Art in the eyes of laypeople

A typology of the reception of contemporary art by the example of a work by Taring Padi at documenta 15

Abstract

Regarding the research gap on reception of contemporary art by the lay audience, the present work focuses on the inductive-deductive development of a conceptual instrument for recording the lay reception of contemporary art with a non-dogmatic orientation towards Bourdieu's reception theory.

Using problem-centered focus interviews, which are evaluated in a circular process of iterative approximation between the empirical material and the corresponding category system using Kuckartz's qualitative content analysis, a case-oriented lay reception typology is developed based on the receptions of an exemplary selected work at documenta fifteen by 18 laypeople. Based on the characteristics of the form of reception, the use of formalities, the contextualization, aspects relevant to judgments and the general expectations of art, three typical ways of dealing with the work of art can be identified: the empathetic, the unraveling and the situating orientation, which can be linked to different subjective meanings. This shows that the selected art work is suitable to varying degrees for the observed approaches. The types can also be linked to different frequency of visits to art exhibitions.

Bourdieu's reception typology proves to be an exclusion-reinforcing reproduction of the devaluation of lay reception within the art field, particularly in the context of quantitative research designs. His habitus concept, on the other hand, appears to be  promising for future qualitative studies on the concrete reception behavior of laypeople in the context of their social settings.