Io vado al museo
Io vado al museo / من ميرم موزه / Müzeye gidiyorum / I go to the museum / Я ЙДУ В МУЗЕЙ / Je vais au musée / ฉันไปที่พิพิธภัณฑ์ / Mo lo si museum / МЕН МУЗЕЙГЕ БАРАМЫН / Ngenda mu museum / أذهب إلى المتحف / Pupunta ako sa museo / 私は美術館に行きます / زه موزیم ته ځم
I Go to the Museum is a program created by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to promote social inclusion through educational tours and activities designed for people with migratory backgrounds.
I Go to the Museum sees participants actively involved in the direct observation of the works of art inside the museum’s galleries, with the aim of educating them on beauty, promoting intercultural exchanges, breaking stereotypes, and empowering them.
The participants are involved in activities based on translanguaging, a pedagogical approach that encourages a strategic use of all the languages spoken by a group, as well as Italian, which is the common language. During the activity, each participant is encouraged to use all the languages they speak, particularly their native tongue, promoting the idea that all languages are equally important to creating a multicultural society.
The participants meet, learn Italian by observing the masterpieces on view, and exchange thoughts and ideas in an informal, inclusive, forward-thinking environment designed to enhance their personal wellbeing.
Participation in the project is free for schools of every grade level, universities, academies, Local Adult Learning Centers (C.P.I.A.), third sector organizations, social cooperatives, social promotion and volunteering associations, SAI Reception and Integration System (ex SPRAR), first-line reception centers, and group homes.
To participate
didattica@guggenheim-venice.it
+39 041 2405 430
The Method
During the planning and experimental stages of the program, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection collaborated with MILE, Museums and Innovation in Language Education, a project launched by the CREL (Center for Research in Educational Linguistics) at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
MILE explores aspects related to language learning and teaching in out-of-school settings like the museum. Following consultations with MILE on aspects related to training and professional development, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection decided to employ translanguaging as the main approach on which to base the program.
Translanguaging is a pedagogical approach that promotes plurilingual and pluricultural learning, encouraging people to subscribe to the idea that all languages and cultures are of equal value.
By implementing this approach, I Go to the Museum achieves various educational and social goals. As well as having a positive impact on learning Italian as a second language, during the activities all the participants are encouraged to contribute their skills and knowledge in recognizing the similarities and differences between different languages and cultures, thus also practicing their metalinguistic skills and cross-language flexibility.
Translanguaging also offers potential benefits in terms of social inclusion: the activities favor inclusion in terms of access, participation and representation, through an experience that leads each participant to affirm their identity, increasing their psychophysical wellbeing.
The History of the Program
In 2019 the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presented Migrating Objects, an exhibition that displayed all the objects collected by Peggy Guggenheim coming from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, with the aim of highlighting the contexts they originated in.
Alongside the exhibition, the museum organized a series of public programs based on the exhibition’s central theme: migration, understood as a definitive or temporary transfer of living beings from one territory to another, determined by various reasons, but essentially for life necessities. (Dizionario di Storia, Treccani on-line, 2010).
With these ideas in mind, Migrating Objects (later renamed I Go to the Museum) was conceived as an experimental program that aimed to offer an educational experience centered on the works of art in the exhibition and based on translanguaging. The goal was to examine the theme of migration and the intersection of cultural, social, and symbolic values generated by the movement of people and objects from one place to another.
During the Migrating Objects exhibition, despite the long periods of closure caused by the covid-19 pandemic, over 1,000 students, 70 teachers, and 6 museum educators were involved in the program.
The end of the exhibition did not determine the end of the program. MILE ran a training course for the educators of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the use of translanguaging in informal settings and worked on co-designing new tours and activities centered on the works of art on view from the permanent collection.
The Goals
In line with the goals of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, I Go to the Museum aims to promote the value of multilingualism and multiculturalism in contemporary society.
The translangauging approach has proved to be key to making the program effective alongside other organizations, programs, and initiatives that provide processes of integration for foreigners. It was also successful in reestablishing the museum’s role in the creation of a multicultural and multilingual society.
Once Upon a Time, a plurilingual podcast
Once Upon a Time is a collection of plurilingual stories written by 60 students of Venice’s C.P.I.A. (Adult Learning Center), who visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and participated in the social inclusion program, I Go to the Museum.
Gallery
prizes and awards
Migrating Objects was among the winning projects of the 2020 European Language Label award promoted by the Erasmus+ program. The EU program supports education, training, young people, and sports, and is managed in Italy by INDIRE (the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research). Migrating Objects distinguished itself as an innovative initiative supporting the learning and teaching of languages in a museum context. The award ceremony took place on December 20, 2021, at the Sala della Promoteca on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
Migrating Objects was selcted for the Migrations / Mediations: Promoting Intercultural Dialogue through Media, Arts and Culture International Conference, promoted by the Università Cattolica of Milan. Cancelled due to Covid-19.
Migrating Objects was presented at the EDI Global Forum for Education and Integration - Online Symposium (December 14-16, 2021) with a contribution titled Educare alla bellezza e promuovere l’inclusione sociale: la Collezione Peggy Guggenheim presenta Oggetti Migranti / Educating about Beauty and Promoting Social Inclusion: The Peggy Guggenheim Collection Presents Migrating Objects.