The De-Collection process

_{Illustration: Karel Kindermans 2023}

PARTICIPATORY DEACCESSIONING COLLECTION MUSEUM DE VOORDE

Museum De Voorde wants to de-collect the collection participatory

Museum De Voorde is on the eve of starting the deaccessioning of its entire collection. Gemeente Zoetermeer has granted a project subsidy for this, due to the subsidy stop. We follow the latest museum guideline, the Leidraad Afstoten Museale Objecten (LAMO 2023), when de-collecting. Unique in the Netherlands, Museum De Voorde intends to uncollect its entire collection in a participatory manner.

The museum chooses to design the deaccessioning process according to the spirit of the Faro Convention. In it, it was agreed to put people and society at the centre in relation to heritage. According to the museum, collecting cannot be done without the inhabitants of Zoetermeer, who assigned local significance to the objects. After all, the majority of all objects were donated by private Zoetermeer residents. Therefore, the museum chooses to involve Zoetermeer residents in valuing the collection and selecting new owners. In this way, the museum wants to create more heritage awareness through a democratic process that is new to Dutch museums.

We also need knowledge organisations and museum experts who focus on regional historical heritage and popular design in order for the project to succeed, in addition to, of course, the widest possible participation from the Zoetermeer community. We will value the collection together with the inhabitants (co-valuation), and reposition it with the public (co-granting). We will seize the 75th anniversary of the Historical Society of Old Soetermeer (HGOS) to do this together with the HGOS members and other interested parties.

The three goals are:
1. deliver the depot empty
2. involve a local public that helps make choices
3. initiate a Toolkit for participatory deaccessioning

Through the Toolkit, we secure experiential knowledge for other regional museums on how to involve the public in the decision-making process of uncollecting a (regional) historical collection that is in danger of falling apart, and whose heritage cannot be rehoused within the region as a matter of course. The project also aims to set an example for democratisation of judgement and decision-making within the LAMO.

Museum De Voorde has received a contribution from the Faro Implementation Programme of the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) for the participation part of de-collecting. You can read more about our initiative on the Faro website: Faro Uitvoeringsprogramma van de Rijksdienst Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE).