Musealising change or changing the museum: the case of the musical instrument museum from the visitors' perspective
Résumé
Although we concentrate increasingly on the number of visitors that European museums welcome each year, museum audiences are seldom given the floor. It is also rare that a museum’s concepts are based on a discussion with its visitors. The musical instrument museum is a case in point for looking into the ways in which the museum institution might however be challenged if it considers the visitors’ expectations. The museum for musical instruments indeed entails a paradox as it musealises objects that are meant to produce music. And music is based on a practice that is multiple and changing. This process of musealisation reveals itself as particularly problematic for the museum visitors. The following paper aims at showing how, by shaping their expectations, the relationship of music-lovers to music outside the museum jeopardises the traditional model of the museum and might subject it to change.