Participation (museum)

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In museum science, participation denotes the participation and participation of the visitors not only in the sense of a reception of the exhibition contents, but in the sense of (co-) production and active participation in or in museums and exhibitions. It was only called "participation" in the last few years, but the idea of ​​opening up and involving visitors or society or community is much older. Participation in the concepts of the Écomusée developed in France in the 1970s, which also influenced German museums in the course of the New Museology, as well as in the concepts of neighborhood or community museums in the USA, was and is required as an integral part and task of the museum and the Anglo-Saxon region and the Museos Comunitarios in Central and South America.

In recent years, the concept has received international attention mainly from Nina Simon, in the German-speaking countries mainly from Anja Piontek and numerous publications from the Frankfurt Historical Museum (in particular Jan Gerchow, Susanne Gesser and Angela Jannelli).

definition

Of participation is in the Museum spoken when visitors will have the opportunity to contribute their own content to significant and appealing way, or to share. The main difference between traditional museum work and a participatory approach is the flow of information between the institution and the visitors. Traditionally, the museum is the sender and the visitor is the receiver. In a participatory approach, an exchange takes place and both parties act as both sender and receiver.

Problem

Not every form of interaction is equally participative. The difference between the two terms is that, in contrast to interaction, which involves taking part in given structures, participation can intervene in these structures. In addition to this definition problem, there are also the different, country-specific views. Andrea Witcomb's interpretation of interaction in the true sense of the word is what is perceived as participation in this country. At least if you use Nina Simon's concept as a basis .

Different levels of participation

According to Nina Simon, the participatory museum work can be divided into three levels, the gradation of which is determined by the different degrees of participation options: Level one is the contribution . The museum provides a fixed framework for this. The participants can contribute their part within this. Level two is collaboration . Here the participants have the opportunity to act as experts and active partners in a museum project. The top level is co-creation , in which visitors create and implement content and projects on an equal footing with the museum. Simon added a preliminary stage to these three stages, which she called hosting . Such projects are those in which the institution makes part of its premises and / or resources available to normal visitors or public groups so that they can present projects that they have developed and implemented themselves.

In her dissertation, Anja Piontek developed what is probably the most extensive model to date for classifying and analyzing participation, which she calls the "dimensional model". One aspect of this model is: a. likewise a typology of participatory museum work, which takes Nina Simon's gradation as a basis and develops it further according to her own definition of participation. It differentiates between elaboration / execution, preliminary work, collaboration and collaboration as central forms of participation, but also makes it clear that in practice there are certainly mixed forms.

Not every project and every exhibition always has to offer the same level of opportunities for participation. Because it should not be ignored that not all recipients want to participate to this extent. It should always be possible to visit a 'normal' museum so that this group of visitors does not get lost to the institution. When it comes to the type of participation, many museums focus purely on 'creating content' and overlook the fact that the range of participation opportunities is many times wider. Visitors who consume, comment, organize, rework and disseminate the generated content also participate. And this group of people makes up a much larger part than the active participants.

It should be noted that a participatory approach is an open-ended process that is characterized by its communicative orientation. Furthermore, it must be clear to the participants why they are allowed / should participate. Participation for the sake of participation does not make sense and is also not expedient. " If the museum doesn't care about the outcomes of visitors' participation, why should visitors participate? “And for this reason it should always be clearly communicated what benefit participation has for the museum. Visitors want to be valued and have the feeling that they can contribute to something. It is also important to thank them afterwards and, if possible, to inform them of the further process. In addition, participatory offers are an additional expense for museum employees that should not be underestimated. So to be able to benefit from it is only legitimate. The museum employees must not be left alone in this process, because the new orientation means changed working conditions and requirements for them too. They must be accompanied and supported just like the people involved. Because they are required to share and surrender much of their authority. Through this participation, the previously 'omniscient' curator must grant others the status of an expert, deal flexibly with the new situation and bring a high degree of openness and the ability to improvise.

literature

  • Simon, Nina: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the Museum. The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift , ed. by Gail Anderson (et al. New York 2012²), pp. 330-350.
  • Simon, Nina: The participatory museum (Santa Cruz 2010).
  • Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers. Transcript (Bielefeld 2017).
  • Piontek, Anja: Participatory approaches in museums and their educational work , in: Handbuch Museumspädagogik. Cultural education in museums , ed. by Beatrix Commandeur, Hannelore Kunz-Ott, and Katrin Schad. Kopaed (Munich 2016), pp. 198–205. Online: https://www.kubi-online.de/artikel/partizipative-ansaetze-museen-deren-bildungsarbeit
  • Gesser, Susanne; Handschin, Martin; Jannelli, Angela; Lichtensteiger, Sibylle (ed.): The participatory museum. Between participation and user-generated content. New demands on cultural and historical exhibitions . Transcript (Bielefeld 2012).
  • Gesser, Susanne: We make museums! , in: Historical museums today, ed. by Michele Barricelli and Tabea Golgath (Schwalbach / Ts. 2014), pp. 68–75.
  • Sternfeld, Nora: Participation , in: Handbook Exhibition Theory and Practice , ed. by ARGE schnittpunkt (including Vienna 2013), p. 178.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers . Transcript, Bielefeld, S. 19 u. 95 ff .
  2. ^ Simon, Nina: The participatory museum (Santa Cruz 2010).
  3. ^ Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers . Transcript, Bielefeld 2017.
  4. ↑ Simon, Nina: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the Museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here pp. 331–332.
  5. ↑ Sternfeld, Nora: Participation , in: Handbook Exhibition Theory and Practice , ed. by ARGE schnittpunkt (including Vienna 2013), p. 178.
  6. ^ Witcomb, Andrea: Interactivity: Thinking Beyond , in: A companion to museum studies , ed. by Sharon Macdonald (inter alia Chichester 2011), pp. 353-361, here p. 360.
  7. ↑ Gesser, Susanne: We make a museum !, in: Historical museums today , ed. v. Barricelli et al. Golgath (Schwalbach / Ts. 2014), pp. 68–75, here pp. 70f; Simon, Nina: The participatory museum (Santa Cruz 2010), p. 187.
  8. ↑ Simon: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the Museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here p. 187.
  9. ^ Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers . Transcript, Bielefeld 2017, p. 138-258 .
  10. ^ Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers. Transcript (Bielefeld 2017), pp. 193-204. And: This: Participative approaches in museums and their educational work , in: Handbuch Museumspädagogik. Cultural education in museums , ed. by Beatrix Commandeur, Hannelore Kunz-Ott, and Katrin Schad. Kopaed (Munich 2016), pp. 198–205. Online: https://www.kubi-online.de/artikel/partizipative-ansaetze-museen-deren-bildungsarbeit
  11. ^ Piontek, Anja: Museum and Participation. Theory and practice of cooperative exhibition projects and participation offers. Transcript (Bielefeld 2017), p. 204 ff.
  12. ↑ Nina Simon: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here p. 333.
  13. ↑ Simon, Nina: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here p. 335.
  14. ↑ Gesser, Susanne: We make museums! , in: Historical museums today , ed. v. Barricelli et al. Golgath (Schwalbach / Ts. 2014), pp. 68–75, here p. 73.
  15. ↑ Simon, Nina: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here p. 339.
  16. ↑ Simon, Nina: Principles of Participation , in: Reinventing the museum (including New York 2012²), pp. 330–350, here pp. 338–341.
  17. ↑ Gesser, Susanne: We make museums! , in: Historical museums today , ed. v. Barricelli et al. Golgath (Schwalbach / Ts. 2014), pp. 68–75, here pp. 73f.