When Interpretation is Not Pleasurable

Thursday, June 5, 2014 7:06 PM by Taylor Studios in Other


When Interpretation is Not Pleasurable

When Interpretation is Not Pleasurable

Sam Ham’s Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgetshas always been a valuable resource in helping Taylor Studios explain general interpretation concepts to clients possessing a cursory understanding of interpretation’s role in designing engaging exhibits.

The Interpretive Approach to Communication

One of Ham’s most beneficial explication is located in his section titled “The Interpretive Approach to Communication.” Here, Ham specifies the qualities that distinguish interpretation from other forms of communication, or information transfer. He defines the interpretive approach to communication, as such:

  1. Interpretation is pleasurable.

  2. Interpretation is relevant.

  3. Interpretation is organized.

  4. Interpretation has a theme.

We cite these attributes to clients before we show examples of how each of them is manifested in examples of our designs.

Raw, Explicit, Dark, and Troubling

Recently, we began designing for a slavery museum. The museum demanded that all the content was to be presented in an explicit manner. There was to be absolutely no censorship of mainstreaming the horrors of slavery to the point where several exhibits would include child-warning labels due to the graphic and violent nature of the experience. The exhibits were to be raw, explicit, dark, and troubling.

We knew this going into our project kickoff meeting, which starts by conveying the benefits of interpretive exhibit design.

During the Sam Ham portion of the kickoff meeting, I referenced Dr. Ham’s interpretive approach to communication. I expounded upon the benefits of interpretation—pleasurable, relevant, organized, and thematic.

I quickly sensed grave reservation in the group I was addressing. The stakeholder group staunchly disagreed with the concept of “pleasurable interpretation.” They believed that their museum had little room for interpretation that was pleasurable.

I attempted to explain how the word pleasurable could have several meanings in the context of interpretation. It can mean to make content interesting through the use of simile, metaphor, personification, etc. This explanation, although correct in the larger philosophy of Dr. Ham, did nothing to assuage the stakeholders. The word pleasurable was said, could not be unsaid, and resulted in the stakeholder group focusing on the definition of pleasurable in a literal and narrow focus.

During the next meeting, I massaged Ham’s concepts a bit. I informed the stakeholder group that I had eradicated the use of pleasurable and substituted the word provocative. From that day forward, interpretation is provocative, relevant, organized, and thematic.

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