"The Institution and Its Intention"

The Institution and Its Intentions gathers key reflections from the symposium A Model: Reimagining Museums.

Co-edited by Vere Van Gool and CIMAM member Bettina Steinbrügge, and co-published by Sternberg Press and Mudam Luxembourg - Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, the book is available to CIMAM members at a special rate through a collaboration between CIMAM and Sternberg Press.

-> Log in to Members Only and visit Editorial Discounts to access the offer.

This publication collects and preserves the ideas put forward during the symposium “A Model: Reimagining Museums,” which took place at Mudam – The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, in June 2024. The convening explored the mission of museums today and examined how contemporary institutions can continue to serve as sources of culture, preservation, education, and community in the future.

The symposium marked the final chapter of a broader program dedicated to examining the museum as a model. The series was introduced by “A Model,” a three-part exhibition curated by Bettina Steinbrügge that reflected on the role of the museum in the twenty-first century, reaffirming the need to consider the institutions a dynamic, living place, sensitive and receptive to contemporary debates. It also considered the possibilities that arise when museum collections are reimagined as active and performative environments. More than thirty artists were involved – some conceiving new commissions, others responding to works in Mudam’s collection.

The book includes texts by Giulia Bellinetti, Clémentine Deliss, Ben Eastham, António Mendes, Florence Ostende, Agustín Pérez Rubio, and Bettina Steinbrügge, alongside a foreword by Steinbrügge and interviews with Claire Fontaine and Bettina Steinbrügge herself.

In the text that follows, Bettina Steinbrügge, co-editor of The Institution and Its Intentions, introduces the conceptual framework of the publication, outlining its origins, motivations, and central questions.

"The Institution and its Intentions" brings together key ideas developed during the symposium A Model: Reimagining Museums, focusing on the contemporary museum as a dynamic, ethical, and political structure. Shifting the perspective from artists to institutions, the publication examines how museums operate today as sites of responsibility, negotiation, and transformation rather than neutral spaces of display.

At its conceptual core is Hanne Lippard’s performance The Contract (2024), which uses the language of legal agreements to explore authority, authorship, and accountability between artists and institutions. Through repetition and abstraction, the work exposes how responsibility circulates within institutional frameworks.

The contributions address pressing challenges facing museums, including diversity and representation, labor conditions, climate responsibility, artificial intelligence, and work–life balance. Museums are presented as fluid systems that must continuously adapt to social, political, and cultural change. Ultimately, the publication positions the museum as a collaborative space where new institutional models can emerge through critical reflection and shared responsibility.

Bettina Steinbrügge.
Director
Mudam Luxembourg
Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
Luxembourg

We encourage CIMAM members to explore The Institution and Its Intentions and the debates it opens up around contemporary museum practice. A 20% discount is available on purchases made through Sternberg Press’s webshop.