• Project number: F 2465
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Completed Project

Description:

The concept of "storytelling", which originated in marketing, is supposed to touch people emotionally. Using stories, exhibitions also want to bring their contents closer to the visitors. The research project investigated how storytelling is defined for exhibitions and how it affects visitors. Understanding the effects of storytelling serves to understand the term and to make it usable for science-based transfer in exhibitions.

With the help of narrative theory, the DASA team designed the special exhibition "Pia says Goodbye. An Exhibition about Working with Death and Grief" (2019-2020, DASA Working World Exhibition Dortmund). It tells the story of 17-year-old Pia losing her grandmother. The research team comprehensively evaluated the effect of the narrative presented in the exhibition on visitors. In addition to an exhibition analysis, the methods used came from empirical social science and were both qualitative (participant observation, guided interview) and quantitative (survey, non-participant observation). The objects of research were the visitors' behaviour and (learning) experiences in the exhibition.

The evaluation showed that the narrative organized the exhibition content, provided spatial orientation, emotionalized, and created numerous points of connection to the visitors' lives.

The DASA research team thus theorizes that the impact of storytelling works in different dimensions: structure, personal life connections, identification, emotionalization, and immersion. These dimensions affect visitors differently depending on their interests, expectations, and motivation to engage with the presentation.

Within their creative leeway, exhibition makers can influence the dimensions of impact. Understanding these modes of action allows for a targeted approach to communicating topics relevant to the world of work. This is especially true for intangible topics (such as death and grief in this case) that cannot be exhibited through highlight exhibits.

The results provide a first important step towards researching the effect of storytelling as a communication strategy in exhibitions. They form the basis for further research, especially in the area of spatial effects and immersion.