Posing the Question: Visitor Posing as Embodied Interpretation in an Art Museum

This article identifies and explores posing by visitors to an art gallery as a unique meaning making activity. Conducted as a design experiment in partnership with a national art museum, this study builds on theoretical perspectives related to gesture and embodiment. Empirical findings suggest that particular posing activities function simultaneously to mediate internally and externally oriented processes of interpretation in encounters with art. Accordingly, these complex posing practices may be viewed as an integrated part of visitors’ meaning making experiences. Implications for this research include expanding our understanding of the roles of the body in visitor’s museum experiences.