This project explores the relationship between art, context, and visitor, with a particular focus on exhibition wall texts. It’s part of an ongoing research initiative, a collaboration between Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and the Art and Dissemination department at OsloMet.

The scope was to analyze the existing exhibition text and develop a version that provided more context. Our main method involved selecting keywords to facilitate understanding of the artwork. We also designed a presentation format by creating a brochure intended for display in the exhibition hall.

I collaborated with 4 classmates:
   •Idun Johansen Rosenkilde - Group Leader & Writer
   •Agnetha Evanger - Lead Designer
   •Mari Andrea Schei - Write & Researcher
   •Aina Zamrik Vila - Supporting Roles

My primary responsibility was preparing the final project presentation. I also assisted with research and design efforts.

How do our experiences affect one's vocabulary? When we are visiting a foreign environment, do the same words carry the same meanings? We will dive deep into the historical and modern meanings of the words, and create a dissemination text based on our chosen words and given artwork. The text will be printed as a A3 paper hand-out of our own design, and the project will culminate as an oral presentation from each group.

Earlier, we mentioned keywords related to Raymond Williams’ definition, but what does this entail? To start off, we need to introduce Raymond Henry Williams and why he began this study.

Williams was born in 1921 and would live until 1988. He was a Welsh-British Author and Academic, as well as a professor at Cambridge University in England. Before he became a professor, he also attended the university as a student. His education was interrupted however when he was sent to work for the army in 1941 during the Second World War.When Williams returned to Cambridge in 1945, he noticed that the common language in the university had changed. Even though they still spoke English, the social and valued traits of the words were different. He would find the need to define these as keywords.While the recognition of this dissonance came to light then, the main keywords appendix was written while writing his book Culture and society in 1958. The appendix, being too long to include in the release of the book, would be revised and released later in 1976. This collection would explain the historical and cultural sense of the words. The appendix would serve to provide the full knowledge one should need to understand the complexity of the chosen terms. A few examples of the ones he wrote about are abstract, empathy and terror. (Williams, 1976)

We can define keywords in multiple ways. They are for the most part nouns like diversity and art, but can also be abstract words for theory and practices. They may be ambiguous in that they carry multiple meanings, or hold high value politically and socially. They are words that are still used in everyday conversation, while carrying significant historical changes and importance. Most importantly, a keyword is a “complex and social vocabulary”. (University of Pittsburgh, n.d)

The artwork we have been working with is Doll (1966) by Hans/Jean Arp. This work is a part of a series of similar works that resemble dolls and is seen as a special feature of his repertoire. Most of the dolls are cut from scraps of paper or cardboard, but some are statues as well. They share the same shapes and forms, but are all unique. Hans/Jean Arp used his wife’s tapestry art as an inspiration for his artworks, as well as his wife’s figure.Hans/Jean Arp was a french/german abstract artist in the early 1900’s. In 1916, he played a great part in the upsurgence of dadaism in Zürich. The earliest artworks of his were experimental as he tried out different art mediums, such as wood and cardboard. He was best known for his sculptures, which have organic and sensual forms that can resemble the human body. Hans/Jean Arp and his wife worked close together, to the point where it ended up being impossible to see who made what. After his wife died in 1943, he used scraps from her works in his “Doll” collection, as a way to honor her. (Store Norske Leksikon, 2024)

Every group in this project had to assign a group leader, but we also wanted to assign more roles and focus-points for each of us. While meeting up every day to work would be optimal, we knew that differences in schedules would make it easier to work from home on some days. We still had a common understanding that we had to work together on every part, but this way we could utilize the group's personal skills. Our roles were designated to the tasks leader, writing the report, designer, creating the presentation and writing the dissemination text.

In the beginning of the course, we were given a guided tour of the exhibition which included our given artwork. We spent time alone reflecting on this, taking pictures to use as reference and brainstorming design-ideas. We shared all our notes in an online document and started examining the wall-text looking for potential keywords.

To identify the keywords, we began by carefully reading through the entire text to gain a clear understanding of its content. During this process, we highlighted words that seemed unclear or in need of further clarification. We then organized research within the group to look up the definitions and contextual meanings of these words, which we then presented to each other to discuss thoroughly. After analyzing them, we eliminated any terms that, after closer inspection, did not function effectively as keywords. In the end we selected words that held multiple possible meanings depending on the context, as these offered more opportunities for interpretation.

To examine the keywords in the correct way, we were given a guide by our teacher to make it easier. Here are the six phases of examining and deciding on our keywords.
   •Make a collection of potential keywords from the text.
   •Look at the word’s record of use.
   •Analyze their cultural and historical meaning
   •Analyze how the words are used, including visitor surveys.
   •Make a final selection of keywords.
   •Analyze how they relate to other words.

