NARRATIVE SPACES

"Interactive wall" Te Papa Museum, Nya Zeeland, Photographer: Samuel Mann

”The world is made of stories, not atoms.”

Hi friends!
Today´s blog derives it´s theme from a conference I went to in Leicester two weeks ago labelled ”Narrative spaces”. As a starting point I am using a quote from American poet Muriel Rukeyser.

The Narrative doesn´t just exist in a piece of art but also inside ourselves. When meeting art we create our own narrative based on the impressions we get and the experiences we bring with us. The narrative is also affected by the room and time we exist in. Therefor the narrative space is more than just the piece of art and the viewer. The exhibition room, the museum and contemporary topics are also part of forming my narrative.

As a pedagogue I am looking for the challenge in finding methods which will trig these open processes giving space to the visitor to find their own narratives. As another key note speaker, Lee Skolnick, said when quoting Jerome Bruner;

”Good art embodies our story, it does not remind us of our story”

The issue for the pedagogue is to liberate each and every visitor´s narrative which lies embodied in a work of art or an exhibition. Thus art and the exhibition become part of a dialogue, a making of meaning which in its best moments will make me look upon the world with new eyes. Bruner stated that the narrative and the dialogue are important for the making of meaning. Learning involves the "construction" of meaning. There is no reality, truth, right or wrong existing in the world waiting to be discovered. Each person in conjunction with the communities in which they operate construct reality, truth, right and wrong. Therefor the narrative is part of a social process. I´ll finish with another quote from Bruner and Lee Skolnick;

”Narratives constitute reality”

Is it necessary to add that it was a good conference!