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Master's thesis presentation for the University of Lugano's program in cultural media. Details results of two studies about reception of Tibetan art in Western museums. These include: 1) An ethnographic study of visitors to 14 Dalai Lamas exhibition in Zurich; 2) Social tagging study of young Tibetans in Switzerland
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Seeing Identities:Visitors, Viewers,
Communities and Tibetan Art
TEC-CH programSeptember 28, 2007
University of LuganoMaster’s thesis
Shelley Ann Mannion
Addition and SubtractionBenchung, 2006http://www.rossirossi.com/artists/2.html
Museum display of Tibetan art
Two empirical research projectsWestern and Tibetan responses to exhibition
Social tagging by Tibetans in Switzerland
Main findings: “seeing identities”1. Museum visitors are culturally diverse
2. Museum visit articulates identity
3. Identity determines what is seen
4. Viewing is a complex process for Tibetans
5. Tibetan images evoke diverse responses
Why is this work important?
Growing audience for Tibetan art140,000 Tibetans living outside Tibet
Increased Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism
Role of Western museumsInheritors of cultural treasures
Can support cultural transmission
Museums as Contact Zones (Clifford 1997)
Research questions
1. Perceptions of Tibetan art
2. Visitor reception in ethnographic museums
3. Museums and the Tibetan community
Research design: mixed methods
Phase 2: Social taggingPhase 1: Museum exhibition
Statistical analysis, interpretation with two original modelsTranscription and narrative analysis
Tag collection, demographic survey, ethnographic fieldworkEthnographic interviews, observation
23 Tibetans and Swiss Tibetans36 Western and Tibetan visitors
Social tagging experiment with 6 works of Tibetan artVisitor study 14 Dalai Lamas exhibition
14 Dalai Lamas in Zurich
The exhibitionAugust 2005 – April 200617,000 visitorsInstitution of Dalai Lamas
Theoretical modelsUser/Visitor Model (Tota)Encoding and decoding (Hall 1980)Perfomativity (Butler 1990)Museum as cultural ecology (Bell 2002)
How were visitors conceived?
Similar to the curator
Intellectually oriented
Sufficient background
Educational/visual agenda
Quiet, solitary visitors
Media: printed catalogue and audio guide
Printed catalogue Audio guide
Photo alcove
Visitor response:Itineraries of identity
Sites of shared interestLifestyle connection1) General interest
Means to increase knowledge
Proud of being experts4) Intellectual experts
How artworks conceived
Way identity expressed
Itinerary
Sites of cultural transmission
Sacred objects
Reminders of travel experience
Attempt to preserve cultural knowledge
5) Tibetans
Articulation of Buddhist faith
3) Buddhist experts
Imagined citizenship through travel
2) Emotionally connected
Obstacles to visitors’ itineraries
Attitudes
Media
Social & physical
Tibetan attitudes
‘Westerners know more than us’
‘Western display is inauthentic’
Interpretive media
“Vehicle” integrated into perception
Audio guide & catalogueCreated artificial art/culture split (Samis 2007)
Did not allow personalization (Martinez 1992)
Photo alcovePhotographs “irrepressible” (Edwards 2001)
Open to personalization
Seeing Tibetan art through social tags
MethodologyCorroborate and complement (Brannen 2005)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Trant 2006)
Unique focus on perception
PopulationTibetans in Switzerland
Young (19-40 years old)
1st, 2nd, 3rd generation
Tashi Lhazomfrom Kham, East Tibet
Tagging venues
Selected artworks
Tagging interface
Customized steve platform
www.seeingtibetanart.org
Collected tags
440 valid tags (387 unique)
German, English, Tibetan
Tag volume influenced by:
Venue/Session length
Generation
Curators versus taggers
Confirm Met Museum testsTranslation competence of 2nd generation
Chenresig
Dalai Lama
female deity/goddess
compassion
multi-tasking
Tag volume by image
Total valid tags by image
66
70
70
71
77
86
Chakrasamvara
Wheel of Life
Shri Devi
Avalokitesvara
Padmasambhava
Brief History
Brief History of Tibet(Tenzing Rigdol, 2003)
Correct identification
3 levels of recognitionSymbolicFamiliar Unknown
Wheel of Life(Eastern Tibet, 1700 – 1799)
Correct identification by image
2
3
5
6
14
Chakrasamvara
Shri Devi
Avalokitesvara
Padmasambhava
Wheel of Life
Word type classification
hand, horse, man, flowerNoun
scary, pretty, colorfulAdjective
equality, fertility, heaven, horrorFeeling or concept
watches over, protectsVerb or action
deity, buddhaBuddhist noun
compassion, enlightenmentBuddhist concept
Avalokitesvara (Tibetan or Sanskrit term)Proper name
ExampleWord type
Semantic analysis
Counts multiple words
Word types by image
Word types by image
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Wheel of Life
Shri Devi
Chakrasamvara
Avalokitesvara
Brief History
Padmasambhava
Proper nameBuddhist conceptBuddhist nounVerb or actionFeeling or conceptAdjectiveNoun
Word type conclusions
Confirms 3 levels of recognition
Mitigated by aesthetic qualities
(Padmasambhava)
Culturally-defined language for
symbolic and familiar works
PadmasambhavaTibet, 1800 - 1899
ExampleDefinitionType
Never seen image like thisI don’t knowWhat is this?
General commentNon tag
goodoldvaluableauthenticreal
No connection or extremely weak connection with artwork
Non specific
Father-Motheryab-yumWang (Empowerment)KalachakraMeditationTantra
Culturally or intellectually defined response
Objective
beautiful colorssilky materialBuddha watches over usfertilityconnection/unionsubjugationframework
Personal or emotional responseSubjective
Engagement classification
Data derived
Uses groups of tags
No value judgement
Engagement by image
Engagement tag types by image
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Wheel of Life
Avalokitesvara
Chakrasamvara
Padmasambhava
Shri Devi
Brief History
SubjectiveObjectiveNonspecificNontag
Factors influencing engagement
Cultural interest in art and architectureLevel of educationNumber of museums visited
Average tags per user by cultural interest
14.2
19.0 17.8
29.6
10.5 10.813.2
25.6
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
Music anddance
History andexile
Religion(Buddhism)
Art andarchitecture
Num
ber o
f tag
s
Valid tagsEngaged tags
Folk dancersBülach, July 2007
Engagement conclusions
Taggers have distinctive orientations
Different kinds of engagement
Symbolic = objective engagement (stock phrases)
Unknown/contemporary = subjective engagement
(personalization)
Personal identity influences engagement
Primary insights of this research
1. Complexities on the Tibetan side of the Contact Zone
Challenge maintaining culture in exile
Self-deprecating attitudes
Translation competence of 2nd generation
How different images engage viewers
TsewangFlawil, Switzerland
Primary insights of this research
2. New conception of ethnographic museum visitors
Culturally diverse
Perform identity
Highly active, but constrained by ecology
Visit linked to travel experiences
Primary insights of this research
3. Insights for effective interpretation
Enlarging spaces through open texts
Balanced use of media
Primary insights of this research
4. Success of mixed methods research
Qualitative and quantitative data
Social tagging and perception
Thank you to…
All the participantsDekyi, Kyimo, Tenzin KüsangThupten, Tashi Lhazom
My advisorsProf. Anna Lisa TotaHelen AbbottSusan Chun
SponsorsRubin FoundationRubin Museum of Art