* Second workshop ponders the future of museums post Covid-19
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, in collaboration with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, will host the second part of the Visual Arts Studies Third Annual Conference 2020-2021 from April 25 to 27 online under the theme The Future Museum in the Future City.
The conference includes several workshops constituting an open platform for discussing potential scenarios that museums may face in the near future.
The first part of the conference, held on December 14, 2020, examined the current intersections of the health crisis, and its impact on both the museum and the city. It also featured a discussion about the methods used by both the museum and the city to narrate these transformations.
The virtual conference’s sessions bring together artists, researchers, museum practitioners, and curators from around the world, who present future scenarios open to multiple possibilities, by stimulating critical thinking about what may arise in the aftermath of the pandemic.
According to the conceptual framework of the conference, "There are turning points in history that we understand in retrospect, in a deferred insight. The current crisis, the pandemic, seems to act differently, for it contains an acute awareness that it is a major disjuncture between two eras, two regimes of human existence. Inherent to this tragic experience of a ‘major break’ is the orientation towards the future, loosely defined. The cultural fields of production are doubly bounded in this tragic experience. Of the different cultural fields at the center of these processes [i.e. telling the story of this transition], are the city and the museum.”
In this context, Dr Ismail Nashef, associate professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Master’s Programme, Doha Institute, said, “This pandemic and its repercussions on human life is now being addressed on several levels: the medical, the economic, the social, and other levels.
“What distinguishes addressing this pandemic at the artistic level is that it examines potential future outlooks, which the political and social authorities have not yet considered. When it comes to Corona specifically, the treatment is conducted at the conjunction between the socio-material environment, the museum, and the city, and the possibilities of reconnecting them again.”
Abdellah Karroum, Director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, said: “In light of the current pandemic, this year’s conference takes place under exceptional circumstances. The virtual gathering also coincides with Mathaf’s 10th anniversary – another reason for us to accelerate the digital evolution of the museum, making all our offerings accessible to a global audience.
“Carefully selected debates and topics to be explored during the conference are representative of the continuous research and pertinent dialogue championed at both Mathaf and Doha Institute. The joint conference is a great opportunity to address the cultural landscape in times of crises and how scientific knowledge and art intersect to create the museum experience.”
The conference programme consists of five varied sessions, held over a period of three days. Participants in the first session provide a critical reading of the urban forces active in shaping the present and future of the plagued city.
Meanwhile, the second session will be dedicated to a critical review of the history of the modern museum in light of the current transformations. In the third session, researchers try to foresee the future possible relations of the museum and the city starting from the current moment, while in the fourth session, the discussion revolves around the possibilities of visualising the new biopolitical regime, and the ways of resisting it.
In the fifth and final session, several topics are highlighted, the most important of which are: The Crisis of Art Schools; The Future Museum in the Future City: a Posthumanist Outlook; and The Role of the Corona Pandemic in Urging Artists to Engage in New Forms of Unresolved Social Issues.
The conference includes several workshops constituting an open platform for discussing potential scenarios that museums may face in the near future.
The first part of the conference, held on December 14, 2020, examined the current intersections of the health crisis, and its impact on both the museum and the city. It also featured a discussion about the methods used by both the museum and the city to narrate these transformations.
The virtual conference’s sessions bring together artists, researchers, museum practitioners, and curators from around the world, who present future scenarios open to multiple possibilities, by stimulating critical thinking about what may arise in the aftermath of the pandemic.
According to the conceptual framework of the conference, "There are turning points in history that we understand in retrospect, in a deferred insight. The current crisis, the pandemic, seems to act differently, for it contains an acute awareness that it is a major disjuncture between two eras, two regimes of human existence. Inherent to this tragic experience of a ‘major break’ is the orientation towards the future, loosely defined. The cultural fields of production are doubly bounded in this tragic experience. Of the different cultural fields at the center of these processes [i.e. telling the story of this transition], are the city and the museum.”
In this context, Dr Ismail Nashef, associate professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Master’s Programme, Doha Institute, said, “This pandemic and its repercussions on human life is now being addressed on several levels: the medical, the economic, the social, and other levels.
“What distinguishes addressing this pandemic at the artistic level is that it examines potential future outlooks, which the political and social authorities have not yet considered. When it comes to Corona specifically, the treatment is conducted at the conjunction between the socio-material environment, the museum, and the city, and the possibilities of reconnecting them again.”
Abdellah Karroum, Director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, said: “In light of the current pandemic, this year’s conference takes place under exceptional circumstances. The virtual gathering also coincides with Mathaf’s 10th anniversary – another reason for us to accelerate the digital evolution of the museum, making all our offerings accessible to a global audience.
“Carefully selected debates and topics to be explored during the conference are representative of the continuous research and pertinent dialogue championed at both Mathaf and Doha Institute. The joint conference is a great opportunity to address the cultural landscape in times of crises and how scientific knowledge and art intersect to create the museum experience.”
The conference programme consists of five varied sessions, held over a period of three days. Participants in the first session provide a critical reading of the urban forces active in shaping the present and future of the plagued city.
Meanwhile, the second session will be dedicated to a critical review of the history of the modern museum in light of the current transformations. In the third session, researchers try to foresee the future possible relations of the museum and the city starting from the current moment, while in the fourth session, the discussion revolves around the possibilities of visualising the new biopolitical regime, and the ways of resisting it.
In the fifth and final session, several topics are highlighted, the most important of which are: The Crisis of Art Schools; The Future Museum in the Future City: a Posthumanist Outlook; and The Role of the Corona Pandemic in Urging Artists to Engage in New Forms of Unresolved Social Issues.
