Abstract
Through a case study, this thesis explores how Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (NKIM) use co-curating in the exhibition “125 objects, choices, stories” as a method for reaching out to its publics. Particularly it examines what museums are communicating by exhibitions that are co-curated with selected participants from their publics. An analysis of the co-curated exhibition was carried out by the use of interviews with two staff members from NKIM, along with a visual and textual analysis of the exhibition. I have examined how, and why, the museum staff decided to use the co-curating method; how they found their participants; and how the collaboration unfolded up until the exhibition was opened. The research is set in the context of the development of the curatorial role and the focus on social inclusion in museums over the last few decades. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu (1991) and Jacques Derrida’s (2000) theories that regard the willingness to open up our domain to strangers along with my collected data, I argue that there is a way of working on collaborative exhibition projects that does not adhere to the traditional art museum codes. At its core collaborative projects are not about teaching participants and audiences the best way of working within the conventions of the art museum, but to challenge the museum to change what the result could be all together.