Participatory technologies as a new challenge to theoretical museology

Abstract

At the end of the twentieth century, the new principles of organizing museum activities led to the appearance of the so-called participatory museums (museums of complicity). These institutions were called upon to solve new problems, which provoked discussions about the role of the museum in society. The article outlines the scientific problems that theoretical museology needs to solve when introducing participatory technologies in the activities of modern museums. Among these problems is the analysis of the essence of the museum as a socially significant institution. It is also necessary to describe the new structure of museum communication, which will be formed during the implementation of participatory technologies. The activities of museums of complicity are analyzed using examples given in Nina Simon’s book “The Participatory Museum,” which summarizes the experience of using these technologies in museum activities of the late 20th — early 21st centuries. The author of the article highlights a number of points that have become an essential part of modern cultural management, such as the need for marketing analysis of promising museum projects, expert assessment of their socio-political potential, as well as the formation of a new behavioral model of a visitor to a participatory museum. According to the author, the use of participatory technologies in museum work is caused both by the museum’s desire to actively engage in the life of the local community (which is characteristic of small museums), and by cultural and political trends that require the museum to actively engage in the formation of a new social experience, which is not limited to aesthetic experiences and assimilation of scientific information.