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Exhibition design for the Panopticon Museum of Ibagué (Colombia) Addressed social fragmentation and territorial invisibility through community-centered design of a Museum space highlighting Tolima’s landscape, crafts, arts, and history

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Nationality
Colombia
Group
Exhibition design team for the Panopticon Museum of Ibagué
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#TolimaMuseum #CommunityDesign #CulturalHeritage #SocialUnity

About Project

The Panopticon Museum, located in Ibagué, Colombia, came into being between 2018 and 2022 through the collaborative design efforts of local artists, citizens, and institutions. In a region long afflicted by institutional opacity, corruption, and community distrust, the museum rejected a top-down model. Instead, it placed participatory governance and shared memory at its center.

In this process, the museum emerged not simply as an exhibition venue but as a civic space for dialogue and cooperation. Workshops involving artists, artisans, residents, and even former inmates helped shaping both the narrative and the physical spaces, weaving intergenerational stories that allowed people to rediscover Tolima’s landscapes, crafts, history, and its ecological challenges.

Most importantly, the project revitalized the surrounding urban environment by transforming an abandoned prison into a museum. A site of past stigma was reborn as a vibrant civic hub, strengthening residents’ pride and sense of belonging. Today, thousands of citizens visit daily, engaging in practices of memory, culture, and local knowledge, at the same time, shaping a more sustainable urban life.

The concept of Panopticon Museum is not limited to a single region. By rejecting authoritarian, tourism-driven models and prioritizing local voices and co-creation, it offers an ethical model of museum-making applicable around the world. As Orhan Pamuk has once said, the future of museums lies in our homes and everyday lives. The initiative that began in Ibagué presents a global vision for reimagining museums as more intimate, participatory, and transformative institutions.

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