The Images of a Museum. Participatory and Educational Pathways Branching out from a Heritage Asset. The Ettore Guatelli Museum as a Case Study

Abstract

This paper explores a series of practical and enquiry-based projects conducted by the Ettore Guatelli Museum in collaboration with local community actors and partner institutions including the University of Milano Bicocca: a training programme for teachers at a local group of schools, the Istituto Comprensivo of Collecchio; the creation of a new museum—an ongoing project with the schools of the Istituto Comprensivo of Lesignano; a reinterpretation of the Guatelli museum itself by young artists participating in the “Contemporary Guatelli” project. The chosen strategy of those directing the Ettore Guatelli Museum is to foster participation, allowing the many images suggested by its cultural patrimony to freely emerge, based on a shared belief in multiple interpretive possibilities.

Keywords

• museum art education
• objects
• narration
• didactic museum
• participation
• contemporary art