The Attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a Common Ground

The CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference will be held in Mallorca (Balearic Islands), Spain on 11–13 November, hosted by Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma (Mallorca).
→ Registration Form
→ Program of visits
→ Pre and Post Tours
→ Accommodation in Palma
→ 2022 Contents Committee
The Attentive Museum.
Permeable Practices for a Common Ground
On the occasion of CIMAM's 60th anniversary (1962–2022), this year's Annual Conference will explore how museums can actively embrace, partner, and listen. It will also claim the urgency for museums to adapt and become spaces of shared encounter and hospitality, allowing themselves to be a permeable and vulnerable community capable of embodying multiple bodies; institutional, political, social, human, or non-human.
The Attentive Museum is an opportunity to take an expansive view of the work that can and should be done to ensure museums of relevance and impact. Can we develop institutional practices that make sense for all of contemporary society, even in these times of conflict and war? How can we put into practice the skill of active listening within our museum community and reach beyond?
Invited Speakers

Day 1: Changing from the Inside: How should we Govern Ourselves?
The first day of the conference examines the strategies we need to reinvent our institutions. How can we change our governance systems while protecting our curatorial integrity?
- Historical perspective of CIMAM’s 60 years, by Mami Kataoka, President of CIMAM and Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, and Saskia Bos, Independent Curator and Critic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Introduction by Imma Prieto, Director, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma, Mallorca, Spain
- Paul B. Preciado, Writer and Curator, Paris, France/Spain
- Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Hong Kong, China
- Meskerem Assegued Bantiwalu, Curator and General Director, Zoma Museum PLC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Iris Dressler, Codirector, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
- Panel Discussion moderated by Mami Kataoka, Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Day 2: Unlocking History and New Narratives
A reflection on the often Eurocentric position that has framed collections and the construction of histories within museums. The need to conceive exhibitions with new, as yet unheard voices as a critical part of the process will be presented and new proactive and reflexive pedagogies through which these tensions can be addressed will be proposed.
- Denise Ferreira da Silva, Prof. Dr., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Clémentine Deliss, Associate Curator, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
- Sandra Gamarra Heshiki, Visual Artist, Independent, Lima, Peru/Madrid, Spain
- Sethembile Msezane, Visual Artist, Msezane Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
- Panel Discussion moderated by Agustín Pérez Rubio, Independent Curator, Madrid, Spain
Day 3: Learning from the Community: Collective Actions in the Face of Emergency
Presentation of different models of collective actions beyond the world of museums to learn ways to create change in times of social emergency.
- Emily Jacir, Founder/Director, Dar Jacir for Art and Research, Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories
- Lada Nakonechna, Artist, Method Fund, Kyiv, Ukraine
- Philip Rizk, film-maker/artist, Mosireen video collective, Cairo, Egypt
- Kike España, Dr. Architect, Urban researcher, La Casa Invisible, Malaga, Spain
- Meenakshi Gopinath, Founder-Director, Women in Security Conflict, Management and Peace (WISCOMP), New Delhi, India
- Panel Discussion moderated by Manuel Borja-Villel, Director, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
CIMAM's 60th-anniversary celebration will invite attendees and online audience to pause and reflect on how the museum sector has come this far, sharing new tools and strategies that can open up a future for museums that is essential to a changing and diverse society.
Conference Program

The location of this year's CIMAM Annual Conference is in a scenic setting in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, in the archipelago of the Balearic Islands, between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Its lands have been home to a melting pot of cultures and are now a leading modern and international cultural epicenter, which has defined its open and welcoming character and rich cultural heritage.
The afternoon program includes visits to Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, Fundació Joan Miró, Museo Fundació Juan March, CaixaForum Palma, ALTTRA: Cildo Meireles & Teresa Margolles, Galeria Fran Reus, Kewenig Gallery, Horrach Moya Gallery, L21 LAB (Polígono Son Castelló), Galeria Pelaires, Estudio Ana Laura Aláez (Inca) and Estudio Bernardí Roig (Binissalem).
2022 Tours to Ibiza and Menorca

Two optional tours, capped at 50 participants each, have been organized to Eivissa (Ibiza), Menorca, and inland Mallorca for conference delegates wishing to extend their visit to the Balearic Islands.
- Pre-conference Tour to Eivissa (Ibiza). 10 November
Visits include MACE Museu d'Art Contemporani d'Eivissa (Ibiza), Museu Casa Broner and Casal Solleric.
- Post-conference Tour to Menorca and inland Mallorca. 14–15 November
Visits include Hauser & Wirth, artists' studios of Santiago Sierra and Alicia Framis in Menorca, and Susy Gomez (Campos), Gary Hill (Palma), and 2-3 more studios pending to be confirmed in Mallorca.
→ READ THE TOURS PROGRAM AND REGISTER HERE
Travel Grants to attend CIMAM's 2022 Annual Conference

Travel grants to attend the CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference in Mallorca, the Balearic Islands, Spain,11–13 November
Supported by
The Getty Foundation, Los Angeles
Byucksan Cultural Foundation, Seoul
OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Oslo
Mercedes Vilardell, London/Mallorca
SAHA – Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey, Istanbul
Beijing Public Art and Culture Foundation, Beijing
Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), Madrid
CIMAM is pleased to offer more than 30 travel grants to support the attendance of contemporary art curators, directors, and museum professionals at CIMAM’s 2022 Annual Conference titled The Attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a Common Ground will be held in Mallorca, the Balearic Islands in Spain from 11 to 13 November 2022.
The aim of the CIMAM Travel Grant Program is to support the curatorial and research development of applicants through their attendance at the Annual Conference where the most current concerns on contemporary art practices are being discussed.
Grants are addressed to modern and contemporary art museum directors and curators, researchers, and independent curators whose field of research and specialization is contemporary art theory, collections, and museums.
Awarded candidates benefit from unique networking opportunities through interaction and exchange with international museum directors and peers. Travel grantees become Members of CIMAM for the term they have been awarded.
The deadline to apply is Thursday 30 June at 9:00 am CEST. (7 July for Spanish professionals)
→ Application Form
→ 2022 Travel Grant Funders
→ CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference
→ CIMAM Travel Grant Selection Committee
→ Questions at travelgrants@cimam.org