In this paper the contemporary museum is interpreted through the category of ‘living’: nowadays it is often lived as a place of performance, both individual and of the community, reconsidering its traditional role. Particularly, due to the presence of the collections of contemporary art, it is not any more a place of mere contemplation of the works of art, but a place where these works can be entered in and lived by visiting people. Referring to the theory of “relational art” by Nicolas Bourriaud and to the most recent theories of active heritage safeguarding (about intangible cultural heritage), the paper analyses same cases which show how museum is getting more and more a place to live and not simply a place to visit. Firstly, the paper deals with the artistic group Studio Azzurro who mixes visual arts, video, movie, performing arts and new technologies, and invites the visitor to become an actor and to live its works of art, which in some cases become even an entire museum...