From a Visitor to Participant. Strategies for Participation in Museums
From a Visitor to Participant. Strategies for Participation in Museums

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to reflect on the new position of the audience in museums which has been evolving from a passive to a more active role. The context for this reflection is Nina Simon’s concept of the participatory museum. I discuss the issue using the examples of four museums in Poland where the changing attitude towards the visitor is a part of the general transformation of museums after the political transition of 1989. Selected case studies are: the project “Anything Goes” (2016) realised by the National Museum in Warsaw, the “Selfservice Museum” (since 2012) realised by the Contemporary Museum Wrocław, the “ms3 Re:action” (2009) conducted by the Museum of Art in Łódź, and the “Free Museum in Wolnica Square. Kazimierz Collective” (since 2013) realised by the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków. My thesis is that although visitors are encouraged to engage and participate in museum programmes, they are involved or seemingly involved to a limited extent.

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