Arts, Professional and Social Studies

Reimagining the landscape of language used by museums: A critical analysis of two press releases as an example of how institutions are attempting to engage with new audiences and communities in order to open up a structural dialogue for change.

This book chapter discusses a period of research undertaken at Tate Liverpool's Tate Exchange in December 2017. Titled ‘Art, Activism and Language; Feminist Issues in Museums and Galleries’, the work considers how contemporary feminist art practices are developing new routes of institutional critique for and with collections of contemporary art. My argument here focuses on examining the politics of discourse – words, language, and tone of voice – used by museum collections in their texts and labels about works of art and how these can be transformed by demands to democratize their role in the museum as one of the ‘Places of Power’  in our society. The analysis includes collaborative reflection on poster and zine-making workshops to create a collaged manifesto entitled ‘How We Work Together’ and artworks made in response to an activity called ‘Imagine the Rules’. Crucially, this essay situates collections of contemporary art as opportunities for discursive activation; encouraging dissent or ‘artivism’ (Mouffe, 2013b Pp.69) through the legitimisation of alternative knowledges, and includes references to the work of bell hooks, Sara Ahmed and Bernadette Lynch.

It is understood that language is a powerful mediator of social hierarchy with great influence to emancipate, educate or exclude. Meanwhile, discourses centred on expertise, representation and authorship have re-emerged as priorities in collections of contemporary art due to pressures for them to be reinstated as dialogical resources. This is especially true for those where participatory practices are being challenged due to their failure to prioritise public discourse over dominant, institutional ones. Even after attempts to democratise collections via processes to co-write interpretation, they struggle to represent community co-authors ethically and transparently.

This thesis argues that language use and misrepresentation prevent publics from using collections of contemporary art and feeling like they belong in them. Using discourse theory and participatory action research, this study interrogates the processes used by collections to co-author the interpretation of artworks to create ‘equitable plurality’ and offers up a toolkit of arts-based practices to engender usership. Drawn from dialogic practices and qualitative research, the investigation examines the politics of discourse and plurality of speech – spoken and written – to contribute a unique focus on language generated and used by publics to create a common language. Undertaken with multiple communities of practice associated with Tate Liverpool’s collection ‘Constellations’, this research concludes in the production of a crowd-sourced digital resource titled The People’s Glossary. By revisiting and reinterpreting keywords with publics as a dialogic practice, this body of work contributes processes and research to embed plurality in collections of contemporary art.

Lucha Libre has played an important role in Mexican culture since the late 1950s. At its early stage, wrestling from the United States and the French “Catch as Catch Can” blended within popular Mexican culture absorbing its social, political and mythical idiosyncrasy evolving later into what it would be known as Lucha Libre. This sport has become famous mainly due to its masked wrestlers which embed their family traditions, beliefs and fears into the design of their masks, allowing them to transform a regular person into a fearless character.

The objective of this project is to analyse and present how the visual elements within the masks are created and how they evolve through time. Utilising several visual communication methods I have been able to explore the ideas and processes behind the characters creation and its evolution inside the Lucha Libre media. This has been done through the implementation of diverse technologies which enables any user to be submerged into the world of Lucha Libre and witness that experience. Through the next interactive exhibitions, this project offers a mixture of visualisation, technology and social theory, looking to understand the anthropological complexity behind the design of the masks inside the Lucha Libre world.

During Mesoamerican times, before the Spanish colonies,Mexican civilizations believed that when somebody died, their soul continued to live in a special place called Mictlán. The benevolent gods created this pleasant and peaceful ideal site, in which the souls waited to be called to go back to their former homes and visit their relatives on particular, traditionally defined, days. After the arrival of Catholicism the new customs were merged with the indigenous resulting in a mixture of Christian and Prehispanic customs and beliefs.

The ‘data deluge’ refers to the sheer speed and volume of new data generation, outrunning capacities to manage and make use of it. A vast amount of that data is shared online in the advent of cheap internet access and a change in the attitude of both businesses and consumers to online interaction [1]. New web technologies also change how we collect, store and transmit data. While the online information explosion has the potential to transform business, government, academia and everyday lives in positive ways, risks are posed by the huge increase in the volume of personal data on the Web. In particular, personal data is increasingly being collected online in the pursuit of commercial advantage and at the risk of forsaking individual privacy.

We consider the implications of the data deluge focusing on this problem of privacy using Philosophy, Marketing and Law. We use a philosophical theory of privacy as ‘information control’ to highlight the tension between different claims over personal data. Then disciplinary perspectives of Marketing and Law have been chosen for discussion as they exemplify different mechanisms for exerting information control in the interests of different stakeholders.

Lucha Libre has played an important role in Mexican culture since the late 1950s. At its early stage, wrestling from the United States and the French “Catch as Catch Can” blended within popular Mexican culture, absorbing its social, political and mythical idiosyncrasy evolving later into what it would be known as Lucha Libre. This sport has become famous mainly due to its masked wrestlers which embed their family traditions, beliefs and fears into the design of their masks, allowing them to transform a regular person into a fearless character.

The objective of this project is to analyze and present how the visual elements within the masks are created and how they evolve through time. Utilizing several visual communication methods I have been able to design an explanation of the characters creation and its evolution inside the Lucha Libre media. This has been done through the implementation of diverse technologies which enables any user to be submerged into the world of Lucha Libre and witness that experience.

Through the next interactive exhibitions, this project offers a mixture of visualization, technology and social theory, looking to understand the anthropological complexity behind the design of the masks inside the Lucha Libre world.

Data Visualization 01 - Poster 13.2 cm x 19.2 cm
In Mexican Wrestling there are bets in which wrestlers gamble their masks against other masks, hair or even careers. This data visualization poster displays these complex relationships between wrestlers, depicting who has won against who.

Data Visualization 02 // Fractal Bets - Poster 200 cm X 100 cm
In this case the Social Networking in Mexican Wrestling is presented. The information displayed covers the wrestlers who lost the masks, hair or beard and who did they lost it against. Using over 120 wrestlers recorded on a database, the information is displayed like fractals in which the winning character behaves as a main cell from where the rest of the elements expand, representing the defeated making an exponential division for each wrestler. The poster contains a grid to allow the viewer to locate faster a desired wrestler and find its coordinates.

Data Visualization 03 // Bets Moowheel (Digital)
This is an interactive interface developed with Moowheel, a JavaScript library licensed under an MIT-style license.

Flash based mosaic generated video output (Digital)
This interface uses any kind of video input which is recognized by a Flash interface, and then translated into a mosaic build from over 150 mask icons that act like pixels to generate a brand new image.

The Mask Spinner (Digital)
This interface was developed to define the main styles of wrestling masks. After defining the main styles, a basic image identity was developed for each one of the wrestlers presented.

Visual communication tools help to convey a message between two subjects or targets. The visual communication process is not limited only to typographical or static imagery. I believe there are several disciplines that can benefit from an interdisciplinary approach by blending visual communication methods. In this case Archaeology and Museum Studies.

This project presents the designer’s interpretation of an archaeological site in order to produce material for the case study. The installation involves several technological elements that complement each other to provide the best interpretation and enhance experimentation. Among other technologies, the installation utilizes Augmented Reality, 3D Modelling, Projection Mapping and 3D Printing to assist in the interpretation of the site.

The project will be using the site of Portus, Italy as the example for visualization and will focus exclusively on one of the warehouses. The methodology developed for this project will be transposable to almost any archaeological site. The project attempts also to generalize and standardize a process for the development of these types of installations and interfaces. As we progressively become more multi-skilled, the boundaries between industries become less visible and it is difficult to pre-plan when we require to bring other specialists into the field. The familiarization with these types of projects can motivate other industries to become more open to collaborative research.

I believe that one of the main obstacles hindering the implementation of this technology is usually monetary. For this reason this project has promoted the idea of utilizing ‘open source’ and accessible technologies in order to facilitate the distribution of content. I am attempting to produce a minimum cost project in which open source elements like the Flash Spark Library or the Arduino chipset play essential roles.

I think this will motivate other researchers to start introducing this technology and implementing it within more projects, thus promoting interdisciplinarity. This is a project that can be used for experimentation (Archaeologists) or presentation (Museums).

The communication process can take two forms. [1] Verbal communication will take place by using words, commonly evidenced on conversations between two individuals. Verbal communication is influenced by [2] non-verbal communication; this includes body language, gestures and visual aids, also known as paralanguage. In mass media communication one sender distributes a message to a wider audience (Janoschka, 2004: p. 87). Many means of mass media communication including radio, television and newspaper still follow the traditional method of sender, message and receiver. The Web has given birth to other dimensions of communication and merge traditional mass media communication services with the use of specific paralanguage. In Web 2.0, the receiver is no longer a passive actor in the communication process, but a more active receiver and empowered as a sender at the same time (Janoschka, 2004: p. 7). This paper explores political and technological perspectives that originated media regulation. It uses media studies as a pathway to understanding how information shapes society and psychology to understand behaviours of communication processes.

Day 1 (Tuesday, 4 @ 4:00-5:00 PM). Lucha Libre and its socio-cultural impact
As human beings we have been always hiding behind masks.
They do not have to be face masks; they do not have to be made of wood, silk or even iron. However, society encourages us to wear a mask in order to be accepted into it. Using a physical mask enables us to represent something that we are not, or possibly something that we really want to be, or even something that we truly are and we are not even aware of it. What if we decide to use these masks, not because we have to, but because we want to? What kind of person would you become? A super hero? A villain? Well, this is what wrestlers do. They create their own costumes, their own masks and impregnate on them all their memories, their culture, their history and their deepest hopes and dreams in order to be somebody in their world. The use of masks comes from ancient traditions in diverse cultures and the design of them represent the most important part of a character because through it, is communicated the essence of the character. My research focused on understanding the background and history of each mask design through an extensive analysis in order to achieve a wider knowledge of how graphical components play fundamental roles in the identity construction of a character.


As a Mexican graphic designer, my work is imbued with a mixture of cultures, colours and ideologies. The collection produced during this research is a combination of art and technology which encompasses the identity of my culture. The idea itself was to present Mexican Lucha Libre and its mask designs. There is an immense cult following Lucha Libre in countris such as Japan, the United States and Mexico. My work introduces the audience to the hidden world behind the wrestling mask and furthermore, opens doors to the Mexican Lucha Libre world.

Day 2 (Thursday, 6 @ 3:00-4:00 PM). Visualising behind the mask
Lucha Libre has played an important role in Mexican culture since the late 1950s. At its early stage, wrestling from the United States and the French “Catch as Catch Can” blended within popular Mexican culture absorbing its social, political and mythical idiosyncrasy evolving later into what it would be known as Lucha Libre. This sport has become famous mainly due to its masked wrestlers which embed their family traditions, beliefs and fears into the design of their masks, allowing them to transform a regular person into a fearless character.

The objective of this project is to analyse and present how the visual elements within the masks are created and how they evolve through time. Utilising several visual communication methods I have been able to explore the ideas and processes behind the characters creation and its evolution inside the Lucha Libre media. This has been done through the implementation of diverse technologies which enables any user to be submerged into the world of Lucha Libre and witness that experience. Through the next interactive exhibitions, this project offers a mixture of visualisation, technology and social theory, looking to understand the anthropological complexity behind the design of the masks inside the Lucha Libre world.

The Web has changed how museums interact with audiences. This phenomenon has not yet been completely understood due to the novelty of the Web and the use of many technologies that are continuously developed and implemented every day. Human Computer Interaction (HCI) combined with Museum Studies among others, can provide an interdisciplinary understanding of how users/visitors interact in the online museum (OM). Moreover, even though the application of new technologies represent big opportunities for the OM to engage with their audiences, it seems that there is a shortage of tools (and/or standards) to access collections from a wide variety of museums (Addis et al., 2005) and museum enthusiasts.

This research will address the different ways in which users can interact with online museums (OM) by studying new interaction technologies that can be applied through the Web. More specifically, on understanding how new interaction methods such as Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) can enhance engagement with the OM content. TUIs have been proven to facilitate interaction with computer applications especially with children and constructivist learning environments. Therefore TUIs present a positive environment where OM visitors can be empowered and motivated to engage with the content. By embedding interactivity and data to such embodied artefacts, new areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) have risen innovating interaction methods where many Cultural Heritage areas can benefit from. Meanwhile TUIs behave as the ergonomic element for digital interaction (Fitzmaurice et al., 1995), IoT objects provide the inter- connectivity (communication) (Krannenburg, 2008) between the user and the museums’ content.

This project consist in the development of an installation involving several technological elements which complement each other aiming to provide tools for interpretation and experimentation. Among other technologies, the installation uses Augmented Reality, 3D Modelling, Projection Mapping, and 3D Printing. Part of the archaeological site of Portus, Italy was presented as an example for the visualization, focusing primarily on one of the warehouses. The methodology developed here is transposable to many archaeological sites, and its main goal was to show the mentioned technology at work, which may be used to assist in the interpretation of the site. As we progressively become more multi-skilled, the boundaries between industries and disciplines become less visible and it is difficult to pre-plan when it will be required to bring other specialists into the field that is to be developed.

Museums play a major role promoting knowledge about material culture. Museums usually share this knowledge through displays. These displays occupy a physical location and are limited to the amount of information presented on them. For this reason museum displays have certain requirements and limitations. Nevertheless, when museums present knowledge on the Web, those requirements change.

One of the primary issues that needs highlighting is that all engagement with digital content occurs via an interface. Especially on the Web, experiences and learning objectives become increasingly dependant on interaction design. Interfaces have to provide all or most of the elements that museums offer to achieve a meaningful visitor experience.

There are several interaction methods that can help online museums (OM) to achieve their communication and pedagogic activities. This research focuses on understanding such interaction methods and how users might interact and learn with online cultural heritage. Moreover, it is also important to understand how online learners might approach a system when looking for a specific set of knowledge.

Although different groups are working to make museums’ digital content more accessible to the world, it is still difficult for many visitors to use it. Tangible user interfaces (TUI) may help to solve this issue. Nonetheless, TUIs are still on their infancy and require further study, especially on the Web. This research adopts TUIs as a primary method of interaction for asking questions in a linked data system provided by OMs.  This provides an innovative and alternative method for interacting with knowledge.

Museums exist to disseminate information as well as to preserve knowledge, and these institutions have recognised the potential of the Web to support this role. The Web has opened up access to information and has allowed an increased number of ‘visitors’ to museums online. However, these online visitors do not have the same experience online than they would if they were to visit the actual museum (Proctor, 2010). Disseminating such information in a meaningful way has become one of the main challenges for the Online Museum (OM); for this reason, in the past few years museums have become increasingly concerned with the way the general public and particular sectors of it (e.g. children) acquire specific knowledge from their displays and collections (Hooper-Greenhill, 2004). It is nowadays accepted that learners should be active and not passive receptors of information, where the learner is involved in hands-on activities and participatory exhibitions. Learning is an activity where the mind and body are required to work together (Gray, 2010, Hooper-Greenhill and Moussouri, 2002).

As said, the Web started an on-going transformation on how museums interact with audiences and vice versa. The way in which this is happening has not been completely understood yet due to the novelty of the Web. In addition, due to this novelty, there are many new technologies that the OM could benefit from, but that nevertheless, haven’t been identified nor adopted by the museum sector. OMs have a big challenge to provide the best experience when visiting their collections. New technologies are being used and developed everyday and many of them can provide a pathway to promote engagement in the OM. No matter how the interaction occurs in the OM, it will always happen through a User Interface (UI). Therefore, it can be argued that Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) can provide a pathway for producing learning activities where users/visitors can be active, thus constructing knowledge. Nevertheless, it is necessary to study such tools in order to understand their impact in the several communities that embrace the OM, along with technological issues that may hinder its implementation by the museum community or enthusiasts.