Realised 
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‍Etymology: “Realised” is the British English spelling of the word "realize”. The online etymology dictionary Etymoline explains the word as originating from French in the 1610s as "bring into existence, make or cause to become real", also, "exhibit the actual existence of,". However, in 1775 the word was recorded as the sense of understanding clearly and comprehending the reality of. (Harper, n.d) 

Description: To realise something in the context of the exhibition text is to create something, in this case the dolls. On multiple occasions, online dictionaries like The Cambridge dictionary did not include this definition. We are uncertain of why, but we believe this contributes to the lesser knowledge of its original/alternative meaning. 

Association: When the group began discussing the world realise, we thought maybe it was an error in translation. We had only thought of the word as a way to understand something, and had to look it up to make sure the spelling and context was correct. After the investigation, we noticed this new word is correct and accepted by most dictionaries. 

‍Synonyms: Made, crafted, assembled, created

‍Proof

‍Etymology: According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, proof originates from Old French prove (13c.) and Latin proba, meaning "a test" or "evidence." By the 14th century, it referred to "a test to establish quality," and later in art and printing, it came to mean a trial impression used to check the quality before producing a final version. (Harper, n.d)

‍Description: In the exhibition context, “proof “ means “a work that’s still in progress or part of the process, not finished, but shown to share how it’s developing”. It shows that something has been tried, tested, or thought about. Outside of art, people often think of proof only as something that shows if a fact is true, but in art, it can also carry the meaning trial.

Association: Proof in the art-world is something different from what we usually perceive it as. Here the word is not the same as evidence or a fact, but means the work beforehand a finished print. At first, we associated proof only with evidence or confirmation. Learning its artistic use as something temporary and process-based shifted how we understood it as something much more open-ended.

‍Synonyms: Test, evidence, trial, draft, impression

‍Model

‍Etymology: “Model” comes from the French word modelle. The online etymology site “Etymonline” explains the word to have come from the 1570´s, and means “likeness made to scale; architect’s set of design”. The word also comes from the italian word modello, which means a model, to mold. It is also used to describe someone or something related to art, model, (...) figure to be painted or sculpted”. (Harper, n.d)

Description: The use of the word “model” in the context of the artwork is the words to mold and to be a model. The artist used his wife as a model for the form of the artwork. 

‍Association: We as a group thought of the word model as in a person who walks a runway, but also something that can be painted or sculpted. 

‍Synonyms: Example, imitation, ideal, muse, archetype

With plenty of potential words to work with, we agreed that we needed help in order to choose between them. The supervision with our course professors was very valuable as they pointed us in the right direction. By discussing all our words and why we highlighted them we could explore their meanings in a different manner. We agreed to research three words further, namely realised, model and proof. They also told us to focus on and argue for why it is a keyword at all. All the feedback was resourceful, and we were able to work further with more perspective and confidence.

Due to the feedback received from the group supervision, the team decided to use a limited amount of questions for the interview guide. The starting question was aimed to assess how familiar the participant was with the art field. After careful consideration, we decided that there is a meaningful difference between the comprehension level of a regular person and an individual with an artistic educational background. This means that we can discover how the majority of guests visiting the museum think.

The second question was open-ended, aimed at inquiring about one’s perception of the three keywords. The open-ended format allowed us to get more in-depth insights, allowing the participant to answer as they see fit. The last question aimed to determine whether changing the word would have made the text easier to understand. This way, we could check if people could find synonyms that were better suited for the text. 

We had a fourth question, but shortly thereafter we noticed it was redundant and decided to drop it. We also used probing questions to further clarify answers as needed. Once we had the questions prepared, we started to plan out the interviews. The initial idea was that each of us had to talk to people to be able to get more insights, but we were faced with a low amount of guests present at the exhibition. We asked our peers and family afterwards to make up for the low participant pool. The questions were asked in Norwegian, as we were advised to use the native language of the participants so they feel more comfortable.

Our way of conducting the interviews was slightly changed along the way. At first, we wanted to ask each participant about one word each, but we quickly decided that it would be better to ask about all three keywords in order to garner more information. We also dropped the last question because most interviewees hadn’t read the wall-text. Each answer was recorded by hand and the interviewees were kept anonymous.

The results from the interviews gave us two key insights. The first was that, through speaking in Norwegian, the double meanings had been removed from the words realised and proof. Model, however, still carried the multiple definitions we wanted to inquire the interviewees about.

The second insight was regarding the context of the keywords. By starting the interview with a question about art, the participants were keyed in on the context of the words and answered with art in mind. Even so, we were still able to observe differences in the answers given by participants who felt close to the art world, versus those who did not.

The word realise was one of the words that lost its double meaning when translated to Norwegian, as the direct translation means “to make something real”. Most participants of the survey, when asked in Norwegian about associations to the word, answered with this exact definition. Some answered differently however, associating the word with a transfer and something you need courage for. While we were unable to inquire about this word in English, we still found it useful to compare the easy Norwegian understanding to our own confusion regarding the English translation.

