Christopher Whitehead

The Consumption of Contemporary Visual Art: Identity Formation in Late Adulthood.

This paper examines the responses of older people to the British Art Show 6, which is an exhibition of recent developments in contemporary visual art in the UK. One group of respondents attended two “meet the artist talks” and a second group attended an artist-led workshop where they produced work that had been stimulated by the exhibition. The focus groups that resulted were analysed using theoretical frameworks related to identity construction. The analysis demonstrated that respondents were using the resources of the exhibition to construct identity positions in response to their social contexts. However, their ability to do this was governed by how the relationship between agency and structure played out for individuals in their engagement with contemporary visual art. It is suggested that wellbeing originates from the control such a process might give individuals over their social environment.

How cultural capital, habitus and class influence the responses of older adults to the field of contemporary visual art §

Highlights • We explore the responses of 38 older people to contemporary visual art.• We interpreted the results using Bourdieus cultural capital, habitus and field.• Those who could not recognise the field created their own meanings.• Group dynamics and class mobility helped to determine responses.• Participants also used the experience to respond to age associated deficits.

Contemporary visual art and the construction of identity: maintenance and revision processes in older adults

This article explores how older visitors use meanings created through encounters with contemporary visual art in art galleries for identity maintenance and revision processes. The analysis is based on the results of a 28-month study of the responses of older people to contemporary visual art in art galleries in north-east England, UK. The identity processes used in this study are those defined as maintenance and revision as understood by Kroger (2002) Identity processes and contents through the years of late adulthood. Identity, 2, (1), 81-99, Kroger and Adair (2008) Symbolic meanings of valued personal objects in identity transitions of late adulthood. Identity, 8, (1), 5-24. and Marcia (2002) Identity and psychosocial development in adulthood. Identity, 2, (1), 7-28. Respondents who did not have an existing identity-defining commitment towards art and who had less ability to decode the art works used the art to make symbolic links to aspects of their identity. The meanings created were then used to help satisfy current identity needs. In contrast, those with an existing commitment to art used the experience of the visits to deepen their current knowledge. Engaging with contemporary visual art facilitated identity processes that contributed to participants’ well-being. This study contributes to studies on identity by exploring how content and identity processes interact and provides new perspectives on the role of art in identity formation for older people. It also has significance for museum, gallery and heritage policy and practice.

Protest, Bodies, and the Grounds of Memory: Taksim Square as ‘heritage site’ and the 2013 Gezi Protests

Abstract This paper examines heritage representations within the 2013 “Gezi” protests in Turkey, focusing on the contest over the historical, social, and political significance of Gezi Park in Taksim, Istanbul. Gezi Park is a multi-layered urban space, once associated with the Armenian community, then with the Ottoman military and finally, from the 1930s, with the modernist urbanism of the secular Republic. Prior to the protests, the conservative Islamist administration planned to erase and refashion Gezi Park as a site of neo-Ottoman nostalgia. While the protests were associated with ecological and civil society concerns, the contest between protestors and state actors was also characterized by competing mobilizations of histories and notions of legitimate heritage over a range of representational sites and forms, from political speeches to protestors’ performances. Combining an analysis of these representations with interview data we explore Taksim-Gezi as a site of “ground memories” that are selectively articulated and strategically renewed by different groups. The state attempt to erase and remake place in a specific historical image was countered by peoples diverse mnemonic and socio-ideological relations to place histories, that became repertories for reaction. We argue that civil crises like protests may help us to understand and problematize the spatio-temporal, multi-relational articulations of heritage, and, vice versa, a view through heritage and memory opens critical exposures of socio-political conflict.

Aesthetic Otherness, Authenticity and the Roads to Museological Appropriation: Henry Cole's Travel Writing and the Making of the Victoria and Albert Museum

This paper examines the travels and travel writing of Henry Cole in the 1850s and considers their importance for the early development of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Coles travel writing is contextualised both within his career and within the development of practices of art history. Coles travels in continental Europe supplied him with objects for the V&A collection and ideas which subsequently influenced the institutional and architectural development of the museum. Coles travel journals provided an outlet for reflection on issues relating to heritage and museology and enabled him to frame complex and paradoxical views of foreignness: for example, Cole revered the historical material culture of Italy, but viewed its contemporary condition as degenerate. It is argued that these views provided premises for the V&As appropriation of historical foreign material culture. The paper concludes with a brief account of the relationships between travel and the museum; it considers museum interiors in which foreign, historical contexts are recreated, and explores the notion of the museum visit as surrogate or compressed travel.

Walkthrough research: methodological potentials for head-mounted cameras as reflexive tools in museum contexts

This study investigates the potential of head-mounted video cameras as a technique for understanding human experience in museums. Goals of the research are to avoid over-determination of experience, instead providing digital tools for reflection and understanding. The work uses a head-mounted video camera, an interview, and a set of simple image processing techniques to explore methods for understanding relationships between people, objects, and museum spaces.