The experimentation with innovative ways to enhance the accessibility, resonance, and meaningfulness of our cultural heritage is a cornerstone to contemporary museums’ development. The article explores this topic through an insight into the first experience carried out within the Open Atelier project, designed to test cutting-edge formats promoting new interactions among the audience, the museum, and its professionals. This experiment was realized through the cooperation among Art Museums of Skagen and Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali. It engaged a group of Italian artists in the development of a cross-disciplinary and co-creative process intended to turn a collection of historical photos into a new experiential heritage, capable of fostering innovative interplays among different places, people, and cultures. The paper offers a thorough illustration of this case-based experience, by systematically describing its objectives and operational framework, the processes that enabled it, and the results that were achieved, and by providing contextual insights aligned with current debates in the field. This initiative has the potential to become a lens through which to explore broader implications for innovative interpretations and uses of heritage, enhancing its accessibility and resonance for contemporary societies. Its critical observation aims to foster the debate, and thus to inform and stimulate broader practice and policy around the topic.
Fisker et al. (Wed,) studied this question.