Challenging Populist Truth-Making in Europe: The Role of Museums in a Digital ‘Post-Truth’ European Society (CHAPTER) is a project at the Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Through ethnographic research and digital innovation, it develops approaches and best practice examples to support museums in challenging the growing influence of populist discourse in Europe. The project is a collaboration of researchers in Berlin (project leader: Sharon Macdonald), Tübingen (project leader: Christoph Bareither), London (PI: Haidy Geismar), Krakow (PI: Roma Sendyka) and museums in the respective countries.

The project deploys an innovative multi-layered research design, combining ethnographic research on populist truth-making, visitor experiences and digital innovation in museums with an applied co-design of a digital museum app. The app will be developed in cooperation with three partner museums and the software company Fluxguide. It aims to challenge young visitors to critically engage with practices of populist truth-making. Our goal is not only to co-design this app together with young visitors, but to accompany, analyse and evaluate its use in order to gain critical knowledge about the potential of digital media in museum contexts on a much broader level. We will produce a best practice portfolio that offers practical and interdisciplinary solutions to allow museums and cultural institutions to build upon CHAPTER and develop individual strategies for challenging the growing influence of populist truth-making in Europe.