Deeper engagements? The role of public participatory contemporary art installations within heritage sites and collections

This practice-based research examines the relationship between contemporary participatory art and visitor experience in heritage sites, exploring how such encounters are shaped and negotiated within institutional contexts. This thesis should be read alongside the artistic practice it documents and analyses, with practice operating as method of enquiry and knowledge production. The research combines critical engagement with existing literature with practice-led methods, including iterative making, facilitated participation, reflective documentation, and qualitative analysis. Throughout I utilise my positionality as artist-researcher.
The research is initiated through analysis of my earlier participatory installation, Change in Attitudes, where visitors engaged in unexpected and self-directed ways. Reflection on this work and on how visitors chose to participate establishes the research questions and methodological approach.
The central case study is A Virtuous Woman, a participatory artwork commissioned for the National Trust property Hardwick Hall. Conceived as an iterative work, it was developed to evolve in response to visitor participation over the research period. As artist and facilitator, I adapted the work in response to emerging forms of engagement, recording and evaluating these iterative changes. Visitors participated in ways that were meaningful to them, and for the most part differing viewpoints were held agonistically alongside one another. However, one polarising position caused significant disruption, prompting a reassessment of the values underpinning the participatory framework and revealing tensions between creative expression, inclusivity, care, and institutional responsibility. This moment became a critical turning point for both the artwork and the research. In May 2025, protest and subsequent media attention led to the artwork’s early removal. A filmed projection replaced the original work, accompanied by new interpretation.
This thesis considers how participatory art in heritage sites can engage polarised opinions and what conditions support such practice. Rather than resolving these tensions, it treats them as productive sites for further enquiry.