Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

What happens when a museum of contemporary art activates its collection and artists in a residential care centre for people with dementia? Museum E! focuses on the rich emotional and intellectual experiences that artworks can elicit and is based on the power of contemporary art to bring people closer together and to stimulate interaction, even when people are no longer able to physically visit the museum. With Museum E!, M HKA investigates how both caregivers, museum staff, and artists can support the ways in which a person with dementia experiences him- or herself, and how they can inspire and challenge each other through dialogue, co-creation, and equality. In a participatory process, residents, employees, and families choose which work from the M HKA collection temporarily moves to the WZC. In this unique collaboration, M HKA acts as much more than a lender. We also share expertise, methodologies, and even our staff with WZC Immaculata. In consultation with M HKA WZC, Immaculata invites an artist for a period of six months, for a residence in the residential care centre. The artist works together with seniors in need of care and their families from an on-site studio. M HKA wants to use this project to shape its role as an active social actor, to put into practice a “Pedagogy of the Encounter,” which abandons the idea of education as merely transferring knowledge in one direction, and at the same time to engage in self-reflection and institutional criticism.