Being relevant locally

Rural areas have been ascribed various attributes. From an urban perspective, the “countryside” is the object of projections: from a bucolic place of longing on the one hand to images of backwardness or structural weakness on the other. However, the once clearly perceived line between “urban” and “rural” lifestyles seems to be steadily disappearing in light of an increasingly more mobile and connected world. Traditional attributions—as well as traditionalising self-conceptions in terms of culturally homogeneous communities—no longer represent the realities of rural life. These developments raise the question of what role museums can in fact play today in rural areas. How is it possible to reach people locally in their concrete reality and be relevant to them? How can museums—building on collections inherited mostly from the 19th century—become social spaces in which new forms of interaction are possible and new self-conceptions can be negotiated? What forms of engagement and going beyond the traditional boundaries of the museum are possible? The workshop gathers innovative examples from different regions and discusses how rural museum work—in the light of limited resources and staff—can realise its potential with regards to content and its social role.