.” Dr. Goeser received her PhD in Art History at Rutgers University.
Program
09:45 - 10:00 Registration and Coffee
10:00 - 10:15 The CONTACT Project, Palmyre Pierroux, Project Leader
10:15 - 10:30 Museums and the Future Public, Nils Ohlsen, Director of Old Masters and Modern Art, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design
10:30 - 11:15 From Learning Center to Interactive Experience: Designing Gallery One for Browsing Museum Visitors, Caroline Goeser, Director of Education and Interpretation at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA
11:15 - 11:30 Break
11:30 - 12:00 Places of Engagement, Research Fellow Rolf Steier
12:00 - 12:30 Research Methods - Studies of Meaning Making and Engagement, Sten Ludvigsen
12:30 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 13:45 Meaning Making and Young People, Research Fellow Ingvild Andreassen
13:45 - 14:15 Collaboration and Co-design, Dagny Stuedahl, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Ole Smørdal, EngageLab, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo
14:15 - 14:30 Research and Transforming Practices, Palmyre Pierroux
14:30 - 14:45 Break
14:45 - 15:15 Observe – A New Tool for Visitor Research, Rolf Steier and Jeremy Toussaint, EngageLab
15:15 - 16:00 Observe demo and refreshments
CONTACT researchers
Dagny Stuedahl
Ingvild Andreassen
Contributing Researchers:
Andrew Morrison