Findings from the Development Phase of NSC: Two ‘Back Stages’, How Power Performs on Different Pages by Skirting the Margins

This chapter will consider how the findings from the case studies have developed the method of non-selective curation. First, the author found that a ‘duty of care’ performed as symbolic power for a variety of reasons, including heteronomous responsibilities. When thinking about transparency and cultural democracy, this can be seen as performing a paternalistic power in deciding what information to give or not give the participating actors. It at the same time positions both the museum and the practitioner in a situation of emotional labour. The findings I ultimately discover that ‘meaningful participation’ cannot be achieved unless the museum and the participant can occupy the same field of cultural production (Boal, 1973; Bourdieu, P. (1993). The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed. Poetics, 12(4–5), 311. Elsevier BV.) where both parties have the same shared responsibilities and/or a radically open understanding and respect for what responsibilities each holds. If museums can perform participation in fully autonomous spaces unencumbered by government policy that contradicts practice by demanding professionals have a ‘duty of care’ or finds a way to manage spaces of autonomy within the current structure, meaningful participation could be achieved. This book contends that theatrical approaches can help with that using dynamic approach of non-selective curation.