ABSTRACT
The Danish Welfare Museum is situated in the last preserved poor- and workhouse in the Nordic countries, where the museum uses the historical setting as a prism to discuss contemporary issues of the Danish welfare state. Smed gives an insight into the development of the museum’s profile and social justice initiatives, where co-creational initiatives with the people who themselves have been part of institutional life (‘alternative experts’) in the Danish welfare state system have been the very core of the development of the museum itself. The never-ending paradox of the museum is that the more troubled and polarised Danish society seems to become, the more the museum gains political and public attention and the more the public express their wish to listen to the stories from the ‘alternative experts’ of the welfare state.
