Graffiti in the Museum: Multivocality and Inclusion through Art

The article focuses on the artistic creation project of a large-scale site-specific painting in the World Archaeology Gallery of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, initiated in 2023. The project aimed to revitalise the gallery and enrich the museum experience by interrogating the collections as outcomes of moments of encounter and divergence between various audiences and the museum, across time and different contexts. It sought to explore the complexity of relationships between the tangible and the imaginary, the present and the past, the institutional and the familial, the individual and the historical. The method involved active participation from various groups, including the Front-of-House team, museum staff, students, and coordinated groups who took part in workshops and special activities. Participants were encouraged to reflect on their relationships with specific objects in the gallery, storage, other museums, or personal and family collections. The project’s sources included the archaeological objects in the room, the experiences and memories of the participants, and associated collections, both institutional and personal. In conclusion, we argue that the artistic intervention of the large-scale site-specific painting facilitated a critical review of the inclusion of alternative practices and multivocal exercises in the creation of museum spaces. These approaches proved conducive to offering meaningful and relevant experiences for visitors, thus achieving a reinterpretation and re-signification of the exhibited objects. The paper discusses the achievements, challenges, and difficulties of the process, highlighting the importance of these alternative artistic practices in transforming the museum experience.