Postgraduate Researcher Layla Khoo published in Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation

An article on visitor engagement by artist and practice-based postgraduate researcher Layla Khoo has been published in Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation.

Participation beyond expectation: Contemporary art installation provokes unexpected responses in an English country house (published 27 June 2024) explores explores the issues and questions raised during unexpected responses to participatory artwork, and has led to Khoo’s current PhD research with the University of Leeds.

In 2019, artist Layla Khoo created and installed a participatory artwork at Nunnington Hall, a property owned by the National Trust in North Yorkshire. The artwork – named Change in Attitudes – was a response to the taxidermy collection of hunting trophies displayed on site, all shot and collected by the last owner of the house, Colonel Ronald Fife.

Change in Attitudes Nunnington Hall. Photo by Anthony Chappel Ross. Image © National Trust.

The work sought to encourage visitors to consider their thoughts on this difficult part of the collection, both in its historical context and in light of current societal norms, by inviting them to participate with the artwork through choice-making.

In a case study published in Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, Layla Khoo first analyses the impact of this work on visitor engagement at the site – both in the participation methods intended by the artist and in the unexpected participation methods employed by the visitors as the installation evolved.

The questions raised by Khoo in the case study are then considered, as well as the research currently under way which seeks to answer them.

Change in Attitudes, Nunnington Hall. Photo by Anthony Chappel Ross. Image © National Trust.

Layla Khoo is a multimedia 3D artist based in North Yorkshire, currently undertaking a practice based PhD in the School of Fine Art, Art History and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. Layla’s research considers how participatory contemporary art may affect visitor engagement with heritage narratives, and how any effect can be measured and evaluated.

Prior to undertaking a PhD, Layla worked as a freelance artist, creating site-specific artworks increasingly focussing on participation as a key theme to her work. Layla said:

“I created Change in Attitudes as a participatory artwork, as I felt that this would be the most effective way to encourage visitors to not only ‘engage’ with the collection, but also to really consider what their own responses are to this when being presented with a choice of their own. We had no idea how visitors would respond – Nunnington Hall had never shown an artwork of this kind before.

“I created an installation of 5,000 porcelain models of rhino horns to represent the 5,000 black rhinos left in the world. The horns were displayed on the walls of a purpose built ‘room’ structure to sit within the Stone Hall amongst the taxidermy collection. The circular structure measured two metres in height and 2.5 metres in diameter. Five hundred of the model horns were mounted on the outside of the structure, the remaining 4,500 could only be seen by entering the ‘room’ via a small doorway.

Introduction panel of Change in Attitudes at Nunnington Hall. Photo courtesy of Layla Khoo.

“Visitors were invited to make a choice – they could take a horn and keep it as a token of their visit, but in doing so they were told that it would not be replaced and thus, this would leave less for others to see. If they made this choice visitors were instructed to write their name and the date in the place of the horn to take ownership for this choice. Permanent marker pens were available for visitors to help themselves to and there was no requirement for visitors to interact with staff to take a horn or record their choice.

“Alternatively, they could leave the installation intact for others to see. The horns were mounted on the structure using Velcro, so visitors were encouraged to touch the pieces, and could remove a piece and return it without causing any damage. By inviting visitors to consider collecting, scarcity, and historical social norms in light of current views by making a participatory choice, I hoped that the taxidermy would be more actively engaged with.”

Rows of porcelain rhino horns on the Change in Attitudes installation at Nunnington Hall. Photo by Anthony Chappel Ross. Image © National Trust.

“Initially, visitors behaved more or less as we'd expected or hoped they would, participating / interacting with the artwork as they had been instructed to do. The unexpected participation became the most interesting part of this artwork for me – that visitors were choosing their own ways to participate outside of the guidelines given to them.

“Visitors had begun using the permanent markers (provided for names and dates to be noted upon removing a horn) to write their own comments on the structure of the installation. These first comments were written on the side of the installation hidden from the view of the room invigilator, suggesting that visitors knew that what they were doing was not ‘allowed’ and did not wish to be observed doing so.

Visitor comments on Change in Attitudes participatory artwork at Nunnington Hall. Photo courtesy of Layla Khoo.

“Upon seeing one comment written on the structure in this way, others presumably felt emboldened to do the same – but again, out of sight of the room guide.

“My first feelings on seeing these comments were excitement and curiosity. This participation had not been expected or designed into the project, but I interpreted this as a different level of visitor engagement. Visitors were so emotionally invested in both the work and the narrative that they were now breaking from expected behaviour in a museum environment to effectively vandalise a piece of art with their own graffiti.

Change in Attitudes showing rows of tusks and visitor comments. Photo courtesy of Layla Khoo.

“The nature of creating and installing artworks like this seldom allows for an in depth evaluation from the artist, and so I found I was left with a host of unanswered questions at the end of this artwork. This eventually prompted the decision to delve deeper into the topic of participatory art in heritage sites.

“The central component to my practice-based PhD with the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies is a new participatory artwork A Virtuous Woman at National Trust Hardwick Hall, which seeks to examine these themes through an iterative approach to participation, co creation and evaluation.”

Visitors to Hardwick Hall participating in embroidery for At Virtuous Woman. Photo © Layla Khoo.

Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of Leeds and one of Layla’s PhD supervisors, said:

“Layla decided to research participatory art practice having had an incredibly successful career as an artist working in heritage spaces enabling visitors to think differently about history and the environment.

“We are delighted to be working with her to explore the impact of her work at Hardwick Hall – A Virtuous Woman is an incredibly exciting project. As someone who has taught feminist approaches to architectural history for over 30 years at the University of Leeds, I'm delighted that Layla's work is asking visitors to think about images of women in a house that speaks to the historic power of women.”

Embroidered names of nominated 'Virtuous Women' by visitors to Hardwick Hall. Photo © Layla Khoo.

More information

Participation beyond expectation: Contemporary art installation provokes unexpected responses in an English country house by Layla Khoo was published by Sciendo in Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation (Volume 12: Issue 1) on 27 June 2024.

The article is available here via open access.

The key themes from the article were presented as a paper at a recent Country House conference at the V&A.

Public participation in A Virtuous Woman ran to the end of October at Hardwick Hall. The completed artwork will be on display from mid-January 2025.

Read about Layla’s A Virtuous Woman project in this BBC article.

Find out about Layla Khoo’s research.

Feature image

Layla Khoo with ‘Change in Attitudes’. Photo by Anthony Chappel Ross. Image © National Trust.