Moments of resonance: Creating socio-material connectivity through museum visits for people with dementia and their relatives

Abstract

In a qualitative study on the experiences of people with dementia and their relatives during visits to a Danish Cold War Museum, we explore how connectivity emerges through moments of resonance within socio-material assemblages at the museum and at the home. We identify moments of resonance as pivotal in fostering connections between people with dementia and their partners or relatives. By analysing particularly evocative moments, we conceptualise moments of resonance as situations where memories are reawakened. We interpret these moments as instances of socio-material and spatio-temporal connectivity within museal encounters between people, objects, memories, and past and present selves. Resonance creates situated connections that endure and can be renewed despite changes in the individuals or elements involved. It does not rely on the memory or reminiscence of a single person but is distributed, continuously transformed, and renewed through interaction and exchange.