Dr Saskia Warren, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, presented the findings of her report ‘Our Parliamentary Art Collection: New Directions for Audiences, Interpretation, and Social Justice’ to The Lords Panel and Commons Committee at UK Parliament on 18 October 2023.
‘Our Parliamentary Art Collection’ investigates audience engagement and interpretation in the Palaces of Westminster and Parliamentary Art Collection, UK Parliament (comprising 10,000 items). For this project, Dr Warren collaborated with the Heritage Collections Team as part of a Parliamentary Research Fellowship, supported by an ESRC IAA grant.
The project brings together insights from different perspectives to inform interpretation techniques, issues of display, and event programming to reflect on the role of the Parliamentary Art Collection in the UK and internationally in relation to the public in the 21st century.
Attending to critical, timely questions of social inequality and justice in relation to collections and issues of display, ‘Our Parliamentary Art Collection’ explores how stories are told about art works, who visits, and processes of meaning-making. The cross-national Parliamentary study also explored how other institutions are engaging with concerns relating to equality, diversity and social justice in their interpretation, collections, and audience development.
Through interviews, focus groups, walking tours and workshops, Dr Warren with the Heritage Collections Team, brought together new voices and ideas for interpretation and engagement within a heritage-listed space including exploring issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.
