Intangible cultural heritage in museums of cultures: designing communities participation in museum co-curation process. Design as strategic approach to enhance the intangible heritage

Heritage, communities, patrimonialization process and participation in intangible cultural heritage are key concepts that belong to anew landscape arisen in the wake of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage […]. What are the many voices of the old and new heritage communities animating the contemporary landscape, a landscape characterized by a growing emphasis on intangible cultural heritage, and to what degree does this changed landscape foster participatory processes? (Broccolini, 2016: 65). The topic of the intangible cultural heritage, its scientific definition, its modality of preservation and enhancement has been debated in European theoretical and practical researches for more than ten years. The present research “Intangible Cultural Heritage in museums of cultures: designing communities’ participation in museum co-curation. Design as strategic approach to enhance intangible heritage” retraces researches conducted in this area of interest, but it is focused on the museographic aspect and on the mise an scène of the intangible cultural heritage trough a participatory design process that aims to involve migrants communities1. Three theoretical themes represent the cornerstones of this research. As initial aspect, the today rereading of the ICH concept, in the perspective of design exhibition and co-curation aspect and, furthermore, its legislative and literature definition in relationship with the museum mission; secondly, the reviewing of the decolonization process of ethnographic museums, by highlighting the 1 Examples presented in this research do not concern with the recent cases of immigration and new disembarkation on Mediterranean coast, but, we defined, with migrant communities, groups of individuals with a migrant background – first or second generation - that are political and economic integrated in the society, but not often in the cultural and educational aspects. They can work as mediators of an heritage that in different ways represent themselves.attention on the ICH role; and thirdly the participatory design in museography as a form of co-curation of contents during all the phase and models of the dialogic exhibition process. In my discussion I will use the term ‘dialogic’ as a combination between the concept of “multiaccentuality of meaning” of Tony Benett (2006: 63) and the expression ‘dialogic museum’ as proposed by John Kuo Wei Tchen (1992, 2011), by referring here to the exhibition process. The first part of the research is dedicated to a theoretical analysis of ICH, its different definitions and conception, the national and international legislation related to it. With respect to the previous research in this topic a glossary is realized in order to try to collect the numerous worldwide definitions of this concept. I will then present ethnographic museums in their process of decolonization (De Palma, 2001) with a specific interest on the role of intangible cultural heritage. The sphere of design for cultural heritage is important in order to redefine the role of museography for the enhancement of ICH and to understand the exhibition process within the involvement of the communities. Starting from the concept of ‘indigenous curation’, used by Christina Kreps in 2003, the aim is to draft the different levels and degrees of involvement in the co-curation process, supported by the design. How the concept of ‘indigenous curation’, developed in extra-European context, where the communities of indigenous are constantly present and involved since long time in the museum’s redefinition and rereading of their heritage, still today, applicable in European museum? Through a qualitative research, by an investigation of different case studies considered interesting for the research, the goal is to examine in depth the knowledge of intangible cultural heritage and specifically the modality toshow it in museum through a co-curation process. The second and central part of this research is the analysis of case studies where the collaboration between actors with a migrant background, museum staff and the designer in the reinterpretation of cultural heritage, through the mediation of the design discipline as activator of knowledges and catalyst for relationships, is evident. The aim of this research is to analyse all passages of the dialogic design process and to identify the phases and the models people’s involvement, to build a referential theoretical model. Moreover, my intention is to underline the centrality of the immaterial heritage’s “holder”, the National Living Human Treasures, in all the participatory processes that will end with a possible display of the ICH, proving how the co-curation is a value added for a museum exhibition and for the visitors’ comprehension. The research has the objective to compare participative processes that lead to the enhancement of intangible heritage within the museums of cultures, founding the best examples of museums carrying out a policy of co-participation and identifying the moment, within the dialogic design process, in which this happens. In the third part, the theoretical evaluation of the case studies will be integrated by an experimental action within the MUDEC (Museo delle Culture) of Milan, designed by the English architect David Chipperfield. At the museum entrance, there is a space dedicated to the organization Forum Città Mondo (World City Forum), called in 2012 by the Municipality and composed of more than 400 migrants associations operating in cultural and social environment. The MUDEC is the legal head office of the Forum and the associations have the opportunity to use the space to organize events, exhibitions, conferences. This relationship between museum organization and migrant communities is a big as greatchallenge for the MUDEC and for the municipality. It represents an innovative experience: furthermore the collaboration between museum and communities in European museums is carried out sporadically and this is the first time that the communities have a dedicated space for them. Museum staff is aware of the possible difficulties, incomprehensions, different points of view, but the opportunity to collaborate with a group that desire to be involved in the museum activities and that is asking to have a space where expressing their culture is an unmissable occasion to experiment a communities based museology.

Questa ricerca dal titolo “Intangible Cultural Heritage in museums of cultures: designing communities' participation in museum co-curation. Design as strategic approach to enhance intangible heritage” ha come obiettivo principale l’analisi di fenomeni di partecipazione attiva, che prevedono il coinvolgimento delle comunità di migranti, nella valorizzazione del patrimonio immateriale. La ricerca si basa su tre presupposti fondamentali: il concetto di ‘patrimonio immateriale’, così come definito dalla Convenzione Unesco del 2003; l’aspetto della ‘co-curatela’ o ‘indigenous curation’ (Kreps, 2003) dei beni immateriali extraeuropei, all’interno di un processo di decolonizzazione che riguarda i musei etnografici; e la sfera del design per i beni culturali nella ridefinizione del processo espositivo dialogico. La ricerca si sviluppa in tre fasi. Una prima fase di indagine e riflessione sulla letteratura esistente; una seconda di approfondimento, attraverso casi studio e la proposta di una matrice analitico-interpretativa basata sui modelli di partecipazione e le fasi del processo espositivo; ed un’ultima di sperimentazione del modello proposto applicato al caso del Museo delle Culture di Milano. Fondamentale è la ridefinizione del ruolo del designer come attivatore dei modelli di partecipazione e mediatore nelle fasi all’interno del processo espositivo, resa possibile attraverso un’investigazione approfondita delle iniziali domande di ricerca.