Commentary on Part III: The Lived Materialities of the Museum - A New Research Agenda

This part conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters. The part describes the lived experience of the museum as seen through the eyes of museum educators who, in turn, are describing children’s encounters with the museum. A withness or in-the-middleness recalls Deleuze and Guattari’s theorising of a rhizome as a continuous stream of movement and transformations. Museum spaces share a similar brand of dynamism, freedom and liberation to them. All of the spaces manifest this degree of in-the-middleness that creativity and spontaneity preserve across time and place. Children, young people and adults are simply doing stuff and being in the middle of things - unaware of any learning or thinking that unfolds. The world is experienced through the eyes of the children, the spaces, the parents and the museum educators and this entangled vision brings the gallery work to life.