?It?s more than just an exhibition for me!? The production and reception of an exhibition on popular music in a history mu- seum

This article analyses the production and reception of a regional exhibition by the chateau des ducs de Bretagne (Nantes). Regional expositions often seek to highlight the institution's links to the city, its social, political and economic history. After having exhibited the work of female artists and pre-sented migratory phenomena, in 2018 the museum created an exhibition over 21 months on rock in Nantes that retraced the local history of popular music from the 1960s to today. From the beginning, the museum adopted a subjective approach by choosing a journalist from the local music scene for the curation of this show, which thus became more interested in collec-tive memory rather than social history. This article proposes an analysis of this strategy and seeks to study its effects on visitors through a qualitative survey centered around emotions. The results show that there is a close relation between how individuals were socialized with popular music and the local music scene and their reactions to the show, which varied from nostalgia to joy.