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museum: The history of the museum extends back to the eighteenth century. As such, it has been one of the keystones of cultural democracy and a site where the contestation of aesthetic values have been played out. As a public institution it has always had a political function, sometimes using that status to question itself and its political environment. We believe that the museum is one of the few sites in what is left of the public sphere where common topics can be addressed collectively on the grounds of art. The museum is, perhaps, a useful anachronism today, in an increasingly privatized western European society, yet it can successfully be used as a tool to expand the space for new thinking about our surroundings and our ways of life. Be[com]ing Dutch intends to push the museum to reflect on its changing environment by reassessing its duties to art, artists and to society.