Dear Christian,

Regarding your comment:

<<<For all people promoting such an idea I would just suggest: Visit
incognito an exhibition of any kind (art or other), listen to the
visitors and their remarks. I do this as often as I can. You will be
surprised... It very, very often starts with nonsense, wrong object
identification, goes to false historical remarks, and ends in wrong
connections to present and future. >>>>

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but it appears that you are blaming the
visitor for misunderstanding displays. Surely, if visitors are
consistently getting it "wrong", it is more likely to be the fault of
the curators and interpreters for not communicating effectively and
helping visitors make the connections they intended?

Regarding the wider point of your posting, I think it boils down to
authorship: visitors have the right to know whose perspective they are
reading (even if it is the "default" curatorial one). If it is clear
whether something is a "curatorial" perspective, a "community"
perspective or other, I can't see a problem: visitors can make up their
own minds. Indeed when different perspectives on an object are shown,
and these are clearly attributed, it can lead to a fascinating display.
I've seen examples where different curators, from different backgrounds,
have all contributed to object interpretation for the same exhibition,
along with artists and community members. I thought it was very
effective.


Best Regards

Ms Regan Forrest
Senior Consultant (Interpretation)
Haley Sharpe Design
Leicester, UK

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