Co-Curation as Hacking: Biohackers in Copenhagen’s Medical Museion

TY - JOUR

T1 - Co-Curation as Hacking

T2 - Biohackers in Copenhagen’s Medical Museion

AU - Davies, Sarah Rachael

AU - Tybjerg, Karin

AU - Whiteley, Louise Emma

AU - Söderqvist, Thomas

N1 - Sarah R Davies, Karin Tybjerg, and Louise Whiteley are equal first authors.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - In 2012, the University of Copenhagen's Medical Museion collaborated with members of the local DIY biology community to create a DIY biology lab and event series. This article discusses the project and the hacker movement more generally with reference to two current museum trends: first, the opening up of museums through external collaborations, for instance in co-curation; and second, renewed interest among science and technology museums in revealing the "behind the scenes" of research, including bringing laboratories into museums. With regard to the first trend, we suggest that hacking may be a useful framework for thinking about co-curation, and argue that co-curation needs to be understood as a process that doesn't just involve the representation of diverse narratives, but instead incorporates a range of diverse actors into the design and production of an exhibition. With regard to the second, we argue that biohacking may be a better fit to a museum's desire to exhibit research processes than traditional scientific laboratories, given biohacking's emphasis on enabling citizens to understand and carry out scientific research. We develop these suggestions by charting the course of the collaboration.

AB - In 2012, the University of Copenhagen's Medical Museion collaborated with members of the local DIY biology community to create a DIY biology lab and event series. This article discusses the project and the hacker movement more generally with reference to two current museum trends: first, the opening up of museums through external collaborations, for instance in co-curation; and second, renewed interest among science and technology museums in revealing the "behind the scenes" of research, including bringing laboratories into museums. With regard to the first trend, we suggest that hacking may be a useful framework for thinking about co-curation, and argue that co-curation needs to be understood as a process that doesn't just involve the representation of diverse narratives, but instead incorporates a range of diverse actors into the design and production of an exhibition. With regard to the second, we argue that biohacking may be a better fit to a museum's desire to exhibit research processes than traditional scientific laboratories, given biohacking's emphasis on enabling citizens to understand and carry out scientific research. We develop these suggestions by charting the course of the collaboration.

U2 - 10.1111/cura.12102

DO - 10.1111/cura.12102

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0011-3069

VL - 58

SP - 117

EP - 131

JO - Curator: The Museum Journal

JF - Curator: The Museum Journal

IS - 1

ER -