“Global Museum: Where do we go from here?”

A conference organised by the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and kind support of the Freunde der Nationalgalerie e.V.

In memoriam Okwui Enwezor

Based on the funding initiative “Global Museum” of the German Federal Cultural Foundation with the participating museums Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, MMK Museum für moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (Main) and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München

“Global Museum” stands for the critical examination of the collections of several museums in Germany and, by extension, the western-centric canon of art, which is reflected in the origin, acquisition and display of their collections. It affected and continues to affect their programming, institutional co-operations, collaborations, overall structure and personnel. A critique of this canon accordingly calls for a critique of all these institutional facets.

“Global Museum: Where do we go from here?” aims to review the past exhibitions and their reception, as well as their role in more wide-ranging discussions regarding a fundamental shift in our reimagining of art and its institutions. It is also about developing future perspectives: How can museums change course in the long term? Can the processes initiated by »Museum Global« be become part of the institutions’ structure? How can networks be expanded and put to good use by institutions, and what can institutions learn from artists’ networks? What impact can and should the programme have on these institutions in the long run? What plans and wishes are there, what resources are already available or need to be generated? What structures are necessary to do this, which ones would have to be changed or expanded? How do we make the transition from wish to intention, and from intention to implementation?

The conference will be in English, with simultaneous translation into German. It is open to the public; admission is free.

Proramme

Monday, September 30, 2019: Keynote Lecture
7pm

Welcome
Udo Kittelmann, Director Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Hortensia Völckers, Artistic Director German Federal Cultural Foundation, Halle

Keynote Lecture
“The Global Art Museum within the Exhibitory Iconomy”
Terry Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh

Tuesday, October 1, 2019: Conference
10:30am–7:30pm

Panel 1: Learning from Artists’ Networks
10:30am–1pm

Public museums and artists’ networks differ in terms of organisation and working methods. What can museums learn from them if they want to establish and sustainably maintain their own transnational networks? What kinds of collaborations and alliances do artists engage in—historically and today? Can these processes be applied to museums and museum-like institutions?

Speakers:
Gabriele Knapstein, Head of Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin
Bill Kelley Jr., Assistant Professor of Latin American & Latino Art History, Department of Art and Art History, California State University Bakersfield
Matthias Mühling, Director of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus München, Munich
farid rakun, artist and researcher, ruangrupa, Jakarta
Moderation:
Tirdad Zolghadr, Associate Curator KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin and Artistic Director Sommerakademie Paul Klee, Bern

Panel 2: Gauging Effects: »Global Museum« as Part of a Contemporary Focus on Transnational Networks
2pm–4:30pm

“Global Museum” is a part of an international debate on the reorientation of art and its institutions with respect to transnationality, transculturality and diversity. What considerations does this kind of repositioning elicit? What do the academic community and visitors expect from these institutions?

Speakers:
Christian Kravagna, Professor for Postcolonial Studies, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna
Giulia Lamoni, FCT Researcher at the Art History Institute at Nova University, Lisbon
Julia Hagenberg, Head of Education, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Joaquín Barriendos, Associate Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City
Moderation:
Yvette Mutumba, Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary &, Berlin

Panel 3: Moving Forwards: What Do Museums Want? What Do They Need?
5:30pm–7:30pm

How can museums implement change in concrete terms? What challenges might they face? What resources are necessary? What do changing social and political conditions mean for future museum work?

Speakers:
Susanne Gaensheimer, Director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Andreas Görgen, Head of Culture and Communication at the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
Udo Kittelmann, Director of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Lars-Christian Koch, Director of Collections at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin at the Humboldt Forum
Agustín Pérez Rubio, Curator of the 11th Berlin Biennale
Hortensia Völckers, Artistic Director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, Halle
Moderation:
Bärbel Küster, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Institute of Art History, University of Zurich

Conference Venue:
Historische Halle
Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Invalidenstraße 50–51
D-10557 Berlin

Getting there:
S+U Hauptbahnhof:
U-Bahn U55
S-Bahn S5, S7, S75
Tram M5, M8, M10
Bus TXL, 120, 123, 142, 147, 245, M41, M85, N20, N40

Concept and Coordination: Jenny Dirksen, Freelance Curator and Researcher, Berlin / Assistance: Irina Hiebert Grun, Assistant Curator Nationalgalerie - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin