“The Challenge of Creating a New Kind of Museum”: Installed Interpretives for Adults in the Denver Art Museum’s New Hamilton Building

Abstract

Abstract This article looks at the process of creating installed interpretives for adults in the Denver Art Museum’s new Frederic C. Hamilton Building, which opened in October 2006. Using "serving the visitor with choice" as their guiding principle, Denver Art Museum educators developed interpretives that explored four different areas: connecting visitors with artists, engaging visitor creativity, incorporating multiple voices, and engaging visitor responses. Educators conducted small-sample tests to help them uncover problems with their prototypes and act quickly to resolve them. Evaluations of a poetry-writing activity gave educators insight into a multifaceted problem: Despite the fact that adults report enjoying interactives when asked to try them as part of visitor testing, they are reticent to attempt these activities on their own. Meanwhile, testing an activity designed to inform and elicit visitors’ responses to a controversial painting unearthed a critical flaw in the design. Finally, three novel installations experimented with different ways of using video to humanize the art.