Summative Evaluation of Exhibition Featuring Art from China after 1989 at the Guggenheim
Client: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | Location: New York, NY | Funding: National Endowment for the Humanities
We explored the extent to which visitors broadened their perspective on art from China after visiting an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
OVERVIEW
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum contracted us to evaluate the exhibition Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. The exhibition included works from 71 artists and groups active across China and worldwide who are defining contemporary Chinese experiences in broad, universal terms.
APPROACH
The goal of the evaluation was to explore the meaning visitors construct from their exhibition experience. And, given the museum’s global, cultural lens, the evaluation also explored whether the exhibition helped visitors broaden their perspective on art from China.
We conducted in-depth interviews with visitors to the exhibition, which were purposely open-ended to uncover visitors’ unique experiences in the exhibition.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
The exhibition Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World provided a stimulating experience for visitors that was rich and highly individualized. In describing their experiences in the exhibition, visitors recalled an incredible variety of works of art made by many artists. The variety of works of art in the exhibition seemed to offer entry points for every visitor—be it through the visual intrigue, intellectual stimulation, or both.
One specific goal for the exhibition was to broaden visitors’ perspectives of art and China, which this exhibition very much did. For some visitors, the exhibition served as a primer to begin to think about art and China. For others, the exhibition “opened a sort of curiosity.” And, of those visitors who had distinct interests in China and this exhibition, it further “problematized” the area and generated new questions for them. Positively, the primary idea visitors took away from the exhibition was the complexity of China between 1989 and 2008, which was notably absent of judgment.
