The Subjective Museum

Focusing on Subjective Bases of Knowledge and Their Museological Consequences

Frankfurt is many cities. Which one do you live in? This question lied at the centre of “Frankfurt Now!”, the new participation-based permanent exhibition at the Historisches Museum in Frankfurt. The project aimed to create a digital collection of perspectives which revealed the knowledge of experience gained through everyday practice.

As part of this fellowship, the collection was expanded and analysed in two different ways. In search of the “sensed city“, the fellow spoke with its inhabitants to learn how they feel about Frankfurt, how they perceive it and “use” it, and subsequently add his/her personal view of Frankfurt to the collection. The fellow was given free rein to determine the content and method of his/her contribution. In today’s museum landscape, there is hardly any research conducted on collections devoted to subjective bases of knowledge. Therefore, the museum wished to discuss with the fellow the museological consequences of focusing on subjective criteria. What objects does the curator happen to encounter? What presentation strategies are suitable? How does it change the museum as an institution? Would it lose scientific credibility to only gain “street credibility” instead? The aim of the Fellowship was to develop a museological theory of the “subjective museum”.

The museum was looking to hire a curator from a “community museum“, such as the Museu da Maré in Rio de Janeiro or the District Six Museum in Cape Town. Such museums are known for playing an active role in and for the local community.