1) Collective research

The work group comprises the three authors. Therein lies the collective, all three of us consented to the work process; we took decisions jointly and participated in all the stages in a coordinated manner. We held regular meetings to dialogue and reflect in order to define each exhibition’s objectives, problems, and main axes. In that regard, we chose to address themes that are not covered in the MAF permanent script, but are linked to the history of the city and in particular to the place where the Museum is located. Thus, we aimed to complexifying insight andstrain the historical account the institution sets forth, by adding new narratives and interpretations ^{(Mieri, 2015, p. 133)}. This stage also foresaw searching for primary sources, photographs, historical advertisements⁵ in repos itories, newspaper archives, and provincial libraries, as well as reading and analyzing bibliographic background.

2) Creating the museological script

The resulting historical research is organized by means of text panels with a maximum of 300 words per panel. This length is justified by one of the premises of thematic interpretation that states that “it is relevant to be brief” for two reasons, one is related to the public’s attention span, and the other being that brief texts offer the pos sibility of greater space for design and images ^{(Mosco, 2018, p. 157)}.

At the same time, we selected images to illustrate the content or serve as triggers for memories or emotions. We also sought fragments of poems, popular sayings, or songs by Latin Amer ican artists as titles for the texts.⁶ We worked with the Museum’s Docu mentation and Registry of Collections department and with the CIRSF to search for materials and objects which could be displayed, though we prioritized the inclusion of elements provided by the team working in the foundation area. The curatorial criterion adop ted for the list of works that would form part of the exhibition was, primarily, to prioritize the cultural biography of objects,⁷ working towards the intimate stories that express them with regards to the people who donated or lent these objects, or the experiences they could generate in the visitors of the exhibition (Figure 2).

(Photographs: María Marengo ,2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 2 Musealized objects and their histories. Exhibition Esos locos bajitos… Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina (end of the 19t ^h -early 20 ^th centuries). 

We selected the room and designed the museographic proposal in that space, taking into consideration the order of text panels, museographic supports, the expected route and the interactive activities. It is important to add that we favored an autonomous route, so visitors can explore it at their own pace and get involved, intervene, or stop at the aspects they find most interesting or appealing. Furthermore, we wish to generate emotions, sensations, and affective or empathic links in the visitors, as well as connections with their stories and circumstances, beyond their possible acquisition of conceptual contents. Therefore, the exhibitions have established sectors for public participation (Figure 3). In addition, we created pedagogical material for the reception staff and Mu seum guides, and we also urge the educational institutions to carry out didactic activities.

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 3 A few proposals for participation by the visitors. Exhibition Esos locos bajitos… Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries). 

3) Creating the museographic script

This stage is extremely important to us, since we believe there should be dialogue and mutual construction between the museological and museographic scripts, to avoid an abrupt cut between the end of one stage-the concept-and the beginning of an other-setting it up-^{(Galindo, 2018)}. For the design and montage of the exhibition, we coordinated with the municipality press area for the graphics, and with the Museum’s maintenance team to help set up what had been planned. It is our decision, as a working collect ive, to be directly involved in this stage:⁸ liaising with other areas; placing each expositive point; establishing the parameters for the font and size of the texts; specifying the colors; reconditioning or creating stands and showcases; setting up the collection and defining an aesthetic that unifies the temporary exhibition and bridges the permanent one. To reinforce this idea, we used the origami⁹ technique to create interventions in showcases, and the museography for each exhibition (Figure 4). This involvement allowed us to reinforce what Juan Manuel ^{Garibay (2013)} calls the “poética museográfica” (poetics of museography) in each exhibition, understanding that:

[...] in an exhibition, we are not only in a theoretical plane, but an experiential one; that is to say, it may propose a consistent theoretical universe which will undoubtedly include essential and highly important elements; however, if it lacks a temporary space framework that activates the conceptual aspect, it will simply not operate as an exhibition, but as theory alone. And in that case… why go to an exhibition? Better stay home and read^{10 (Garibay, 2013, p. 4)}.

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2018-2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 4 Aesthetic aspects. Use of color, historical images and decoration with origami. 

4) Systematization of experiences

This refers to an exchange of points of view on the exhibition, where we analyze possible modifications or corrections, if needed. For this, we consider it vital to have the support of the museum staff, since they are the ones directly linked to the public.

After the dismantling and during the meetings to reflect, systematization, and analysis of the experience, we shared and collected the visitors’ interventions and their participation in the proposed activities, in addition to the feelings and personal sensations of the museum team. To complement and add different points of view, we sought feedback from colleagues and peers, as well as staff at MAF and CIRSF. We gathered these testimonials and evidence to develop a report for the Directorate of the Museum, to be used as consultation material for future articles for dissemination and publication.

5) Itinerance

As mentioned above in the methodological proposal, it is highly important to offe the exhibition to different organisms and institutions in the province, mainly educational institutions that train teachers which are geographically distant from the center of Mendoza and have socioeconomic problems related to the themes covered in this paper¹¹ (Figure 5).

(Photographs: 2022; source: authors’ collection)

Figure 5 Itinerance of exhibitions in public institutions of learning in Mendoza province. A and B) Exhibition Infancias. Postales de la vida de niños y niñas en tiempos modernos (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries) in Vera Peñaloza IES, department of San Carlos (2022); C) Exhibition Las huellas de la historia en el cuerpo de las mujeres, in CEBJA 3062, department of Tupungato (2022). 

Exhibition Las huellas de la historia en el cuerpo de las mujeres ¹²

This exhibition entailed an intense archival work searching for historical publications, both in virtual archives (gathering advertisements in the national publication Caras y Caretas) as well as in the San Martin General Public Library (for magazines from Mendoza). The search axis was prescriptive images and social, aesthetic, and fashion norms for women in the period covered.

