Reaching Out to be in Reach. Museum Communication in the Current Museum Zeitgeist

This article focuses on art museums as multi-layered media- and eventmakers. By discussing the National Gallery of Denmark’s Mysteries from the Museum podcast series and the event SMK Fridays, Louisiana’s digital platform Louisiana Channel and the Glyptotek’s Slow arrangements, we scrutinise these museums’ onsite and offsite outreach techniques and strategies. These are further discussed regarding the current museum zeitgeist, and how this relates to dominant cultural policy paradigms in Denmark. The article is based on interviews with museum professionals, observations of onsite events and document analysis; they indicate that museums constantly renew their outreach techniques and strategies, adding layers to their museum communication. While museums succeed in creating quality digital content and arranging events attracting attention and audiences, these productions do not challenge the power dynamics between museums and their users described in current literature on the museum zeitgeist, as in dominant cultural policy strategies in a Danish context.This article focuses on art museums as multi-layered media- and eventmakers. By discussing the National Gallery of Denmark’s Mysteries from the Museum podcast series and the event SMK Fridays, Louisiana’s digital platform Louisiana Channel and the Glyptotek’s Slow arrangements, we scrutinise these museums’ onsite and offsite outreach techniques and strategies. These are further discussed regarding the current museum zeitgeist, and how this relates to dominant cultural policy paradigms in Denmark. The article is based on interviews with museum professionals, observations of onsite events and document analysis; they indicate that museums constantly renew their outreach techniques and strategies, adding layers to their museum communication. While museums succeed in creating quality digital content and arranging events attracting attention and audiences, these productions do not challenge the power dynamics between museums and their users described in current literature on the museum zeitgeist, as in dominant cultural policy strategies in a Danish context