Abstract

This paper presents research on the discourse used for interpreting artworks in art classes and museum visits. Conversations between teachers and students, and between gallery educators and visitors, were audio recorded and transcribed. A framework based on sociocultural theory structured the discourse analysis around a continuum of two dimensions: “interactive/non-interactive” considers whether one or more persons participate in the dialogue; “dialogic/authoritative” observers whether one or more points of view are heard and explored. Findings indicate a wide variation in the type of discourse used by teachers and educators: one of them hardly gave students a chance to speak; another avoided positioning herself regarding any matter; yet another four teachers/educators varied their ways of talking. These results are in accordance with existing methodologies for interpretation of artworks, which can roughly be divided into three tendencies. On one cluster stand traditional methods, while on the other stand student-centered approaches. Somewhere along this continuum are the methods that propose a balance between knowledge of the art field and views and experiences of the observer. Based on the data, the paper discusses the challenges of modulating the two dimensions of the discourse defined by the framework for achieving this balance.