Seeing Identities:Visitors, Viewers,

Communities and Tibetan Art

TEC-CH programSeptember 28, 2007

University of LuganoMaster’s thesis

Shelley Ann Mannion

Addition and SubtractionBenchung, 2006http://www.rossirossi.com/artists/2.html

Museum display of Tibetan art

Two empirical research projectsWestern and Tibetan responses to exhibition

Social tagging by Tibetans in Switzerland

Main findings: “seeing identities”1. Museum visitors are culturally diverse

2. Museum visit articulates identity

3. Identity determines what is seen

4. Viewing is a complex process for Tibetans

5. Tibetan images evoke diverse responses

Why is this work important?

Growing audience for Tibetan art140,000 Tibetans living outside Tibet

Increased Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism

Role of Western museumsInheritors of cultural treasures

Can support cultural transmission

Museums as Contact Zones (Clifford 1997)

Research questions

1. Perceptions of Tibetan art

2. Visitor reception in ethnographic museums

3. Museums and the Tibetan community

Research design: mixed methods

Phase 2: Social taggingPhase 1: Museum exhibition

Statistical analysis, interpretation with two original modelsTranscription and narrative analysis

Tag collection, demographic survey, ethnographic fieldworkEthnographic interviews, observation

23 Tibetans and Swiss Tibetans36 Western and Tibetan visitors

Social tagging experiment with 6 works of Tibetan artVisitor study 14 Dalai Lamas exhibition

14 Dalai Lamas in Zurich

The exhibitionAugust 2005 – April 200617,000 visitorsInstitution of Dalai Lamas

Theoretical modelsUser/Visitor Model (Tota)Encoding and decoding (Hall 1980)Perfomativity (Butler 1990)Museum as cultural ecology (Bell 2002)

How were visitors conceived?

Similar to the curator

Intellectually oriented

Sufficient background

Educational/visual agenda

Quiet, solitary visitors

Media: printed catalogue and audio guide

Printed catalogue Audio guide

Photo alcove

Visitor response:Itineraries of identity

Sites of shared interestLifestyle connection1) General interest

Means to increase knowledge

Proud of being experts4) Intellectual experts

How artworks conceived

Way identity expressed

Itinerary

Sites of cultural transmission

Sacred objects

Reminders of travel experience

Attempt to preserve cultural knowledge

5) Tibetans

Articulation of Buddhist faith

3) Buddhist experts

Imagined citizenship through travel

2) Emotionally connected

Obstacles to visitors’ itineraries

Attitudes

Media

Social & physical

Tibetan attitudes

‘Westerners know more than us’

‘Western display is inauthentic’

Interpretive media

“Vehicle” integrated into perception

Audio guide & catalogueCreated artificial art/culture split (Samis 2007)

Did not allow personalization (Martinez 1992)

Photo alcovePhotographs “irrepressible” (Edwards 2001)

Open to personalization

Seeing Tibetan art through social tags

MethodologyCorroborate and complement (Brannen 2005)

Metropolitan Museum of Art (Trant 2006)

Unique focus on perception

PopulationTibetans in Switzerland

Young (19-40 years old)

1st, 2nd, 3rd generation

Tashi Lhazomfrom Kham, East Tibet

Tagging venues

Selected artworks

Tagging interface

Customized steve platform

www.seeingtibetanart.org

Collected tags

440 valid tags (387 unique)

German, English, Tibetan

Tag volume influenced by:

Venue/Session length

Generation

Curators versus taggers

Confirm Met Museum testsTranslation competence of 2nd generation

Chenresig

Dalai Lama

female deity/goddess

compassion

multi-tasking

Tag volume by image

Total valid tags by image

66

70

70

71

77

86

Chakrasamvara

Wheel of Life

Shri Devi

Avalokitesvara

Padmasambhava

Brief History

Brief History of Tibet(Tenzing Rigdol, 2003)

Correct identification

3 levels of recognitionSymbolicFamiliar Unknown

Wheel of Life(Eastern Tibet, 1700 – 1799)

Correct identification by image

2

3

5

6

14

Chakrasamvara

Shri Devi

Avalokitesvara

Padmasambhava

Wheel of Life

Word type classification

hand, horse, man, flowerNoun

scary, pretty, colorfulAdjective

equality, fertility, heaven, horrorFeeling or concept

watches over, protectsVerb or action

deity, buddhaBuddhist noun

compassion, enlightenmentBuddhist concept

Avalokitesvara (Tibetan or Sanskrit term)Proper name

ExampleWord type

Semantic analysis

Counts multiple words

Word types by image

Word types by image

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Wheel of Life

Shri Devi

Chakrasamvara

Avalokitesvara

Brief History

Padmasambhava

Proper nameBuddhist conceptBuddhist nounVerb or actionFeeling or conceptAdjectiveNoun

Word type conclusions

Confirms 3 levels of recognition

Mitigated by aesthetic qualities

(Padmasambhava)

Culturally-defined language for

symbolic and familiar works

PadmasambhavaTibet, 1800 - 1899

ExampleDefinitionType

Never seen image like thisI don’t knowWhat is this?

General commentNon tag

goodoldvaluableauthenticreal

No connection or extremely weak connection with artwork

Non specific

Father-Motheryab-yumWang (Empowerment)KalachakraMeditationTantra

Culturally or intellectually defined response

Objective

beautiful colorssilky materialBuddha watches over usfertilityconnection/unionsubjugationframework

Personal or emotional responseSubjective

Engagement classification

Data derived

Uses groups of tags

No value judgement

Engagement by image

Engagement tag types by image

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Wheel of Life

Avalokitesvara

Chakrasamvara

Padmasambhava

Shri Devi

Brief History

SubjectiveObjectiveNonspecificNontag

Factors influencing engagement

Cultural interest in art and architectureLevel of educationNumber of museums visited

Average tags per user by cultural interest

14.2

19.0 17.8

29.6

10.5 10.813.2

25.6

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

Music anddance

History andexile

Religion(Buddhism)

Art andarchitecture

Num

ber o

f tag

s

Valid tagsEngaged tags

Folk dancersBülach, July 2007

Engagement conclusions

Taggers have distinctive orientations

Different kinds of engagement

Symbolic = objective engagement (stock phrases)

Unknown/contemporary = subjective engagement

(personalization)

Personal identity influences engagement

Primary insights of this research

1. Complexities on the Tibetan side of the Contact Zone

Challenge maintaining culture in exile

Self-deprecating attitudes

Translation competence of 2nd generation

How different images engage viewers

TsewangFlawil, Switzerland

Primary insights of this research

2. New conception of ethnographic museum visitors

Culturally diverse

Perform identity

Highly active, but constrained by ecology

Visit linked to travel experiences

Primary insights of this research

3. Insights for effective interpretation

Enlarging spaces through open texts

Balanced use of media

Primary insights of this research

4. Success of mixed methods research

Qualitative and quantitative data

Social tagging and perception

Thank you to…

All the participantsDekyi, Kyimo, Tenzin KüsangThupten, Tashi Lhazom

My advisorsProf. Anna Lisa TotaHelen AbbottSusan Chun

SponsorsRubin FoundationRubin Museum of Art