6533b7dbfe1ef96bd127063e

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The place of art works in an exhibition on radiation protection

subject

description

The travelling exhibition “Vous avez dit radioprotection?” is coproduced by a science centre, (le Pavillon des Sciences), a scientific institution, the Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IRSN), and the Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération regional authority. It gives an historic perspective on the discovery of radioactivity, and on radiation protection from two main devices: didactic films and artistic creations. Within the framework of a doctorate research in Communication Sciences at the University of Burgundy, France, this case study explores two points of view, the first being the exhibition as a mediating device, and the challenges related to it; the second is related to how the mediating device is received. The qualitative research methodology adopted permits the role of the works of art in the reception process of visitors to be analysed. Within the broader context of socio-scientific problematic awareness, the research methodology also allows the limitations of the usage of art to be questioned. The study, carried out at three different locations, showed that the exhibition was firstly examined by the institutions. Next, how visitors received the art-science dialectics was influenced by the following: whether or not the visitors recognised the piece as a work of art or not, the context of the visit to the exhibition, the type of museum, and the familiarity of visitors with the world of exhibitions.