Summative Evaluation of an Exhibition on the Legacy of Colonialism at the Penn Museum
Client: Penn Museum | Location: Philadelphia, PA | Funding: Institute of Museum and Library Services
We conducted a summative evaluation of the Penn Museum’s renovated Africa Galleries, the museum’s first endeavor to directly engage visitors in a dialogue about the legacy of colonialism that museums around the world are wrestling with today.
OVERVIEW
The Africa Galleries explore the colonial provenance of the Penn Museum’s Africa collections and juxtapose contemporary artworks alongside historical artifacts with an aim to spark conversation about the representation of African art and artifacts in Western museums. This approach to gallery reinterpretation is the first of its kind at the museum.
We conducted a summative evaluation of the Penn Museum’s Africa Galleries to understand how visitors make meaning of the reinstallation; results were used to inform future gallery reinstallations in other parts of the museum.
APPROACH
We designed an evaluation that examined visitors’ overall experience of the Africa Galleries and focused on two areas of interest—the Benin Represented in the African Diaspora gallery and the Object Journey interactive multimedia exhibit–since both of those areas were radical departures from the museum’s usual interpretation and were key areas meant to support visitors’ understanding of issues around colonialism and provenance.
Utilizing qualitative research methods, we conducted in-depth interviews with visitors as they exited the galleries as well as cued observations and interviews to gauge visitors’ understanding and use of select exhibit content and experiences.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
We found that the Africa Galleries’ overall design and the transparency in the interpretive text successfully conveyed intended messages and prompted visitors to reflect on the provenance of museum Africa collections rooted in colonialism. These results helped inform the Penn Museum’s planning of future gallery reinstallations and programs.
Our study also identified opportunities for the Penn Museum to position itself as a forum to engage visitors in a dialogue about the legacy of slavery and colonialism.
