Lärmiljö eller lekplats? : Förmedlingsteknik, tilltal och intention i museiutställningar riktade till barn

Sammanfattning: The subject of our master’s thesis is museum exhibitions for children. The thesis is based on three research questions: “What purposes do institutions have when they decide to produce museum exhibitions specifically for children?”, “What are the similarities and differences concerning the intermediation techniques, voice and intent in this type of exhibitions?” and “How does the underlying intentions relate to the actual exhibitions?” The theory used is based on a design-oriented multimodal perspective on learning. Multimodality pays special attention to the interplay between different medias in communication. We have also used theories on learning and play in developmental psychology. As a method we have combined exhibition analysis inspired by Rune Gade and interviews with exhibition producers and other persons connected to the exhibitions. We have chosen three different exhibitions for children for comparison and analysis. In our selection it was an important starting point to select museum exhibitions and not exhibitions that are designed solely as a playroom or exhibitions at nearby institutions such as science centers or culture centers. The focus of our study consists of the following exhibitions: Bird, fish or in between at Örebro County Museum, Earthlings at The Museum of World Culture and the travelling exhibition A journey back and forth produced by the National History Museum and the Swedish Exhibition Agency in collaboration with the Institute for Future Studies. Some of our conclusions are that the intentions behind the exhibitions are influenced by the government's priority regarding culture for children and that all three exhibitions in our study are good examples of how museums can work towards children based on different resources and expertise. Overall, our study shows that it is more difficult to express intentions of the exhibitions, the more complex and multifaceted they are, while smaller and simpler goals are easier to achieve. From our research we have drawn the conclusions that an exhibition for children should offer: a learning environment, play, but not play for play´s sake, interaction on different levels and possibilities for family learning.