Abstract
Human activity has globally affected the earth's climate and ecosystems. The museum sector has agency in representing topics of societal significance and climate change. The experiment presented here, took place at a history museum in order to re-work human subject positions in the museum. The method of object theatre with a departure in an ecocritical perspective was evaluated. The result shows that the method might retain a colonial perspective towards animals and nature. Still, the method brings a change in who is the subject in the story, a possible shift in perspective and an incentive to care and act. The participants talks about the experience of a less abstract relationship to the object's origin and life cycle and a curiosity or a discovery of a knowledge gap. The method can be used to bring a greater attention to the needs of nonhumans in collaborative and participatory design processes.
Keywords
Object theatre, Participatory design, Ecocritical, Climate change, Antropocene, Exhibitions, Museum
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.52
Citation
Schaeffer, J.(2023) Ecocritical experimentation with object theatre at a museum, in Holmlid, S., Rodrigues, V., Westin, C., Krogh, P. G., Mäkelä, M., Svanaes, D., Wikberg-Nilsson, Å (eds.), Nordes 2023: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, 12-14 June, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.52
Conference Track
exploratorypapers
Ecocritical experimentation with object theatre at a museum
Human activity has globally affected the earth's climate and ecosystems. The museum sector has agency in representing topics of societal significance and climate change. The experiment presented here, took place at a history museum in order to re-work human subject positions in the museum. The method of object theatre with a departure in an ecocritical perspective was evaluated. The result shows that the method might retain a colonial perspective towards animals and nature. Still, the method brings a change in who is the subject in the story, a possible shift in perspective and an incentive to care and act. The participants talks about the experience of a less abstract relationship to the object's origin and life cycle and a curiosity or a discovery of a knowledge gap. The method can be used to bring a greater attention to the needs of nonhumans in collaborative and participatory design processes.