Working Title:
Dressing the Museum: Curatorial Approaches to the Display of Clothing
Aims of research:
This current research, in its broader sense, aims to explore the response to and interaction of the museum’s audience with the curator’s approach to the display of clothing in the museum. This will involve a consideration of the museum’s curatorial approach to the emotional, intellectual, and cultural experience of the museum’s audience.
Central Research Question and Sub-research Questions:
How does the experience of the visitors to the museum respond to and interact with the curatorial approach to the display of clothing in the museum?
This central research question leads to a number of sub-research questions:
1. What is the curatorial approach to the display of clothing in the museum?
2. In what way, or ways, does the curatorial approach reflect a view of the museum’s culture?
3. To what extent does the display of clothing in the museum affect the experience of the audience emotionally, or challenge the audience intellectually, in terms of the underlying narrative and concept of the display?
Research argument:
Black (2005, p. 201) argues that the museum’s approach should “ensure that an exhibition finishes on a high note rather than fizzling out – we need our visitors to leave on an emotional and intellectual high, supportive of the work we are doing and ambassadors on our behalf to other potential visitors.”
Many researchers recognize that the objects on display in museums symbolise and reflect a people’s identity and culture. They also recognize that the experience of the museum’s audience is integral to the fulfilment of the museum’s objective. However, in the research literature there appears to be less attention given to how the visitors’ experience relates to the display of clothing in the museum. This leads to the central question needing to be explored: how does the experience of the visitors to the museum respond to and interact with the curatorial approach to the display of clothing in the museum?
Methodology: case study
Methods: mixed methods
quantitative and qualitative
quantitative:
surveys for high school student visitors
qualitative:
interview: open-ended interview with experts in clothing and antiquities
interview:open-ended interview with clothing curator at the museum
focus group: with the museum management
obsarvation
Also, could include
Abstract:
Significance of proposed research:
Research Context/Background:
bibliography
note:
I have ordered the literature review to be ready for Monday 27 April. The order number is (81416198). Please can you make the appropriate links between the review and this proposal.
