• Time for Cultural Mediation
  • Foreword by Carmen Mörsch
  • Foreword by Andrew Holland
• 1 What is Cultural Mediation?
  Quick Reads:
  • 1.0 Intro
  • 1.1 “Kulturvermittlung” as collective term in German-speaking regions
  • 1.2 Médiation culturelle
  • 1.3 English terminology
  • 1.4 Italian terminology
  • 1.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 1.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 2 Cultural Mediation for Whom?
  Quick Reads:
  • 2.0 Intro
  • 2.1 Target-group categories
  • 2.2 Critique of target-group thinking
  • 2.3 Other approaches to defining audiences
  • 2.4 Cultural mediation for institutional development and renewal
  • 2.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 2.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 3 What is Transmitted?
  Quick Reads:
  • 3.0 Intro
  • 3.1 Works and productions as subject-matter
  • 3.2 Artistic techniques as subject-matter
  • 3.3 Institutions as subject-matter
  • 3.4 Art as a system as subject matter
  • 3.5 Artistic processes in business
  • 3.6 Artistic processes in social, pedagogic and activist contexts
  • 3.7 Learning methods as subject-matter
  • 3.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 3.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 4 How is Cultural Mediation Carried Out?
  Quick Reads:
  • 4.0 Intro
  • 4.1 Participation level: receptive
  • 4.2 Participation level: interactive
  • 4.3 Participation level: participative
  • 4.4 Participation level: collaborative
  • 4.5 Participation level: demand-based
  • 4.6 Teaching and learning concepts: instructionist
  • 4.7 Teaching and learning concepts: action-oriented
  • 4.8 Teaching and learning concepts: constructivist and social-constructivist
  • 4.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 4.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 5 What Does Cultural Mediation Do?
  Quick Reads:
  • 5.0 Intro
  • 5.1 Affirmative function of cultural mediation
  • 5.2 Reproductive function of cultural mediation
  • 5.3 Deconstructive function of cultural mediation
  • 5.4 Reformative function of cultural mediation
  • 5.5 Transformative function of cultural mediation
  • 5.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 5.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 6 Cultural Mediation: Why (Not)?
  Quick Reads:
  • 6.0 Intro
  • 6.1 Rationale: cultural mediation has an influence on the economy
  • 6.2 Rationale: cultural mediation promotes cognitive performance
  • 6.3 Rationale: Expanding cultural mediation as a matter of fiscal responsibility
  • 6.4 Rationale: Cultural mediation as an instrument for inclusion
  • 6.5 Rationale: The arts as universal educational good
  • 6.6 Rationale: Cultural mediation as means to actively contribute to shaping the arts
  • 6.7 Rationale: Cultural mediation to compensate for social injustice
  • 6.8 Objections to cultural mediation and its promotion
  • 6.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 6.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 7 Who “does” Cultural Mediation?
  Quick Reads:
  • 7.0 Intro
  • 7.1 Occupation: cultural mediator
  • 7.2 Conditions of employment in cultural mediation
  • 7.3 (Swiss) Training options and professional associations of cultural mediators
  • 7.4 Volunteer work in cultural mediation
  • 7.5 Cultural mediation as a research field
  • 7.6 Funding of cultural mediation in Switzerland
  • 7.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 7.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 8 Good Cultural Mediation?
  Quick Reads:
  • 8.0 Intro
  • 8.1 Quality in cultural mediation: current activities
  • 8.2 Critiques of quality management in cultural mediation
  • 8.3 Attempt to define a framework of criteria for evaluating cultural mediation
  • 8.4 Criteria for a primarily affirmative cultural mediation
  • 8.5 Criteria for a primarily reproductive cultural mediation
  • 8.6 Criteria for a primarily deconstructive cultural mediation
  • 8.7 Criteria for a primarily transformative cultural mediation
  • 8.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 8.RL For Reading at Leisure
• 9 Transmitting Cultural Mediation?
  Quick Reads:
  • 9.0 Intro
  • 9.1 Guiding questions for use in the documentation of cultural mediation
  • 9.2 Challenges in transmitting cultural mediation
  • 9.3 Cultural mediation in this publication
  • 9.CP Changing Perspectives
  • 9.RL For Reading at Leisure
• Service
  Case Studies:
  • SC Intro
  • SC.1 Case Study 1
  • SC.2 Case Study 2
  • Glossary
  • Resource Pool
  • Literature and Links
  • List of bookmarks
  • PDF Download
  • Bibliographic information and legal notice

List of bookmarks →

Download text as PDF ↓ Quick Reads

1.2 Médiation culturelle

Usage of the French-language term “médiation culturelle” is similar to usage of the German-language → Kulturvermittlung but it has a country-specific character and a longer history. When it first emerged in the 1980s, the term “médiation culturelle” was associated with public relations activities and knowledge transfer. In addition to the fields of the arts, it was used to refer to the preservation of historical monuments and cultural heritage. The term had associations with already well-established educational activities and links to diffusion in the field of the arts and culture. The understanding of “médiation culturelle” as a form of transmission of knowledge remains influential today and describes the majority of the activities practiced.

However in parallel to the emergence of this broader concept, a concept of “médiation culturelle” specific to the arts was also being developed, in part through the work of the degree programme (with a strong sociology and linguistics emphasis) set up in 1994 called “Médiation culturelle de l’art” at → Université Aix-Marseille in France. That programme is founded on the idea that art is often created from an individual act in opposition to the collective and is, for that reason, rarely accessible to a wider public in the absence of prior knowledge. At the same time, that art should be accessible to this collective is seen as desirable in the sense of a → democratization of culture (Caune 1992, Caillet 1995). Due to these tensions, médiation culturelle is understood less as knowledge transmission and more as the act of forming relationships of mutual exchange among publics, works, artists and institutions. Under this understanding, the aim of médiation culturelle is to place the various different perspectives involved in relation to one another. These activities focus on the individual perception of artworks by participants. The point is not to fill in lacunae in understanding with specialized knowledge, but to understand the lacunae as a point of departure for dialogue and aesthetic experience (Caune 1999). Ideally, the collective analysis of the different forms of expression which are brought together in this process of exchange is another integral part of médiation culturelle de l’art.

In addition to standing for this very specific concept, the term “médiation culturelle” is used in more common parlance with a meaning that overlaps with other terms, such as “action culturelle” (generally referring to the dissemination of cultural offerings out away from the centre and into the periphery) or “diffusion” which is associated with marketing. There are other terms in use which entail considerably more specificity as well, such as “médiation artistique” for → instruction in artistic techniques or processes or → médiation culturelle de musée for museum-based mediation. Increasingly, médiation culturelle is also being introduced in the area of activities of → animation culturelle (Della Croce et al. 2011). Animation culturelle is a field associated with the social sphere. It encompasses the aim established in 20th century → éducation populaire: cultural activities which have the capacity to transform society should lead to the emancipation of participants.