Radiococo Broadcast #36

collective dreaming

I'm writing to you from my reading corner–a little plywood platform I made with a combination of new and reused wood, mattress foam and cover stitched from previous projects. Surrounded by books in various stages of read.

The last two weeks of the year have consisted of a lot of alone time, inward travelling, planning and morning walks in the woods. I now live just 5 minutes from a little forested area and they don't exaggerate when they say the best thing about Sweden is the access to nature. God knows they need it because the sun only rises at 9 am and sets at 3:30 pm at this time of the year.

I've been ruminating on my thesis project since the semester started (in Sept) and this month I was the most uncertain I have ever been about it. Funny that I talk about trusting the process in the last broadcast and then proceed to doubt everything. Alas, I contain multitudes (and fluctuating hormones).

In this quietude, I am slowly connecting the pieces and noticing patterns. My thesis project is situated in the context of museums and cultural institutions. I love museums and I love kids in museums. There are already plenty of offerings for kids in these spaces:

We have museums specially designed and targeted at children and young people. They often have very clear learning/ interactive goals and are family-friendly in varying degrees.

There are playful exhibitions, though not exclusively for children, they are highly interactive and allow room for touching, curiosity and imagination.

One can hardly talk about children without talking about toys, so of course, we have toy museums and exhibitions about toys.

There are also exhibitions designed with children in mind. Ilon Wikland's exhibition at Gothenburg Art Museum wasn't marketed for children. Still, because Wikland is a prolific picturebook illustrator, they know that children will make up a significant portion of the visitors and have designed it accordingly. The frames were hung at eye level, there was a reading nook in the middle of the exhibition, and the exhibition text was in simple Swedish. I know this because I was briefly proud of myself for being able to comprehend 75% of the exhibition text and then quickly realised it was simple Swedish (_:

Let’s not forget soft play corners and activity stations within exhibitions themselves!

And finally, we have the workshop spaces. Or ateliers, as they call them here. Incredibly bright and beautiful spaces that are usually used for planned workshops or drop-in activities.

These are all great but I cannot help but think–where are the children's voices/ perspectives in all of this? Even collections¹ relating to childhood are seen through the adult's often nostalgic and romanticised lens. As Rodney Harrison puts it:

Children do have a strong position, as already mentioned, when it comes to taking part in and being educated through heritage institutions. However, their position is not as strong when it comes to collecting, preserving, and archiving children’s own cultural expressions for the future.

And what about young people who do not have access to the museums because of geographical/ socioeconomic/ infrastructure/ all of the above reasons?

This leads to my current research questions:

1. How can design empower children to exhibit and represent their ideas and stories through their material cultures (things they create)?

2. How can museums include children’s perspectives in exhibition design and planning?

I have workshops planned with 2 groups of kids from the suburbs in Gothenburg, and we are working towards an exhibition together while I find answers to the above questions. I have a rough plan, but a lot of it will be changed and shaped by the kids I work with. I will have more to share next month after the workshops have started. But in the last few days, I have been dreaming and scheming. I want children's voices to exist beyond the walls of a museum too. Maybe a children's culture festival?! Like the annual design/art weeks we are so familiar with, but with children leading and running the show with adults as peers. I'm putting this out here as a signal, a scattering of seeds. I don't know how and where yet, but consider this an invitation to collective dreaming (and scheming) 💭✨

Thank you for being here, sending you good vibrations into the new year, wherever you are 📡💓

1. Eskilstuna Kommun in Sweden has a children’s picture archive!