"How can museums respond to the concept of Collapsology"
"How can museums respond to the concept of Collapsology, the transdisciplinary study of the risk of collapse of industrial civilization, which helps us understand the predicament in which we are trapped?
I propose two courses of action to respond to the predicament. One is to sustain museum activities unchanged and protected despite critical and environmental changes, in most cases through investments in infrastructure.
The other way is to face the consequences as a case of societal collapse, shedding light on the idea of museological sustainability.
Translating Jem Bendell's concept of Deep Adaptation for the functioning of museums, can we imagine downsizing museums? Can we shed some venues and parts of collections? Let's think about broadening the meaning of restoration to encompass the relationship with human and non-human agents. Since museums are institutions of care, they could become the side of the emotional world involved in restoration processes."
Jaroslaw Lubiak, Dr. Art College, Szczecin, Poland.
The CIMAM 2021 Annual Conference was held on November 5-7, 2021, hosted as initially planned by the Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz and the NOMUS New Art Museum/ Branch of the National Museum in Gdansk, Poland.
During the three days of discussions, the conference focused on the two interconnected current crises of Xenophobia and Climate Change, and the sometimes hidden or unexplored connections between the two.
Keynote speakers and relevant case-study presentations showed how institutions, artists, and thinkers working together can provide practical laboratories concerning these emerging issues and offer methodological tools to combat discriminatory and nationalistic tendencies in an increasingly divisive and divided world.
Learn more about CIMAM's 2021 Annual Conference: