ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the gaps between the project rhetoric, the museum intentions and the realities of a project as it unfolded during the development of the exhibition. It outlines some of their consequences for the aspiration to 'participation for all' and the ways in which claims have framed active participation in museums. The chapter explains how the young people became co-opted into perceived professional attitudes and consensual ways of working. It aims to reconsider how the 'field of possibilities' was already structured in very framing of the project and its institutional setting. The chapter examines what happened as the project unfolded, in particular how the young people renegotiated their own interests through the process. It describes to move away from a didactic 'teacher-student' relation to provide open spaces for dialogue and participation, and where young people could freely express their opinions. Beginning in 2009, the three-year programme culminated in a series of youth-led, co-produced exhibitions across UK museums in 2012.
