We assert that art galleries and museums have the potential to become dialogical spaces through the incorporation of participatory and collaborative community-based processes that juxtaposes dominant voices and the competing voices of those who have been marginalized, disenfranchised, and suppressed by dominant social, political, and cultural narratives. This strategy provokes conversations, questions dominant narratives, and demonstrates how dialogue located within artistic representations is built on multiple, conflicting voices and contradictions. The conflicting voices and assimilation of the words of others, and the idea of alternative meaning making can situate art galleries and museums as public spaces for relational dialogue.
The value of art galleries and museums lies in the interactions between exhibition and collection programming, community engagement, informal learning, and the outcomes from these interfaces. Art galleries and museums service to the public is defined and realised by the provision of these experiences that result in an invaluable service to our communities. Art galleries and museums are public spaces where members of the community should help drive the direction of institution, share their way of knowing the world, and explore the potential for informal spaces of learning.
Exhibitions as forms of “knowledge creation” can help facilitate multiple and diverse ways of knowing. These exhibitions incorporate conflicting voices and meaning making found in the “In-betweenness”- the artist’s voices and the viewers’ subjective and subconscious experiences that situate exhibitions as forms of inquiry and art galleries as spaces for informal learning. I propose that the (dialogic) space in between art works, artists, exhibitions, and the public are essential elements in developing a broader understanding of how we acquire forms of knowledge through dialogue-based exhibitions.
The concept of dialogical looking suggests that viewers can consciously articulate questions and utilizes a dialogical and collaborative approach and will help provoke the viewer into exploring other concepts such as theme and context. By acknowledging the importance of multiple dialogues, dialogic looking can create rich learning experiences that do not solely rely on the mediating voice of the museum expert, didactic panels, or guided tours.
Pierroux (2006) asserts that understanding dialogical narrative allows for a concept of visitor agency in the processes of meaning making: “Contemporary museology needs to develop a concept of interiority grounded in a sociocultural concern with the connections visitors make with objects, stories and experiences in museums and how these experiences intersect outside of the museum.” (p. 222) Dialogical looking offer viewers opportunities to create meaning based on the visual art that is being looked at and has transformative implications for artists, art galleries, museums, and visitors.
We assert that the use of dialogue in visual art practices can make connections through the incorporation of artists perspectives, community participation and curatorial facilitation. Dialogue-based art practices are built on multiple, conflicting voices that can reveal important social truths and contradictions because they reject a single and dominant narratives. It is within these practices that the act of conversation becomes a critical part of the artmaking process with the aim of developing new engagement initiatives with art galleries, museums, and communities.