What kind of museum will the next generation dream of and build? How might perceptions of museums – and what museums can be – change in the next 10, 20, 100 years? Rachel Noel on the future of museums

Having worked with young people and creative learning for the past decade, naturally I believe that the experience of learning with and encountering art must be central to museums of the future. At Tate, we describe creative learning as “using artistic processes, materials, imagination, and curiosity to develop new skills, knowledge, and perspectives (which could include creativity, wellbeing or personal growth) in an open and limitless way”. But before that is possible, public perception of cultural spaces continues to be an enduring barrier that excludes so many from so much as setting foot inside in the first place, let alone having meaningful encounters or making memories.

On the question of who has the right to amazing culture, artist and urban planner Theaster Gates said that after seeing Jay-Z perform in the Brooklyn arena he helped build, he had come to believe that “all one has to do is build the space you want to rock in”. For me, future museums will be the houses that young people, and those from communities and backgrounds marginalised by society can ‘rock in’ – can see themselves in, can be their full selves in, imagine and even dream in.

Open invitation, collaboration and participation will be a part of every museum function – from collecting, to commissioning, to exhibition making, public programme making, and archiving

Perceptions of what a museum or cultural space can look like will have radically shifted – they will be seen as spaces that are as alive and as messy as our everyday lives. They will function as our homes, our corner shops, our schools, our dancefloors and our temples – equally essential for quiet contemplation or study, as creative expression, fiery debate or dancing.

They will not only represent (or consult with) young people, artists, cultural workers, communities, leaders who are from the global majority, queer, disabled or working class – but will be founded and led by us. They may look different to museums as we know them – existing outside of grand, contemporary buildings, and taking new forms within social housing, doctor’s surgeries, nightclubs, prisons, online and other public spaces. Our perception of what cultural spaces can be will have shifted – as poet and writer Abondance Matanda says in her essay of the same title: “the first galleries I knew were Black homes”.

Future art museums will be a space for expression, joy, emergence; of connections between people, ideas, projects – even artworks. They will be used as much for taking part and joining in as introspection and reflection. They will utilise their unique place in the world; as spaces that facilitate public dialogue, connection, and make visible collective consciousness. Museums of all kinds will be connected and well networked, enabling an equitable sharing of resources (and power) with each other and their communities.

Open invitation, collaboration and participation will be a part of every museum function – from collecting, to commissioning, to exhibition making, public programme making, and archiving. Institutional practices will have long moved away from internal ‘divisions’ and towards models and modes of working that best support, care for, present and invite the public to engage with art and ideas – and the most pressing issues of our time. My hope is that by embracing these practices, we can build a future where our museums reflect a more authentic, nuanced and liberated representation of our truly diverse cultural ecology.

Rachel Noel
Head of Learning Programmes & Partnerships, Tate Britain and Tate Modern

This short essay is part of the FutureMuseum Project. Museum workers based in 18 countries — including Nigeria, Guinea, Botswana, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, and Norway — have already contributed their ideas to this ongoing free-to-access project.

Published 25 Nov 2024