Around 530 BC, the world’s first public museum opened its doors in the Mesopotamian state of Ur, modern-day Iraq. The curator was a priestess princess, and the museum was part of the palace complex, displaying artifacts from the area with informative labels in several languages.
Fast forward about 2,500 years, museums no longer simply present static exhibits with written information. From digitized archives to social media accounts to virtual reality, recent technology allows audiences to interact with collections in new ways.
But recently, an even deeper change is taking place, based on the very essence of what a museum is expected to provide and what it provides. This shifts the focus away from the objects being viewed and onto the viewers, as museums become spaces that foster engagement and participation while meeting broader social needs.
A new museum definition for a new era
“Museums are moving in this direction,” museum thinker, consultant and academic Sandro Debono told DW.
he pointed towards Current definition of museum by the International Council of MuseumsA global NGO that promotes and advances heritage work. Adopted in 2022, it specifically recognizes inclusivity, diversity and community involvement as essential aspects of the museum’s work – a notable departure from the previous definition, which named but did not include serving society.
When it comes to specific regions, Latin America has particularly embraced participatory practices, Debono said. There, the idea of museums as places of participation and inclusion, such as civic and community-led museums, can be traced back to the 1970s. A few decades later, the concept of social museology emerged, which focused not on objects but on living people, especially marginalized people, their empowerment, heritage and supporting social change.
Now, many other parts of the world, including Europe, are adopting similar approaches in their own ways, including through traditional institutions.
For Julia Pagel, Secretary General of the Network of European Museum Organizations (NEMO), this dynamic is captured by the phrase “from collections to connections”.
“[European] Museums are focusing more and more on communities,” he told DW. He pointed out that funding, which largely comes from the state, is increasingly linked to social relevance. “Museums need to move from being primarily places you visit to becoming social and civic infrastructure that you use, or trusted places where people can meet and exchange. [ideas]”
From yoga to dance: new forms of participation
While museum talks, school group tours, and social events have long been staples of traditional museums’ outreach, their current engagement offerings often involve individuals participating in ways that are not directly related to the collections.
At the National Museum of Singapore, senior citizens with cognitive and memory problems can participate in everything from dance classes to art workshops to discussion groups, turning the museum into a site of socialization for individuals who are often excluded from public life.
Upcoming discussion events at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California include poetry readings and a panel of legal experts considering the current U.S. Supreme Court.
And many institutions participate in “museums on prescription” programs, in which museums partner with national health systems to recognize museum visits as a treatment for things like depression and loneliness.
Unifying these diverse offerings is a broader vision of how a museum can engage its community.
breaking the museum wall
There is also a wide range of ways in which museums are directly engaging local citizens.
is one of the most profound examples Favela MuseumIn Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It describes itself as a “living museum” and that “its main collection is its inhabitants.” The community-run museum was created in 2008, and favela residents are woven into all aspects of its work, from exhibitions of street graffiti and oral testimonies to lecture series and handicraft workshops led by locals.
But even in more traditional museums, local people are being given the chance to participate more directly. For some, this means involving non-professionals in the creation of exhibits.
In 2022, Serbia’s Matias Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad hosted a project called “Novi Sad Citizens’ Choice”, in which prominent society members chose a work of art that spoke to them and it was then hung in a special exhibition.
Other museums are giving regular local residents a voice on the museum team itself.
The Bundeskunsthalle, a contemporary art museum in Bonn, Germany, has long seen itself as “an active place of encounter,” said Katja Skop, who manages inclusion and integration at the museum.
“This raises the question of how we can remain an open and accessible space that is relevant to people regardless of their background or education and is relevant to a diverse society,” he told DW.
To achieve this, the museum launched the “Gesellschaftsforum” or “Society Forum” in 2023. Initially conceived as a one-off council of 31 local citizens who would advise the museum about its future and how to better serve residents, the council’s experience was so useful that it recommended it be established as a permanent body – a suggestion which the museum accepted. A younger version now regularly advises the museum on how to make its offerings more accessible, open and easier to understand, breaking down the walls between museum staff and local citizens and bringing outside perspectives into the museum.
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in the Netherlands, home of modern and contemporary art, also includes “museum outsiders” among its staff. Each year for the past 18 years, a diverse group of 15 local teens have worked at the museum in various capacities, bringing their perspectives and ideas to museum operations, from tourism to marketing to programming.
Participation: not a one-time event
but in impact study A former co-author of the programme, he concluded that if museums want to remain relevant to young, diverse generations, they need to establish “an intensive, appropriately embedded, sustained, long-term and inclusive youth programme”.
“One-off efforts will do little to make the region more inclusive or diverse,” the study said.
In this way, his approach matches that of museum expert Debono – that wherever and in whatever form, participation cannot be superficial.
“Participatory practices are the name of the game,” he said, “although museums interpret it in different ways. However, what matters most is the depth of participation.”
Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier