A Community Museum in Milan: Participation as a Form of Counter-Politics

The article analyses citizen participation in MUBIG, a community museum project, in the Milan’s Greco district, curated by a cooperative within a multigenerational residential project. The forms of participatory curatorship that animate the MUBIG project are read here as a counter-narrative against the hegemonic dynamics that focus on urban regeneration, which is used as a Trojan horse to legitimise exclusive housing policies, rising housing costs, and neoliberal culture in general. The article critically analyses participatory practices from a methodological perspective, placing them within the contemporary scientific debate, highlighting in particular the relationship with the neighbourhood through the urban garden and contemporary art collecting. Through these foci, the aim is to demonstrate the political potential of museum participation at the local level, highlighting its function in resistance and its role as an interlocutor with institutions.