As for the museological script, in addition to the brevity of text and accessible language on the panels, we prioritized the use of historical photographs. A special contribution was the use of a book used to register sexual workers at that time, which was replicated to broach the current oppression of female bodies, in local code.

One of the most challenging aspects, which we approached with particular emphasis, was to incentivize the public to experience situ ations that appeal to them, that put them in another one’s shoes and, thus, live tangible aspects of the history present in our proposal. In this first exhibition we developed an installation with the aim of highlighting and creating discussion on the current oppressions of female bodies (Figure 7).

It comprised a small, enclosed structure or tent with three walls made of mirrors. Within were exhibited national or local publications from the period taken from the printed press, which reproduced prescriptive messages on social norms surrounding beauty ideals, body image, and desirable qualities in women. On the frontal mirror, over the reflected image of the visitor, was a caption: ¿Te mirás? ¿Te gustas? (Do you see yourself? Do you like yourself?) (Figure 8).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2018; source: authors' collection)

Figure 8 Detail of the installation ¿Te mirás? ¿Te gustás? Exhibition Las huellas de la historia en el cuerpo de las mujeres. 

After it was dismantled, the exhibition went around institutions of middle and higher education in different departments of the Mendoza province (Maipu, Tunuyan, Tupungato, San Carlos, Godoy Cruz, Las Heras, Lujan de Cuyo, and the city of Mendoza). This exhibition was the most requested for itinerance. At each oppor tunity there were workshops, debates, and group activities with students and teachers.

Exhibition Infancias. Postales de la vida de niños y niñas en tiempos modernos ¹³ (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries)

Particular attention was paid to outlining a historical and critical view on our representations of childhoods in Argentina and Mendoza between the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Said construction was obtained by means of images, photographs, and magazines, as well as historical and archeological materials. The use of textbooks published at the time was another important element in that sense.

As for the museological script, there was great concern about guaranteeing the accessibility to its content both in the cognitive and physical aspects, prioritizing short texts and clearly marked museographic and visual supports. Hence, the height of the display cases and museographic furniture was taken into consideration. We also incorporated QR codes with links to audio about the content of each panel (Figure 9).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2019-2023; source: authors’ collection)

Figure 9 Aspects related to physical and cognitive accessibility A) Panel with images and QR codes with linked audios; B) and C) Accessible display cases. 

In order to carry out a situated experience, for this exhibition we created a thematic sector called “La muerte de un niño” (Death of a Child). Here, through historical photographs, song lyrics, ambience, and museographic furniture, we referred to certain practices surrounding the death of children in both rural and urban family environments during the period in question (Figure 10).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2019; source: authors’ collection)

Figure 10 A) Panoramic view of the exhibition Infancias. Postales de la vida de niños y niñas en tiempos modernos (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries); B) Thematic sector “The Death of a Child”; C) View of the initial panel in the exhibition Infancias. Postales de la vida de niños y niñas en tiempos modernos (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries). 

This exhibition has also travelled and has been requested by institutions of higher education in General Alvear and Tunuyan (Mendoza, Argentina).

Exhibition Esos locos bajitos… Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina ¹⁴ (end of the 19 ^th early 20 ^th centuries)

The search for sources for this exhibition focused on photographs, historical publications in digital archives, and provincial libraries. The curatorial axis was to reconstruct, through presence and testi monies, those childhood experiences during migration processes in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries (Figure 11).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 11 Panoramic of the exhibition Esos locos bajitos… Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries). 

In addition to QR codes with links to audio referring to each expository space, this last exhibition also included QR codes with the personal stories of people related to certain objects. In this way, we were able to share an anecdote or experience from family life closely linked to the migration process. For example, a suitcase belonging to a worker of the Buenos Aires-Pacific railroad, containing stationery items and railway instruments, told by one of his granddaughters, who rescued the story of her grandfather and his immigrant wife.

This exhibition multiplied the activities and devices to achieve a greater interaction and participation by the public, through messages written on paper where they responded to instructions and by using a collaborative virtual board. One of the devices that generated the most answers was a frame with photographs which invited the public to leave a written memory or anecdote. Over the course of the exhibition, 378 messages were received, including memories, acknowledgements to the museum, and drawings. Of these, 195 were directly linked to the proposed activity, written by both adults and children, with the names of immigrants, anecdotes, places of origin, and destination when migrating, feelings and appreciation of the entire process (Figure 12).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 12 A proposal for participation by the public, exhibition Esos locos bajitos… Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries). 

This last exhibition has not travelled yet, but we have a calendar with requests from institutions interested in receiving it in the short-term. Furthermore, a closing activity was held with the participation of people and groups from different cultural collectives that belong to contemporary Mendoza. For example, one academy shared Arab dances and their stories; a book with the biography of a Spanish immigrant was presented, as well as a live interview with an Italian immigrant who came to Mendoza as a child and lived in the MAF neighborhood. Finally, the contributions of the groups of visitors from Institutes of Higher Learning were shown (Figure 13).

(Photographs: María Marengo, 2023; source: authors' collection)

Figure 13 Scenes from the closing activity Esos locos bajitos…Infancias inmigrantes en Argentina (end of the 19 ^th -early 20 ^th centuries). 

As a reflection on the work process, conceived as a research spiral, we believe the flexibility and feedback with the public has resulted in a greater proximity to our immediate community, its requests and interest in the topics covered. It is not a finished process, but rather one that can be perfected by sustaining the proposal over time, gazing back on what was done to reflect and advance.