About CIMAM 2023 in Buenos Aires
The Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, under the auspices of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, will host the next Annual Conference of the International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) to be held in November 2023.
The new destination was announced during the CIMAM General Assembly at the 54th Annual Conference, which took place in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, attended by more than 220 modern and contemporary art museum professionals from more than 80 countries. The director of the Museo Moderno and member of the CIMAM Board, Victoria Noorthoorn, who participated in the meeting, thanked the CIMAM Board and the Government of the City of Buenos Aires for their important support and trust, and the network of local institutions and patrons that support the initiative. Victoria Noorthoorn highlighted: "Buenos Aires is a city with one of the world’s most vibrant scenes – the Argentinian scene – where a powerful art community plies its talent across all disciplines and where artists create new, dynamic platforms for art, education and social action, even in the face of economic fragility and vulnerability.”
It has been ten years since CIMAM last visited Latin America. The last time an Annual Conference was held in this continent was in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro. In 2023 it will be 37 years since the first, and last time CIMAM was in Argentina, in 1986 in Buenos Aires and Rosario, holding the conference entitled: "Museums and the future of our heritage: emergency call". As stated by the current president of CIMAM, Suhanya Raffel, Director M+ Hong Kong, “I am very pleased to see that the CIMAM Annual Conference will be hosted in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I thank the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires and the Director, Victoria Noorthoorn as well as the government of the City of Buenos Aires for their support. As we gather together our CIMAM family of professional colleagues in Latin America after so many years, we look forward to reconnecting with the complex and rich museum cultures of this vibrant city.”
In 2022, CIMAM celebrated its 60th Anniversary in Palma de Mallorca. The committee has organized 54 conferences in more than 30 countries. During this year edition in Mallorca, Spain, Noorthoorn also expressed the importance of holding a CIMAM Annual Conference in Latin America. "Our continent has a vast history of modern and contemporary art museums, where institutions are constantly updating their practices seeking to act closer to the audiences and communities they serve, and working to become true agents of change." Victoria Noorthoorn stressed the significance of celebrating this Conference in Argentina in 2023 on the 40th anniversary of the return to democracy and the subsequent consensus on full freedom of expression.
The fact that the Museo Moderno will be hosting the 2023 CIMAM Annual Conference is an acknowledgment of the Museum’s institutional growth and transformation over the past 10 years, which has allowed it to position itself both locally and internationally. Over the last decade, the Moderno has consolidated its budget; renovated and expanded its premises; strengthened a process of professionalization; developed a diverse, inclusive, accessible, federal and academic program of contents in more than 90 exhibitions and 50 bilingual publications seeking to promote the visibility of Argentinian art; developed a strong educational program which today embraces the entire country; and innovated in its outreach to diverse audiences in the local neighborhood, the country, and the world.