Exploring, Engaging, Understanding in Museums

Jean Wineman, John Peponis, Ruth Dalton

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Patterns of accessibility through the space of the exhibition, connections or separations among spaces or exhibition elements, sequencing and grouping of elements, form our perceptions and shape our understanding. Through a review of several previous studies and the presentation of new work, this paper suggests that these patterns of movement form the basis of visitor understanding and that these effects can be deliberately controlled and elaborated through a closer examination of the influence of the visual and perceptual properties of an exhibition. Furthermore, it is argued that there is also a spatial discourse based on patterns of access and visibility that flows in its own right, although not entirely separate from the curatorial narrative.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSpace Syntax and Spatial Cognition Workshop: Spatial Cognition '06
EditorsChristoph Hoelscher, Ruth Conroy Dalton, Alasdair Turner
Place of PublicationBremen
PublisherUniversität Bremen
Pages33 - 51
ISBN (Print)978-3-88722-691-7
Publication statusPublished - 2006
EventSpace Syntax and Spatial Cognition Workshop: Spatial Cognition '06 -
Duration: 1 Jan 2006 → …

Publication series

NameMonograph Series of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center
PublisherUniversität Bremen

Conference

ConferenceSpace Syntax and Spatial Cognition Workshop: Spatial Cognition '06
Period1/01/06 → …

Keywords

  • museum
  • spatial layout
  • visitor movement
  • visibility

Cite this