Eighteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This paper presents the outcomes of a participatory heritage valuation project focused on the collections of Antwerp’s Mutsaard Campus, which houses the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Antwerp’s Faculty of Design Sciences (Belgium). The campus holds a rich and varied assemblage of historical and didactic objects—such as plaster casts, paintings, and printing presses—shaped by evolving artistic and educational practices from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The research is situated within contemporary debates on value-based heritage management and the ongoing tension between conservation and use. The ‘Collection Campus Mutsaard’ project (2022–2024) engaged approximately 150 participants, including students, faculty, heritage professionals, and artists, in collaboratively assessing the significance of these collections. The participatory process was evaluated through interviews and surveys. Findings indicate that implicit hierarchies persist, with expert perspectives often dominating over those of non-experts. Sensory engagement—particularly with the plaster cast collection—proved central to how participants perceived value, emphasizing the importance of embodied experience in heritage interpretation. Moreover, traces of use, deterioration and non-curation were seen as an added value highlighting the continued use of fragile objects for pedagogical use. This tension calls for adaptive strategies that acknowledge both conservation imperatives and the educational mission of academic heritage. By critically examining these dynamics, the study contributes to broader discussions on inclusive and participatory heritage practices, highlighting both the transformative potential and the structural limitations of such approaches in decision-making processes.