The Imaginarium’s Missing Museum was a space where hidden stories came to life, where time travel existed, allowing the past, present, and future to collide in delightfully unexpected ways.
The Forres Edition of ‘The Missing Museum’ was an exchange and residency delivered in partnership with The Stove Network and What We Do Now in Dumfries and Galloway (D&G), artist DJ McDowall (founder of The Imaginarium) and in collaboration with local artist and storyteller Margot Henderson.
Produced by Findhorn Bay Arts The Imaginarium’s Missing Museum was a space for imagining possibilities and was supported by seven professional artists and five production freelancers and four volunteers supported front-of-house over the two days.
29 local people participated by taking part in a programme of creative learning and workshops, which included 11 adults participating as performers/players and 18 young people from the GAFF and Forres Academy making artefacts for the displays.
Images by Marc Hindley
More than a museum, it was an invitation to experience history differently — an open call to explore, question, and (re)claim historical narratives that have long been under-represented, misrepresented or erased. It challenged traditional frameworks of curation and replaced the invisible hand of the curator with something far more democratic: a cohort of Community Curators. Through interactive participatory approaches, we shifted the power, and made space for voices that have long been on the margins – actively hidden or ignored – to take centre stage, (re)claiming their space in our shared collective history.
Founder of the ‘The Imaginarium’ and the artist behind The Missing Museum DJ McDowall worked with local artist and storyteller Margot Henderson and local people to uncover the hidden stories of Forres – exploring the stories that are missing and the people who are underrepresented.
“The power of The Missing Museum dwells not in its walls—because, quite simply, it has none. It exists within empty rooms, in the liminal spaces, a museum that lives and breathes within the expansiveness and responsiveness of The Imaginarium. Here, we don’t just dwell in the possibilities; we actively create them.” DJ McDowall
The Missing Museum was engaging, fun, interactive and participative. It was a space where inspiration met action, where hidden stories came to life.
DJ and Margot undertook a period of research and development and engaged with local people, community groups and organisations to uncover the hidden stories of Forres. As part of the initial research and development for The Missing Museum, the artists met with local organisations including FACT, Forres Heritage Trust, and the Friends of the Falconer Museum. Local storykeepers, Ray Mills and Norman Thomson, brought to the project the story of Madeline MacPherson and her salon and the story of the Rev. Keith’s Herbarium celebrating Forres’ natural heritage.
On Friday 28 and Saturday 29 March at the Forres Tolbooth, The Imaginarium’s Missing Museum culminated in interactive workshop sessions that invited the public to become Community Co-Curators. Over the two days, 78 people attended The Missing Museum Interactive Workshops and Events.
Funders and Partners – The Stove Network, What We Do Now Network, Culture Collective, Creative Scotland
