Contemporary Interventions and Heritage: the Theoretical And
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1 Contemporary Interventions and Heritage: The Theoretical and Methodological Challenges of ‘Knowing Engagement’ Joanne Williams Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Leeds School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies October 2017 2 3 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2017 The University of Leeds and Joanne Williams 4 i Acknowledgements This research was undertaken with the support of an Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award. It would not have been possible without the cooperation of the Asia Triennial Manchester 14 project staff at the Imperial War Museum North, or Oliver Mantell, Gillian Greaves, Natalie Walton and the team at Belton House, who were all so generous with their time and professional knowledge. I would like to express thanks to my supervisors Abigail Harrison-Moore and Helen Graham who have provided incredible support and guidance throughout this process, and through their encouragement and critiques have continually challenged me to develop as a researcher. Thank you to the community at the Centre for Critical Studies in Museum, Galleries and Heritage for fostering such an inspiring research environment to spend the last four years. I am grateful for love and encouragement of my friends and family throughout this process, and for my partner Adam, whose kindness, patience and unwavering support has been fundamental to the completion of this project. ii iii Abstract Contemporary art is increasingly present in museum and heritage programming as a mode of interpretation and a method of exploring and understanding particular places, histories or concepts, with the intention of increasing visitor 'engagement'. While this form of programming is becoming commonplace, little research exists in relation to visitor experiences of these works. Undertaken in the context of Arts Council England's agenda of 'demonstrating' the value of cultural engagement through 'robust credible research', this thesis explores the possibilities of 'knowing engagement' with these artwork and the ways in which they might achieve their complex and conjunctive aims of being both an ‘intervention’ and acting as ‘interpretation’. Working through a case study of artworks at the Imperial War Museum North (IWMN), which employs contemporary art as 'an affective alternative to a text-based, didactic explanation' in order to generate a 'critical historical consciousness' in visitors, this thesis challenges an epistemic deficit evident in current evaluation methodologies that depend on policy driven proxy measures of 'engagement' and neglect the complex ontological nature of visitors' encounters with these artworks in the museum space. Drawing on Rodney Harrison's notion of heritage as a 'collaborative, dialogical and material- discursive process', engagement with contemporary art interventions is considered with respect to instrumentalised cultural policy, affective encounters with the materiality of the case study artworks and notions of intervention and site specificity in aesthetic and institutional discourse. Considering the artworks as heterogeneous entities in relation to artists, the Museum, visitors, cultural policy and aesthetic discourse, this thesis suggests that prior to producing 'demonstrable' evidence of engagement, it is first necessary to understand the complexity of these artworks and the relationships through which they exist as cultural objects. iv v Contents Abstract iii List of Figures viii Introduction 1 Relational Ontology in Heritage 8 ‘Engagement’ as a Travelling Concept 18 Methodology 34 Thesis Structure 38 Chapter One: Contemporary art at the Imperial War Museum North 41 Research Site 41 Contemporary Art in the Museum 46 ‘Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War’ 56 Experience as Evidence 60 Conclusions 65 Chapter Two: Methodological challenges of ‘knowing’ the Asia Triennial Manchester 14 67 'Knowing' museum visitors 69 Scaling Knowledge 87 Questions of Paradigm 94 Ethnography 106 Conclusions 111 Chapter Three: ‘Engagement’ in context: UK cultural policy 113 Defining 'Cultural Policy' 114 Cultural Studies Policy Debate 120 vi UK Policy Context 128 Conclusions 142 Chapter Four: Ways of knowing ‘engagement’ 144 ‘Asia Triennial Manchester 14: Conflict and Compassion’ 144 Cultural Indicators as Proxy Measures of Engagement 155 Arts Council England: ‘Evidence’ of Great art and culture for everyone 164 ‘Measuring Engagement’ in the Asia Triennial Manchester 14 174 Conclusions 178 Chapter Five: ‘Knowing engagement’: affective encounters with contemporary interventions 179 Visitor Engagement with Contemporary Art at IWM North 181 Intervention as Interpretation 231 Authorised Transgressions 244 Conclusions 252 Bibliography 259 Appendix One 271 Asia Triennial Manchester 14 Information 271 Exhibition Panels 273 Appendix Two 279 Visitor Study Information Sheet 279 Appendix Three 280 Natalie Walton, Freelance Arts Project Manager 280 Belton House; Kate Stoddart, Lucy Chard and David Fitzer 281 Gillian Greaves, Relationship Manager for museums covering Yorkshire and Humberside, Arts Council England 283 vii Oliver Mantell, Area Director North for The Audience Agency 283 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Gerry Judah, The Crusader, IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2012. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 2: Shamsia Hassani, Selected Works, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 187 Figure 3: Zarina Bhimji, Here was Uganda, as if in the vastness of India, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14, IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 191 Figure 4: Bashir Makhoul, Enter Ghost Exit Ghost, The Genie, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 193 Figure 5: Shezad Dawood, Babylon Rising, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 196 Figure 6: Aman Mojadidi, Commodified, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 199 Figure 7: Nalini Malani, In Search of Vanished Blood, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 202 Figure 8: Alinah Azadeh, Book of Debts, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 205 Figure 9: Alinah Azadeh, Child’s Play, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14, IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, November 2014. 206 Figure 10: Sophie Ernst, Victory, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 210 Figure 11: Sophie Ernst, The Vanquished, 'Asia Triennial Manchester 14', IWM North. Photo: Joanne Williams, 2014. 213 1 Introduction Contemporary art interventions occupy a complex space within museum and heritage praxis. As methods of ‘engaging’ both existing and imagined audiences, artworks are intended to provide new, unexpected and challenging experiences for a broad range of visitors. As modes of interpretation they are often framed as emotive or affective alternatives to traditional didactic panels and labels. As objects of artistic practice, these interventions are rooted in discourses of institutional critique and site specificity. As strategies of audience development and revenue generation, contemporary projects can be positioned in relation to both individual organisational sustainability and sustainability across the sector through the development of paid projects to employ artists in partnership projects, commissioning programmes and residencies. While it has become increasingly commonplace to see these artworks in local and national museums, country houses and landscapes, there is a lack of comprehensive critical research into visitor engagement with these works and the extent to which they achieve their complex and conjunctive aims of development, intervention and interpretation.1 Framing this investigation with respect to the term ‘praxis’ is both intentional and critical to the methodological approach of this thesis. Praxis, defined as ‘connecting practice to theory and purposive action’ provides a processual framing within which the relation between theory, method, practice and policy can be articulated.2 It also provides a theoretical and methodological grounding for interrogating the relations between art historical and museum discourses, and policy-based issues of value in the arts and culture sector that have contributed to contemporary interventions becoming embedded in curatorial and interpretation strategies across museums and heritage sites. An understanding of praxis as ‘the synthesis of theory and practice seen as a basis for the 1 This thesis will focus on the latter two issues. An analysis of ‘audience development’ would require a much broader survey across the sector beyond the bounds of this case study approach. 2 ‘Praxis’ as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/149425?redirectedFrom=praxis#eid> [Accessed 28 October 2017] 2 condition of political and economic change’, supports a process of drawing connections between theoretical and methodological concerns which encourage shifts in thinking around knowledge production in museum and heritage spaces in the context of economically driven modes of evaluation. The IWM North’s intention of constructing a transformative experience which facilitates a ‘critical historical