Danish history includes us. An example of collaborative partnership between citizens and museum

Authors

  • Anneken Appel Den Gamle By Aarhus
  • Danielle Guldmann Sekwati Den Gamle By Aarhus
  • Simone Søndergaard Bertelsen Den Gamle By Aarhus

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.6348

Keywords:

collaboration, prototyping, experiments, history, cultural heritage, representation

Abstract

In 2016, a contemporary exhibition was created in partnership with
six local Somali women at the open-air museum Den Gamle By. The article
reflects upon the women initiating the idea and being the primary resource in the
development in the collaborative project, and examines examples from the project’s
method in the analytical framework of experimental “prototyping”. The method
in the project extends other examples of museum participation projects in relation
to process, product and shifting roles as collaborators. The concept of prototyping
shows how procedures at the museum were reconsidered and museum practitioners
had to reevaluate their approach in sharing authority. A key experience was how
an awareness of reactions enabled collaborators to address conflicting receptions
a contemporary exhibition necessarily entails. Recognition of conflict became a
driving force in creating space for dialogue and reflection. Possibly, prototyping
is a way of understanding how museums set frameworks for dialogues between
communities.

Author Biographies

Anneken Appel, Den Gamle By Aarhus

Cand.mag. Museuminspector

Danielle Guldmann Sekwati, Den Gamle By Aarhus

Mag.Art. Ethnography, Social Anthropology, Project Coordinator

Simone Søndergaard Bertelsen, Den Gamle By Aarhus

Cand.Scient.Anth

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