May 2, 2017, 11am–5pm
Sackler CPD members and CAS patrons: Free
Non-members 15 GBP
This year the Contemporary Art Society Annual Conference, generously supported by the Sackler Trust, examines radical strategies that museums around the world are deploying in rethinking the way they display and conceive of their collections, and in how they operate within their communities.
Confirmed speakers include: Manuel Borja-Villel, Director of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Professor Andrea Phillips, PARSE Professor of Art, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg; Professor Paul Goodwin, Director, TrAIN, Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, The University of the Arts, London; Dr. Clémentine Deliss, independent curator; and Professor Victoria Walsh, Head of Programme, Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London.
The speakers will propose and reflect on a rich array of alternative models of the museum: archive of the commons; site of resistance; social condenser; location for fieldwork; school; forum to debate our values; laboratory; venue for public programming; source material for a choral history; member of an international confederation of institutions.
They will examine some of the experimental strategies currently being used to repurpose museums for the 21st century. What does it mean for a national museum of modern art to embrace the “global” and “cultural diversity” when their collections are rooted in Eurocentric art historical narratives? The pioneering response of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid is to view its collection as a universal archive rather than a storehouse of treasures.
The speakers will discuss the hopes and frustrations entailed in the development of alternative models of museum practice. These include new models of egalitarian management to make museums truly participatory, using digital technologies to mediate the museum experience as part of our everyday visual culture and developing innovative models of artist/ curator collaboration in commissioning works for collections.
Founded in 1753, the British Museum is a pertinent place to bring together some of the most interesting thinkers on the role of the museum today.
To book your place please click here.
