‘More than half a century has passed since CP Snow identified the chasm between the “two cultures” of science and arts as a serious problem. Today, by contrast, there is an acknowledgement that “the greatest challenges for society” require the combined insights of science and arts/humanities. Snow’s mid-century idea that a “third culture” might come into being to connect arts and science has been considerably expanded – but is perhaps most publicly realised today through ‘art-science’, a now
heterogeneous field, characterised by the collaboration of artists and scientists.’
Understanding Third Space: Evaluating Art-Science Collaboration
Lizzie Muller, Jill Bennett, Lynn Froggett & Vanessa Bartlett
On my recent visit to London I visited five different venues exhibiting science artefacts and assessed how successful they were in engaging with the public. To make the job of comparison easier easier I used the same set of questions for all using the Arts Council England criteria as my guide.
How do we define public engagement?
So how do we define engagement with art and science, and who is the public which we refer to? We must also make a distinction between public engagement and outreach. Illingworth and Allen make this clear:
‘Outreach: is a one-way discourse, in which scientists communicate their research to the general public, with particular focus on schoolchildren and young people.
Public engagement: is a two-way dialogue, in which scientists converse with
members of the general public in a mutually beneficial manner.
Widening participation: is any activity that engages with social groups underrepresented in higher education, in order to encourage them to attend university.’
Illingworth S. & Allen. G. Outreach and public engagement ( 2016) Pgs 5-1 to 5-23 Available at: https://iopscience.iop.org/chapter/978-0-7503-1170-0/bk978-0-7503-1170-0ch5.pdf
The many different publics visiting museums and galleries
There are many different publics and I have tried to discover what they are at each of the museums and galleries I visited. How do we measure the impact of public engagement in art and science? Is the dialogue a traditional one way process (outreach) or a more dynamic two-way process (public engagement)? Or has it even become widening participation?
What do we mean when we describe visitors to museums and galleries?
Are the visitors an audience standing at a distance or are they active participants in what is happening?
And what is done to introduce information to a varied audience who might be:
with little or no formal education,
from Black and minority ethnic groups,
in poor health,
or on low incomes.
In Public Facing I record my exploration of galleries, specialist museums and museums in London over two busy days in January 2020 when I tried to make up my own mind. I used the same set of criteria, as produced by the Art Council England, to judge how places were realising their intention to engage with the many different people that constitute the public.
Join me on my journey around London’s most exciting science museums and galleries.
Helen Birnbaum
Main image at top of page: Birnbaum, H (2016) OUTBREAK Ceramics (Photofunia editing) Available at:https://photofunia.com/. Accessed 2016 Author’s private collection
Public Facing 
1 Comment