The Mixing Room project at Te Papa: co-creating the museum with refugee background youth in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Tuhinga 24

Tuhinga 24: 65-83

ABSTRACT: The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) represents the diverse cultures of New Zealand through community exhibitions. The Mixing Room: stories from young refugees in New Zealand is the museum’s sixth community exhibition and focuses on young people from refugee backgrounds and their stories of resettlement.

The exhibition tested traditional ideas of community by focusing on a community of situation – that of being a refugee. The exhibition also tested Te Papa’s development of community exhibitions by embracing contemporary museological practice, which advocates for greater social responsiveness and engagement. Consequently, the project was created through a participatory model guided by the principles of participatory action research (PAR) and youth development practice.

The exhibition content was created by the young people themselves and presented digitally within the exhibition without editorial intervention. In this paper, we investigate the methodologies and aims behind The Mixing Room project, discuss its results, challenges and outcomes, and explore the implications of working in this way for other museums and exhibition teams considering a co-creation model for exhibition development.

KEYWORDS: Museum, New Zealand, Te Papa, community, exhibition, refugees, refugee background youth, participatory action research (PAR), co-creation, collaboration, youth development, engagement.