Transformative Museum Experiences

This introductory chapter contextualises and reflects critically on the
emerging trends characterising the evolving social role advocated by museums in
society, with an emphasis on museum experiences as vehicles for change or trans-
formation. It looks at transformation by adopting a systemic perspective, anchored
in the transformative potential of the experiences that museums offer to visitors, and
then zooming out to turn attention towards the way recent changes in the socio-
political and cultural context reverberated in structural and functional changes inside
the museum and connected institutions and communities. The chapter is structured
along a series of questions, starting by unpacking a rationale for transformative
experiences and why they are worthy of attention at this particular moment (Why),
then focusing on what we mean by transformative experiences in the context of
museums (What), on particularities of design approaches and supporting technolo-
gies for crafting transformative experiences (How), and closing with reflections on
the meaning and significance of it all, for the museum, the visitor, diverse audience
groups and society as a whole (For whom and For what). The final part of the Intro-
duction then reviews these themes once again, narrating how they are woven in the
book narrative.