The implied visitor in a planetarium exhibition

ABSTRACT

Planetariums disseminate astrophysics, space technology and planetary science to the public. These subject areas are often perceived as being ‘hard science’ and thus symbolically associated with the masculine. To what extent is this gendering also present within planetarium exhibitions? We address this question with a three-fold conceptual framework combining theories on the implied visitor, gender, and science exhibitions, respectively. We analyse to what extent gendered structures are embodied within the exhibition Space Mission. We find that the dominant discourse within the exhibition is one that presents science as technical, fact-based, and individualist, organised through competitive and game-like activities. We argue that these characteristics are associated with masculinity, thereby reproducing the discourse of astrophysics as being within the masculine domain and potentially excluding a large diversity of visitors. We offer some hypotheses about the origin of this gendering and discuss its implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Planetarium
• exhibition
• implied visitor
• gender

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Planetarium (formerly Tycho Brahe Planetarium) in this study. In particular, the enthusiastic support of Tina Ibsen was all-important in all phases of this work. Constructive feedback was kindly provided by Dr. Henriette Tolstrup Holmegaard at critical stages of the process. This research was carried out as part of the Our Museum programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Line Bruun Nicolaisen is a PhD fellow at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has completed a Master in Arctic Paleoclimatology, at the Department of Geoscience, University of Copenhagen.

Marianne Achiam has a PhD in science education, and is an Associate Professor at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research interests include science education in out-of-school contexts such as science centres, museums and similar institutions, and the conditions and constraints that shape it.

ORCID

Line Bruun Nicolaisen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5098-5544

Marianne Achiam http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1701-2959

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Nordea-fonden; Velux Fonden.