Project
The MAO’s Museum in the Community program was created in collaboration with residents and institutions from the Nove Fužine neighborhood. The goal of the project is to enhance the accessibility of museum content, engage vulnerable groups, and promote intergenerational cooperation in addressing social challenges. The initiative extends beyond the museum’s traditional boundaries, bridging the public space between the neighborhood and the institution.
The program fosters meetings, conversations, and collaborations between local residents, creators, and experts, exploring ways in which museums can co-create a space for the community and the future. Museum in the Community does not aim to provide definitive answers but instead creates opportunities for open dialogue. Can a museum also serve as a neighborhood living room, a workspace, a social hub, or even a space for collective decision-making? And conversely, can a community itself become a form of architecture?
Spring events
The spring opening of Museum in the Community coincides with the national Day for Change. We usually connect the event to preparations for the new gardening season in the community garden next to Fužine Castle—a space we co-created during the first Museum in the Community project. The garden serves as one of the key meeting points between the museum and the local community. The gardening activities are led by CONA and Youth Community Programs, while the cultural program is organized by the residents of the Fužine Retirement Home.
The spring activities are usually divided into two parts. On one hand, we focus on developing a “product” or a more tangible part of the project. At the same time, partner events organized by the Activity Center Fužine, the Retirement Home Fužine, and the School of Health take place in the museum’s park and courtyard. Together, we host several workshops aimed at encouraging intergenerational connections. We are particularly proud that the innovative platform We are Face (more about the project: FACE) organized several successful events. During this time, we explore different approaches to intergenerational and community collaboration. Together with institutions and individuals from Fužine, we develop several new inclusive workshops that open up discussions on topics such as space, coexistence, and community.
The production workshops became a platform for dialogue with local stakeholders—about space, how we shape it, how we share it, and how we live within it. Each year these workshops lay the foundation for the next stage of our work.
Production phase
The production phase of the project always takes place in the spring. We select a specific group or Institution to work with and develop something. In the First Museum in the Community we focused on the Museums park, where we made 4 different projects together with the Faculty of Arts and Academy of Fine Arts and Design. One year we renovated an unrenovated part of the Castle (where MAO is situated) and transformed it into the new community space, where all the autumn events took place. This year we made a photographic exhibition with kids and youngsters from the Community centres.
Autumn events
Similar events take place in the autumn, which is also a time to explore and develop new methodologies and approaches for the workshops. We usually collaborate with the Activity Centre Fužine and the Fužine Retirement Home. The aim of these workshops is to nurture and strengthen the connections established during the spring, ensuring that we remain in contact with the community throughout the period leading up to the next production phase.