Having explored the issues surrounding content, digital communication, artificial intelligence, and health, let’s now turn our attention to the material heart of the museum: its collection.
In recent years, museums have begun to open up, sometimes timidly, to artists and stories from so-called minority communities in Belgium. Temporary exhibitions are appearing, but these initiatives are still struggling to make a lasting impact on the permanent collections or to translate into a truly inclusive acquisitions policy.
It’s time to take action on the collections themselves.
By (re)thinking acquisition, conservation, and inventory policy through the prism of diversity, we can prepare the museum narratives of tomorrow. In particular, this means raising awareness among conservation teams, who are often overlooked in institutional inclusion plans. And yet, conserving differently means actively contributing to the development of research and society.
Better representing the plurality of cultural and artistic practices means not only respecting the communities concerned but also producing more accurate information that reflects the different layers of the world. Museums are not neutral spaces, but a policy of plural acquisitions can make them places of dialogue, memory, and truth.
The Museom of the City of Brussels is part of this dynamic: in collaboration with the City Archives, it regularly launches calls for donations. In 2021, a collection was organised around objects linked to LGBTQIA+ communities; in 2024, stories related to migratory journeys were brought to light. Preserving these contemporary witnesses from the Global Majority* helps to enrich our shared heritage by combating the invisibilisation or censorship of certain stories.
This work is also being accompanied by an in-depth reflection on the inventory of the collections. Adapting the nomenclature allows for scientific accuracy, as well as respectful treatment of the objects and the cultures they embody. With this in mind, the GardeRobe du MannekenPis has developed thematic sections that make it easy to find costumes linked to feminism, world cultures, or LGBTQIA+ struggles online. These tools encourage the creation of coherent corpora between institutions and enhance the intellectual accessibility of the collections.
Finally, in a context where the restitution of objects from colonial contexts is becoming essential, it is essential to rethink acquisition methods in depth. How do objects enter collections? Under what conditions, and with what legitimacy? If enrichment policies are to make sense, they must be designed in close dialogue with experts from the communities concerned.
In conclusion, expanding our collections today means laying the foundations for a relevant museum, rooted in its time and resolutely looking to the future – a museum that is rich in its plurality, its shared stories, and its ability to represent all voices.
*Global Majority refers to the non-white populations that make up around 80% of the world’s population. This term, which appeared in Anglo-Saxon anti-racist circles in the 2010s, values these groups as a global majority, in contrast to terms such as ‘ethnic minorities’. It has been promoted in particular by Dr Shirley Anne Tate and Dr Foluke Adebisi.
© Photo : Tine Schoenmaker
Open Museum
A committed initiative by Brussels Museums
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The aim of this initiative is to raise awareness of the importance of inclusion and participation of under-represented groups in the 125+ museums in the Brussels Museums network.