Dani's Day 21 Reflections

July 5th, 2016

Journaling

10am- 11am

I updated my journal from home.

Deeper Art Splash Observations

12pm- 3:30pm

General:

I saw few children and families of color in the museum. All of the books in the nook have been changed to children's books and are all related to Africa. 

Look Again:

Quotes
- "Look at the different poses. Some are sitting and some are standing." (Parent to child about Power Figures)
- "What do you think these figures are? Why do you think there are nails in there? How would you stand to look powerful? Can you imagine waking up to something like this in the house? Yuck!" (Parent to children about Power Figures)
- "These kind of look like elephants. Elephant people!" (Parent to child about Reliquary Figures)
- "It's kind of scary." (Parent to child about Power Figures)

Observations
- Parents reading prompts to kids. Parents who enter the exhibit reading the prompts to the kids usually stop halfway through the gallery because few children seem interested in the prompts.
- Parents are choosing specific objects to show children instead of bringing them to every object. They're pointing out specific features, leaning in and motioning with their figures.
- Parents are allowing children to play with the activities in the space while they take time to look at the artifacts on their own.
- Families sometimes do the activities together, mainly the puzzle and the cloth pattern activities.
- Parents translate the objects to the kids and explain what they're looking at.
- I saw a parent do the Power Figure activity with her children. As a family, they were striking "powerful poses."
- The Look Again exhibit is still under-visited.
- Children misuse the interactive table.
- There's only one context card in this exhibit. It contains supplementary material about the Power Bundles.
- Children seem to enjoy the Reliquary Figure puzzle the most out of all the activities.
- One of the security guards has been instructed to count how many people visit the exhibit.
- Parents' behavior and ability to engage with the artifacts and prompts largely depends on the behavior and desires of their children.
- Many times, I saw parents rush through the exhibit with their kids and go straight to the Reliquary Figures and leave.
- I heard a few parents decide to leave the exhibit to go do the larger Art Splash activity and come back to the exhibit if they had time left.
- I saw a parent come into the exhibit with their kid after finishing their mask and hold it up to the Reliquary Figures in the back.

Photography:

Observations
- There are a lot more contextual cards in this exhibit than the Look Again exhibit. These context cards explain facts about photography and/or the artists.
- Children are playing around in the open space of the gallery.
- Children are given the option to draw a place they've been or want to go.
- Individual adults visit this gallery more than families/children.

Vlisco:

Quotes
-"That one looks the most western, like something you'd see walking down the street. What do you think this one means? What's your favorite?" (Parent to child)

Observations
- Children and families are instructed to locate the patterns and images on a card on the textiles around the room.
- Children are trying to touch the dresses in the center of the room. The security guard keeps having to tell them to stop.
- There are many context cards in this room.
- No one seems to be engaging with the larger activity posts in the room.
- Children tend to run in and out of the gallery because of how close it is to the larger Art Splash activity in the lobby.
- Child brings mom to look at specific dresses.
- Parent lingers by some dresses while their children run around.
- Children are using their parents' phones to take pictures of the dresses, while the parents reads.

Kéré:

Observations
- Someone from the Education Department was giving a small group of adults a tour of the features in the exhibit. They explain that there is something to touch at each island and that the larger hanging screen area was purposely modeled in the style of a classroom. This was interesting to me because of the Education team's insistence on not wanting people to "learn."
- A security guard is counting how many people visit this exhibit as well.
- A child was lying down and watching the screen on the ceiling with their parent. The mothers says, "What do you see?"
- A child is running around and playing with the chairs in the room.
- Most children  struggle to sit still and watch the videos.

Meeting with Evaluation Team

4pm

- 1,892 people in Look Again on opening Sunday
- We're instructed to focus on the self-touring groups
- We should go on a tour
- Make note of when self-touring groups interact with mediated tours
- During timing and tracking, take note of kids' ages, number of children and number of adults