Putting an exhibit together includes activities such as choosing its name, writing texts, conducting research, and selecting the pieces that will be shown or displayed. When this process occurs in an encompassing manner, involving and engaging members of both society and the museum institution, we can refer to it as co-curation.

By positioning itself as a site of collective cultural construction, addressing differences and promoting a critical look into its own work, the museum embraces its social commitment. Through the democratization of the way museum space is used and the proliferation of ideas aligned with social demands, it contributes to the strengthening of a public sphere and the formation of citizens. In this way, the institution expands its collections beyond cataloged information and incorporates subjectivities activated co-curation.

Which voices has the MUPA collection represented over its 147 years?

How can new approaches to curation, engagement, environmental crisis, technology, inclusion, and learning be brought together to expand the role of art and culture?

Have researchers, artists, and representatives of peripheral communities, traditional knowledge and practices actively worked with the collection, telling their own stories and bringing in their own heritage?

Museums have been built on the basis of a hegemonic vision that was  responsible for thinking and determining what should be preserved or exhibited. Reflecting on this process entails confronting the violence and erasure of populations and their cultures.

Projects such as "Retomada da Imagem" (Reclaiming of the Image), "Mejtere: histórias recontadas" (Mejtere: Stories Retold), and "Ante Ecos e Ocos" (Facing echoes and hollows) have revisited the MUPA collection and questioned narratives historically legitimized by subjects and spaces of memory. In doing so, intersectionality has become a key element in breaking down dichotomies that limit access to sensitivities, emotions, and the understanding of multiple realities.

Co-curations at the MUPA, designed for the exhibition circuit, now reflect on the experiences and subjectivities of Black, Indigenous, and other representatives of traditional communities. They provide a space where these voices can (re)tell their stories and narratives.