RESPONSIBLE MUSEUM? (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE TOY MUSEUM IN CRACOW)

The contemporary museum debate developing in the context of the need to change the museum definition carried out in ICOM is a debate on the role and responsibility of museums. Museums with a burden of tradition are faced with the challenge to meet contemporary contexts and expectations, while newly-established museums can enter the stage fully aware of the historical contexts, with an agenda reflecting contemporary tasks, and they can chart new perspectives from the very beginning. The case study in the paper focuses on a museum which begins its operation at the time of a heated debate on the new tasks of museums in social life: the Toy Museum in Cracow. The paper tackles several motifs of a very extensive issue, namely museums’ responsibility: who and what should museums show responsibility to? Does responsibility mean presence in the public debate and museum activism? The operation formula of the Toy Museum shows the possible way for private collectors: instead of aspiring to create a traditional place for the collection presentation, they can see how to activate the collection where the supreme goal is not just making the collection available to the public, but making it impact the museum’s environment, which could be caused by that presentation and other programmatic actions connected with the collection.