The Radical Democratic Museum

In this revised and updated translation of Das Radikaldemokratische Museum, Sternfeld offers a timely critique of museums as they exist today and instead calls for museums to be reconceptualised as contested spaces for debate and new forms of political activism.

Drawing upon approaches from museum studies, education and critical theory, this volume challenges past and present exhibitions and reconsiders how museum spaces can be re‑appropriated in order to produce critical knowledge, rethink education and challenge collections. In doing so, Sternfeld envisages the radical democratic museum as a space that allows us to grapple with the past, negotiate what this means for the present and imagine a future that is more than simply an extension of the present.

This provocative and timely book will be relevant to scholars, students and practitioners with interests in museums, critical heritage studies, social justice and political movements.

Nora Sternfeld is an art educator and curator and Professor of Art Education at HFBK Hamburg, Germany. Her work explores contemporary art, educational theory, exhibitions, radical democracy and anti‑racism.