It’s not a new question, but it continues to inspire us to imagine what museums could be. Too often, we see them as buildings first and experiences second. In Aotearoa New Zealand, a museum is defined by purpose, not walls or storage.
Museums connect people, communities, and stories. In many ways, we are all curators, holding collections in our homes, memories, and hearts. Objects alone are quiet; it’s the stories they carry that bring them to life.
Imagine museums as flexible as the communities they serve—able to move, grow, evolve, and appear in unexpected places, shaped by local voices.
Preserving an object is never just about the object itself, but about the connections it sustains. Buildings matter too—they can carry stories of architecture, resilience, generosity, and vision—but the true magic lies in the spaces they enable, alive with people, community, and storytelling.
A museum could be a historic house, a warehouse, a park, a digital space, or even a single treasured story passed from one person to another. Purpose is not defined by form, but by the connections it creates, the stories it preserves and projects, and the meaning it brings to its community.
Perhaps the question isn’t what if museums have no walls, but rather: what if museums connect, preserve, and project the stories of their communities in partnership with the people who live them?
Imagine a museum shaped by your community—how could it bring local stories to life?