The word model was the most versatile word in regards to the answers we received. We believe this is in part because the Norwegian word also carries the same multitude of meanings as the english version. Here, we were able to see a clear difference between the answers from the guests we interviewed at the gallery in comparison to friends and family we asked over the phone. The people from the gallery immediately associated model with a representation or an example of something else, while the answers given over the phone immediately went to the fashion industry and runway models. One participant described it as a word that carries multiple meanings and couldn’t decide on one answer, which we found interesting because this was our first discovery as well.

‍Proof might be the most divisive word when it comes to comprehension based on languages. The Norwegian translation is closer to “test-print” and won’t be confused as easily as the english counterpart. When we noted it down as a keyword, it was because the group didn’t know what the word meant, in part because we only read the English wall-text. Again, however, the Norwegian word still brought different answers depending on the participants' relation to the art world. Those who felt close to it, both in English and Norwegian, associated it with the art term. Those who did not saw it rather as a tool related to a process or even a newspaper. It is especially for the word proof that we wish we had conducted more interviews, in english outside the gallery. It is simply our guess that most, when not given the context of art, would first think of the synonym evidence.

Our two key insights mentioned above, regarding the importance of lingual differences and the importance of context, would become our focus when working further on the project. The answers we received were different from what we expected to hear, but that is exactly why we conducted the interviews in the first place.

Figuring out what to put in the dissemination text was a bit tough. We wanted to insert our chosen keywords into the text without making it too obvious. By playing around with different sentences and different words with the same meaning, we found good ways to disguise the words while giving the viewer context. It was important to us as a team, that our audience understood that the chosen keywords have multiple meanings. All of the words we chose need context to make sense. We also decided to tell a bit about the artist behind Doll. By understanding where Hans/Jean Arp got the idea for the doll, we could give more context to the viewer. 

Taeuber-Arp's passing and him taking inspiration from her older work is a big part of the creation of the dolls. Because Hans/Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp usually worked so closely together, we immediately thought of the artwork as a collaboration between the two of them. However, after further research we realized this “collaboration” had a twist to it. Taeuber-Arp had already passed when Doll was made, but Hans/Jean Arp still wanted to include her in his works. This is an important part of the artwork and artist, and is almost crucial for the viewer to know about. (Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, 2025) Because this was unclear based on the given text, we wanted to start our dissemination hand-out with this explanation to give that extra bit of context.

We chose to use the shape of the original doll for the brochure, to make it visually interesting and to connect the brochure to the artwork. We also added a part of the pattern from the collage as the background. This was so we could make it more similar to the original doll without making an exact replica. After this, we found out which colours to use and how saturated we wanted to have them. In the first draft, we tried a lower opacity in the colours to make the text stand out, but found out it would be more visually interesting to have the colours as is. We added in the text in a shape of a circle to match the shape of the doll, to maximise the space needed for information. In the design of the pattern, we did not align the pattern to make everything symmetrical, but instead made it so that the pattern is different on every doll. This is to make it as visually interesting as possible.

We wanted to include the other dolls from the collection by making the design of the front and backpages inspired by the pattern in the other dolls. This is appealing and to differentiate the patterns from one another.

During the interviews, we encountered a few difficulties that might have been avoided if done differently. Firstly, we noticed that people disliked being interviewed at the art centre. We believed that people felt intimidated because they were in a serious institution and that they had to answer in a deep and serious manner. Because of this, we ended up changing the questions a little and asking people through the phone instead to get more relaxed answers. We also noticed that the Norwegian translations of a few words lost their meanings. However we still felt we got good results from the few interviews we managed.

The presentation ended with a feedback session from our coordinators. We got a very important question whether all of the 3 words are in fact the keywords. While all of them were important to discuss for a better dissemination, we acknowledged that one stood out. A lot of the context and information presented revolved around the idea of Hans/Jean Arp’s wife being used as a model. 

Also, the word model retains its meaning throughout the assed languages – English, Norwegian and Romanian – hence, this word stands out as the real keyword that carries the dissemination effort for this particular piece of work.

During the feedback, we got comments on the intricate shape of the dissemination material. They liked how we worked closely with the artwork's shape, to further connect the two. Someone else noted it was kind of hard to read the white text on the multicoloured pattern, which would have been better if it was on a single coloured background or to make the text bigger. This is something that could have been fixed if we noticed the font size before presenting the dissemination text.

This project helped us understand how language and meaning of the words can change depending on a person’s background, experiences, and the context they are used in, especially in art. By using Raymond Williams' idea of keywords, we explored how some words have deeper or multiple meanings. Through our research and interviews, we saw that people understand words differently based on their knowledge of art. We also found that the way words are used in museum texts can sometimes make things clearer or more confusing. This shows how important it is to choose the right words when trying to explain art to different audiences.