The Museum as a Neighbourhood Living Room

The Neighbourhood Living Room looks at how a museum can build a more dynamic and participatory audience relationship. The vision is that a museum can be integrated as a part of the community and act as a living room for citizens. The methods used are based on applied arts, applied music education, social media, mobile technology and cultural production. Art based methods will work as a tool for promoting communal spirit between residents and as a driving force for a unique city life based on the original elements of the district. The Museum as a Neighbourhood Living Room is a three-year project and aims to make The Museum of Technology (the only general museum of technology in Finland) more approachable for local residents, particularly young adults. The project has been realised together with Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (with students mainly from arts and technology programmes) and The Neighbourhood Residential Association Artova. The biggest challenge so far has been in the challenging of attitudes and perceptions of students involved in the project with museums and museum interpretation.
www.metropolia.fi/en/research-and-development/projects/the-peoples-smart-sculpture