Evaluating the reception of an exhibition: DeTermination at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of an exhibition on visitors’ thinking process. Applying Greiman’s model, we used the exhibition DeTermination by the artist Daniel Pešta at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague and explored the exhibition as a story. The model is used as a tool to better understand the thinking process of the visitor stimulated by the exhibition. Qualitative research approach was used. In order to capture a message of the exhibition, interviews with exhibition creators were conducted and afterward interviews with exhibition visitors. This article summarizes the creative methodology created by the authors, followed by a discourse analysis. The study asks questions like: what is the place of mediation in contemporary art? What is the impact of an exhibition on visitors´ thinking process?

Keywords

• museum
• narratology
• mediation
• artist