Dance, performance and museum: reflections and perspectives on display

Résumé

The essay offers some reflections on the growing presence of dance in museums in this early part of the 21st century. The examinations are organized by thematic blocks that correspond to a hypothetical exhibition in six rooms, and the reader can follow them in any order. The topics range from the museum's identity in the contemporary world to its missions to the professional figures involved in its management. Altogether these perspectives illuminate how many ways the presence of dance in the museum can foster a new relationship with visitors, mediate knowledge of the art collections on display, and tell its own story. Inside a museum, dance can also transform artistic projects in social processes and make the exhibition halls from transitory to lived-in places.