Critical Deviations in Latin American Museums

This chapter explores possible iterations of the museum as institution upon its arrival in Latin American. Using the notion of the “performative museum,” case studies of two museum projects that provide critical alternatives to traditional metropolitan museums are investigated. Deeply connected to their cultural contexts, both the Museo del Barro (Asunción, Paraguay) and the Micromuseo (Lima, Peru) developed on the site of and in response to the diverse needs of their local environments. This text offers a panoramic view of their institutional histories, where collections, infrastructure, and museum strategy evolve on the fly, expanding the concept of the museum beyond its original definition.