Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES in Humanities 230

JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 230 Kaisa Mäki-Petäjä Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 230 Kaisa Mäki-Petäjä Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston vanhassa juhlasalissa S212 elokuun 16. päivänä 2014 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Seminarium, auditorium S212, on August 16, 2014 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2014 Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 230 Kaisa Mäki-Petäjä Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2014 Editors Pauline von Bonsdorff Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Timo Hautala Publishing Unit, University Library of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities Editorial Board Editor in Chief Heikki Hanka, Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä Petri Karonen, Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Paula Kalaja, Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä Petri Toiviainen, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä Tarja Nikula, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä Raimo Salokangas, Department of Communication, University of Jyväskylä URN:ISBN: 978-951-39-5781-0 ISBN 978-951-39-5781-0 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-39-5780-3 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4331 Copyright © 2014, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2014 1 For mom and dad, Taneli and Alex 3 ABSTRACT Mäki-Petäjä, Kaisa Aesthetic Engagement in Museum Exhibitions Jyväskylä Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2014, 312 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities; 230 ISSN 1459-4331 ISBN 978-951-39-5780-3 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-5781-0 (PDF) First and foremost, this dissertation examines museum exhibitions’ potential for encouraging aesthetic engagement in the visitor. The study builds on the concept of aesthetic engagement, as it has been defined by Arnold Berleant in Art and Engagement (1991), emphasising aesthetic experience as a situation of conti- nuity, unity, and coherence between the perceiver and the object. Exhibitions are examined as aesthetic fields within which the visitors imaginatively act with the world and the exhibition, creating an aesthetic experience. The study focuses especially on the spatial relationships between an exhibition and its visitors, how these relationships can be created through spatial design, and how they can be used to create a sense of place. In this, the concept of garden is used as an analogy for museum exhibitions. Links are drawn between museum exhibitions and gardens as conscious constructions, purposefully designed and built places, that are representations of the larger world or of specific portions of that world. Attention is especially paid to the gardens’ intention to address their visitors as embodied beings. Methodologically this dissertation is a study of descriptive aesthetics as a method of analytical research approach in aesthetics. Because of this, the study approaches its subject phenomenologically, following a narra- tional, dialogical form where the personal experiences of the researcher are util- ised as the seeds of philosophical enquiry. These subjective experiences are compared with theories and writings on aesthetic experience, architecture, and philosophy, representing contemporary thinking in aesthetics, phenomenology, and cognitive sciences. As a result, the study sheds light on the nature of aesthetic experience as action in reciprocal relationship with the world and on museum exhibitions as spaces of human experience. Keywords: aesthetic experience, aesthetic engagement, descriptive aesthetics, phenomenology, museum exhibition design, reciprocity, genius loci. 4 Author’s address Kaisa Mäki-Petäjä Department Art and Cultural Studies The Faculty of Humanities University of Jyväskylä, Finland P. O. BOX 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä [email protected] Supervisors Prof. Pauline von Bonsdorff Art Education Department Art and Cultural Studies The Faculty of Humanities University of Jyväskylä, Finland Prof. Janne Vilkuna Museology Department Art and Cultural Studies The Faculty of Humanities University of Jyväskylä, Finland ReviewersProf. Yuriko Saito Anne Aurasmaa, Ph.D. Opponent Prof. Yuriko Saito 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was for a long time in the making. The writing of the thesis coincided with life-changing personal experiences which both hindered and benefited its creation. Because of this, the patience, encouragement, and guid- ance of my supervisors, professors Pauline von Bonsdorff and Janne Vilkuna, has been invaluable – often without them even being aware of all the circum- stances. I am especially indebted to Prof. von Bonsdorff for her lessons on ‘kill- ing my darlings.’ During this process, I was lucky to be a member of the research project Ar- tification and Its Impact on Art for two and a half years. The members of the team – professors Yrjö Sepänmaa, Seppo Knuutila, and Yrjänä Levanto, the Head of Research at Aalto University’s Department of Art Ossi Naukkarinen, and the two other doctoral students Kari Korolainen (now with a Ph.D.) and Matti Tainio – offered contrasting thoughts and new perspectives. Being part of a research project also meant more opportunities to present my papers for wider audiences in various conferences and seminars. Prof. von Bonsdorff was a member of this team, and it was her who invited me to join the group. My opponent, Prof. Yuriko Saito, was also a member of the group. Al- though we only met two times over the course of the project, her comments and attitude were an inspiration for my thinking. It is partly her example that en- couraged me to follow my instinct when facing harsh criticism. Also, her review comments opened my eyes to themes I had not realised were already present in my writing. The comments of my other reviewer, Anne Aurasmaa, Ph.D., were also most inspiring. Both reviewers made me feel proud of my work. There is a swarm of doctoral students that I have met, talked, and worked with during these years, and many of those encounters and cooperations have been important and deeply meaningful. I would also like to thank all those students at the University of Jyväskylä who have participated on the courses I have taught there. The work you put into your papers and the enthusiastic dis- cussions we had during lectures not only helped you to get your degrees but 6 also became a crucial part of this thesis, as you will discover when reading the pages that follow. I am proud of your work and you should be too. For those who held the fort through all this, my father and my brothers, my dear friends Minna, Marjo, Eija, Anu, Pasi and Sari, and my love, Taneli, you have all done much more than you may think. When things got tough, you gave me strength. Also, my mother, who died before her time, and my father taught me how to think for myself and to value thought and knowledge. With- out them I would not have the mind I now have. The long conversations with my father ever since my childhood have been invaluable. This dissertation is a result of the environment in which I was raised. Most of all I am indebted to my partner in life, Taneli. Without his words of love and encouragement and his belief in my abilities, I am afraid I might have given up on this. And to Alex, I never knew how much I would learnt from you. 7 CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………... 5 CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………………… 7 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………... 11 1.1 Intersubjectivity and the Lifeworld…………………………………… 15 1.2 Presence………………………………………………………………….. 20 1.3 Methodology I: Descriptive Aesthetics……………………………….. 22 1.4 Methodology II: Embodiment…………………………………………. 29 1.5 The Museum-goer and the Environment as Habitat………………... 35 1.6. Garden as an Analogy………………………………………………….. 37 2 MUSEUM AS A PHENOMENON…………………………………………... 43 2.1 From Object to ………………………………………………………….. 47 2.2 The Authenticity of an Experience and the Two Princely Palaces…. 53 2.3 Museums and Rituals…………………………………………………... 72 2.4 Museum Exhibitions as Ritual Routes – Some Examples…………... 80 2.5 Rethinking Museums as Ritual Sites………………………………….. 89 2.6 The Garden as an Analogy for Exhibitions as Ritual Sites………... 101 3 PRODUCING PRESENCE – LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR A PATH BETWEEN WORLDS……………………………………….. 109 3.1 The Role and Importance of Haptic Visuality…………………….... 118 3.2 Touch and the Museum Ritual……………………………………….. 124 3.3 Engagement and Scarcity of the Tactile……………………………... 131 3.4 The Peripheral, Genius Loci and the Thickness of Place………….. 139 3.5 The Earth as Path……………………………………………………… 149 3.6 Walking in the Medieval Earth – The Floor of the Museum of Medieval Stockholm…………………………………………………... 159 3.7 On Board – The Floors of Vasa Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum………………………………………………… 167 3.6 Creating the Thickness of a Place……………………………………. 174 4 COMING INTO THE PRESENCE OF THINGS………………………….. 185 4.1 Depth and Presence…………………………………………………… 191 4.2 Presence of the Absent………………………………………………... 196 4.3 Entrances to Other Worlds………………………………………….... 203 4.4 Descents, Ascents, and Thresholds………………………………….. 217 8 The Bridge over to the Savannah in The Natural History Museum, Helsinki……………………………………………………... 230 The Story of Bones at The

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