The Palazzo Grassi Teens Case: Authentically Digital and Necessarily Analog, Marina Rotondo, Head of Education and Publications, Francois Pinault Foundation and Federica Pascotto, Education Consultant, Palazzo Grassi -- Teenagers are easily bored. They don’t like listening to adults but love expressing themselves via social media in front of large audiences. In 2013, Palazzo Grassi started developing an engagement strategy looking for balance between in venue and online digital experience, something that was authentically digital in its concept and at the same time necessarily analogue, having the physical experience of the artworks as its starting point and at its core.

1. The
palazzograssiteens
project
MuseumNext
Geneva, april 2015

2. You were lying sprawled on the sofa in a jumble of cushions and crumbs. I’m striving
for scientific accuracy here and have dispensed with literary flourishes. You had the
computer open on your belly. With your right hand you were texting on your
smartphone. Two fingers of your lifeless left hand still grasped the edge of a battered
chemistry textbook that was on the point of disappearing forever down the back of
the sofa into those shadowy nether regions where I once actually came across a raw
frankfurter, a food of which you are particularly fond. The TV was on full blast, tuned
in to an American series in which two hugely fat brothers were discussing, with a very
limited vocabulary, how to rid a cottage of rats. You had your earphones on, plugged
in to some iPod somewhere, and so it is in fact possible that you were also listening to
music.
I must have stood there looking at you for a full minute. I was trying to make out
where that hyperconnected tangle of wires began and ended. At a certain point you
became aware of my presence. You didn’t turn your head, you kept your eyes and
ears fixed on your terminals and continued texting. But you did feel the need to say
something to me.
You said, “It’s the evolution of the species”.
“Gli straiati”, Michele Serra

3. “It’s the
evolution
of the
species.”

4. Who are teenagers?

5. Who are we? Palazzo Grassi
Pinault Collection

6. Punta della Dogana
Pinault Collection

7. Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi

8. Punta della Dogana, 2009-2011
“Mapping the studio”

9. Palazzo Grassi, 2013
“Rudolf Stingel”

10. Punta della Dogana, 2011-2012
“In Praise of Doubt”

11. Palazzo Grassi, 2014
“The Illusion of Light”

12. Punta della
Dogana
Palazzo
Grassi
Teatrino di
Palazzo Grassi
Late XVIII century Venetian palace
Opened in 2006
2500 mq ca.
Temporary exhibitions linked to the Pinault Collection
13 exhibitions
250 artists
120.000 visitors per year (average)
29 people in the staff (2 museums)
Venice XIV-century landmark
Opened in 2009
Former custom house of the Venetian Republic
3200 mq ca.
Selections from the Pinault Collection changing every 18 months
4 exhibitions
120 artists
150.000 visitors per year (average)
29 people in the staff (2 museums)
Late XVIII-century theater, annex of Palazzo Grassi
Opened in 2013
35.000 visitors since its opening
Auditorium with 225 seats
200 events per year (concerts, art talks, dance performances, etc.)

13. What’s on in our museums
for young visitors?
Events per year

14. age 11/18?
Nothing
special

15. A radical
change
was
needed

16. Teens are not
interested in
what adults
say

17. So we choose
to adopt a
peer-to-peer
method

18. The
Detto tra noi
project

19. Detto tra noi
The app

20. Detto tra noi: a videoguide
by teens for teens

21. The project –
step 1:
Museum
visits

22. The project –
step 2:
editorial
meetings

23. The project –
step 3: shooting and
editing

24. A multitude of
different contents,
all produced
by teens

25. The balance
between digital
and analog

26. We foster a direct
relation between
art and its viewer

27. By adopting a device currently used by
teenagers, and by reducing adults’
presence in the process, we encouraged
critical approach and sought interaction.
Method
P2P approach
Tool:
a digital device

28. Feedback
from the authors
154 teenagers participated in the project
20 teachers
80% of teachers believe the project changed the students’
approach to museums and contemporary art
95% of students believe the project
was interesting, funny and instructive and say they are
willing to visit others museums in the future

29. Feedback
from the users
1217 teenagers borrowed the tablet
98% of teenagers say they will suggest their friends to go see our
exhibition and ask for the videoguide
92% of teenagers say they would love to be engaged in a project
like this

30. We
wanted
more!

31. palazzo
grassiteens

32. palazzograssiteens gioca infoartisti temi
cerca
›
›

36. Any
suggestions?

37. You want to
follow us!
@Teens_PG
Palazzo Grassi Teens
Palazzo Grassi Teens
teens.palazzograssi.it

38. Marina Rotondo
marina.rotondo@palazzograssi.it
@marina_rot
Federica Pascotto
fedepascotto@tiscali.it
@FedePascotto8
Thanks :)

39. Spot the devs!
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