ABSTRACT
Michel Foucault identified museums as heterotopias – “singular spaces to be found in some given social spaces whose functions are different or even the opposite of others”. Heterotopias are spaces of difference where cultural features are paused, muted, or reversed. Foucault presents the cemetery as an example of a heterotopia. It is at once a representation of life and death, and duration and eternity. While it does represent difference, it also represents sameness, as all members of society are inherently connected to death; people all have relations that are laid to rest there. Visitor responses during interviews confirmed the widely held perception that science centres are sites for the display of interactive exhibits and exhibitions. Visitors often identified the prevalence of hands-on exhibitions as being characteristic of the science centre. The display of the dead in such an unconventional and controversial way was not lost on visitors to the exhibition.
