To refer to this article use this url: http://www.quotidian.nl/vol03/nr01/a03
Abstract
Museologist Simon Knell stated recently that museums are performative spaces in which identity is presented in the form of myths. The following article applies Knell’s approach to a recent museological project of museum ‘De Paviljoens’ in Almere (Netherlands): Pioneering in de Poort. It is shown how museological authority is used in the construction of a cultural identity in a place where it is not yet self-evident: a recent housing estate. Through the use of a performance combining history, culture and modern art an attempt is made in this recently reclaimed land to provide the polder city Almere and its inhabitants with a collective identity.