This document discusses interpreting culture in museums and focuses on three key points: 1. Bourdieu and Darbel argue that visitors need "cultural capital" like knowledge of art history and context to fully engage with works, otherwise they may feel overwhelmed. 2. Beverley Serrell's approach is to have a clear "big idea" for each exhibition that relates to all the labels and allows visitors to understand the overall theme. 3. Success criteria for exhibitions should be identified, such as whether visitors can articulate the "big idea" and feel it has meaning, in order to evaluate success.

1. Interpreting Cultures
Visitors, ‘cultivation’ and labels
Week 3

2. Aims:
• Identify key argument in Bourdieu and Darbel’s
chapter
• Ask: ‘what does this mean for interpretation?’
• Discuss Serrell’s approach to interpretative
labeling
• Apply this to your exhibitions – What is your big
idea? How does the ‘big idea’ relate to each
label?
• Identify together success criteria for your
exhibitions. How will you know you’ve been
successful?

3. Pierre Boudieu and Alain Darbel (1991) The Love
of Art: European Art Museums and their Publics.
If it is indisputable that our society offers to
people the pure possibility of taking advantage
of the works on display in museums, it remains
the case that only some have the real possibility
of doing so.
(p. 37)

4. • Museums are for everyone (MA Code of
Ethics)
• Open, free, for all
• For everyone, forever

5. Visits to museums

6. Key arguments:
• Cultural capital – ‘cultivation’
Knowledge (aesthetic engagement is knowledge p.
40), context, engagement at level of signifier, longer
engagement (dwell time, p. 38).
• Without cultural capital
Overwhelmed, shorter engagement – only way in
‘skill’ and experience, engagement at level of
signified (p. 40).
• If schools fail to provide this cultivation, then it is
left to families and this perpetuates inequality.

7. When the code of a work exceeds to code of the
spectator in it sophistication and complexity, the
latter cannot master a message which seems to
him devoid of necessity. (p. 43)

8. Those who did not receive the instruments
which imply familiarity with art from their family
or from their schooling are condemned to a
perception of a work of art which takes its
categories from the experience of everyday life
and which results in the basic recognition of the
object depicted. (p. 44)

9. ACORN

10. Office of National Statistics (NS-SEC)
Family unit, job,
income.

11. Big data, complex
classification, mix
income, job,
property,
shopping habits,
cultural habits

13. http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/infographic-income-inequality-uk

14. What do Bourdieu and Darbel’s arguments
mean for ‘interpretation’ in art galleries?

15. Beverley Serrell
•
•
•
•
‘Big Idea’
Fundamentally meaningful – have ‘soul’
All parts (labels) help communicate big idea
You know this works because - visitors can say
what the exhibition is about

16. What is your big idea?
Soul and fundamental meaningfulness
Not trivial
Clear not necessarily simple
Will visitors be able to say – this is what the
exhibition is about?

17. Interpretative Labels
‘What’s in it for me? Why should I care? How
will knowing this improve my life?’
Principles:
Start with visual concrete information – what
can visitors see. Work from specific to general.
Subject sentence – cast of characters
Verbs – what they do…

18. Success criteria
• (and how will we know…)