Community-Based Museum Ecologies: Public Doors and Windows and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (‘The New Patrons’)

Abstract

A growing number of artist-led initiatives and para-institutional organizations are creating community-based projects that signal the emergence of alternative museum ecologies. This article will examine two initiatives, Public Doors and Windows (PDW) and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (NC) (‘The New Patrons’) that reflect a diverse range of practices that contribute to, or create, museum ecologies outside the physical and conceptual spaces of museums. These museum ecologies also contribute to discourses on the participatory museum and intersect with experiments in community engagement and social practice.  Although they may have distinct conceptual points of departure, the diverse institutional platforms and initiatives of PDW and NC demonstrate the ways in which emerging museum ecologies are challenging museums to rethink their relations to communities.