Samenvatting

In a liquid modernity, the impermanence, change and fluidity of contemporary society has altered the role and agency of museums, prompting a need for new ontologies that challenge their rigidity, hierarchy and obsolete institutional structures. A liquid museum, therefore, is aware of its entanglement within a changing society, drawing upon this position to reimagine museums as collectives of dynamic, complex, relational and mobile assemblages. For Museum Rotterdam, their re-establishment as a relational-network city museum centres the multidimensional relationships of people, things and ideas both inside and outside their walls, and articulates the shift towards becoming a more dynamic, reflexive and socially responsible museum. This research explores the possibilities of these concepts and develops a practical framework based on the principles of a liquid museum to assist Museum Rotterdam in its process of becoming a more inclusive relational-network museum of, for and by the city.