Negotiating the ‘in-between’: co-researching cultural institutions with children

This article explores the ‘in-between’ of participatory research, examining how relational practices and knowledge production were negotiated in four experiments of co-researching with children in three Danish cultural institutions. Drawing on the four experiments, which employed a range of qualitative and creative methods, we analyse three relational configurations: between the co-researchers and other children, among the co-researchers themselves, and between the co-researchers and the professional researchers (the authors). Through this lens, we examine tensions between adult institutional frameworks and children’s agency.
Rather than representing children’s perspectives, the article critically interrogates our own participatory practice, tracing a shift from facilitating research by children to conducting research with children. We conceptualise the co-research process as an inquiry into the conditions of knowledge production itself, foregrounding asymmetry, dependency, and reciprocity as inherent features of participatory research.