Paper short abstract:

The paper will present an evaluation and analysis of a survey on collaborative exhibition curation sent to museum professionals. It will shed light on their institution’s self-conception and strategies towards the realization of a more inclusive and socially meaningful paradigm.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will present the results of a quantitative and qualitative study undertaken by a team of museum professionals and researchers based at Mucem in Marseille. The survey followed the aim to investigate the contemporary curation practices of European museums by posing the question of the way in which collaboration is part of their scientific projects, as well as curation and collective practices. Also, the aspect of remuneration of external partners and experts was investigated. On the basis of participation in the survey a number of individual interview partners were selected inquiring specific examples of collaborative or co-creative exhibitions with vulnerable communities that break with the norm of habitual power structures and dominant heritage production. The analysis draws from the responses of 118 French and international participants in their capacities as independent curators, representatives and professionals from European museums, and patrimonial associations. While the degrees of collaboration and ranges of implementation in professional practices may vary, for many survey participants collaboration is framed as engaging in relations with the public in order to retrieve information for a specific museal objective. Systematic collaboration with organized minority groups or community representatives in exhibition curation is less wide-spread (even lesser so in the French context), while the institution-wide integration of minority advisors and co-curators remains an exception.