Talking events: How social interaction and discourse shape cultural participation, aesthetic evaluation, and meaning-making

Abstract

Abstract This paper uses the case of “talking events” – i.e., exhibition openings and talks by artists – to examine how cultural experiences are interactional accomplishments. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork in Accra, Ghana, and Johannesburg, South Africa, the paper demonstrates the role of interaction and discourse in art galleries and museums in three ways: First, talking events encourage engagement with art spaces by promoting the practice of sociability, and temporarily subverting social and physical barriers to entry. Second, at talking events, the reactions of other viewers mediate individual evaluations of art, by drawing attention to aesthetic details, and by presenting alternative perspectives of the exhibited artworks. Thirdly, talking events reveal the backstory of the exhibition, which provides another layer of understanding, beyond the initial, intuitive experience. Notably, talking events render the symbolic boundary between lay viewers and art professionals more permeable, as lay viewers act as “inadvertent critics” who evaluate and interpret artworks together with cultural experts.