ABSTRACT
A particular exhibition – The Family of Man – will serve as the starting point in this paper to highlight an essential yet hitherto underexplored aspect of education, namely its use of multiple modes of communication and representation with the aim of producing learning effects. Indeed, The Family of Man, which was devised by Edward Steichen (1879-1973) in 1955 and is still deemed the most successful photographic exhibition of all time,1 represents a constellation in which textual, visual, material, spatial and other layers of representation are combined and staged
Karin Priem* and Geert Thyssen
Introduction
A particular exhibition – The Family of Man – will serve as the starting point in this paper to highlight an essential yet hitherto underexplored aspect of education, namely its use of multiple modes of communication and representation with the aim of producing learning effects. Indeed, The Family of Man, which was devised by Edward Steichen (1879-1973) in 1955 and is still deemed the most successful photographic exhibition of all time,1 represents a constellation in which textual, visual, material, spatial and other layers of representation are combined and staged
Karin Priem* and Ge rt Thys en
Introduction
A particular exhibit on – The Family of Man – will serve as the starting point in this paper to highlight an es ential yet hitherto underexplored aspect of education, namely its use of multiple modes of communication and representation with the aim of producing learning effects. Inde d, The Family of Man, which was devised by Edward Steichen (1879-1973) in 195 and is still de med the most suc es ful photographic exhibit on of all time,1 represents a constellation in which textual, visual, material, spatial and other layers of representation are combined and staged
in a “theatre of display”. This specific constellation, moreover, went on to travel around the world and intentionally interacted with the contexts in which it moved, thus increasing its complexity. This paper, then, aims to explore what such a bordercrossing hybrid of word, vision, form, movement, space and time – among other things – may have offered in addition to what could be revealed by a mere analysis of the individual elements used for it. While the visual,2 the material,3 the spatial4
and so on are indeed receiving ever more attention in disciplines like the history of education, and while the myriad issues surrounding them are increasingly being addressed, the full complexity of education, and its use of and dependence on such matters as converging textuality, visuality, materiality, spatiality and temporality, have thus far remained underexplored. Historically, exhibitions represent sites of meaning-making that have critically influenced educational systems, policies and practices.5 Their explicit staging of different representation modes is particularly suited to generating insight into the multi-dimensional nature of education in general. Analysing them may help to develop new methodologies for research on similar “wonders of mise-en-scène” that have only just begun to be unearthed, such as educational films.6
