The 54th edition of the CIMAM Annual Conference celebrates the 60th anniversary of CIMAM
The 54th edition of the CIMAM Annual Conference celebrates the 60th anniversary of the International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art exploring how museums can actively listen to remain relevant to a quickly changing world.
- 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, and can also be attended online.
- The three-day program includes 3 keynote speakers, 10 perspective presentations, 3 panel discussions, a networking session, and workshops as well as organized visits to the art institutions and galleries in Palma.
- On the occasion of CIMAM's 60th anniversary (1962-2022), the committee will reflect on the evolution of the museum sector through the testimonies of relevant figures who have been part of its 60-year history.
- CIMAM offers more than 30 travel grants to support the curatorial and research development of applicants through their attendance at the Annual Conference. The Deadline to apply is 30 June.
The Attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a Common Ground
From November 11 to 13, 2022, CIMAM will hold the 54th edition of its Annual Conference in a scenic location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, in the archipelago of the Balearic Islands, between Africa, Europe and the Middle East, to explore how museums can actively embrace, partner, and actively 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.
Over the course of three days, the concept of The Attentive Museum will be addressed as an opportunity to take a broad view of the work that can and should be done to ensure the relevance and impact of museums, developing institutional practices that make sense for all of contemporary society, even in these times of conflict and war, and practicing active listening within the museum community to reach beyond.
The 13 invited speakers will propose different models that can provide a roadmap for institutions through an exploration of new models of governance, and narratives of decolonial discourses, concluding with a vision beyond the museum world to collectives and new institutional models from which we can learn a more sustainable future.
Annual Conference Registration Form
Travel Grant Application Form
Program and 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, Palma, 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.
2022 Contents Committee
The 2022 Content Committee, formed by Manuel Borja-Villel, CIMAM Honorary Member, Director, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Saskia Bos, CIMAM Board Member, Independent Curator, and Critic, Amsterdam, Sarah Glennie, CIMAM Board Member, Director, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Mami Kataoka, CIMAM President, Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Malgorzata Ludwisiak, CIMAM Board Member, Chief Curator, Department of Modern Art National Museum in Gdansk, Agustín Pérez Rubio, (Chair of Contents Committee), CIMAM Board Member, Independent Curator, Madrid, Imma Prieto, Director, Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, Palma, Mallorca, Berta Sureda, Independent Culture Researcher and Manager, Palma, Mallorca, have worked on proposing themes taking into account the urgent and relevant issues affecting the development of the profession of curators and directors of modern and contemporary art museums, to ensure a vigorous and thoughtful debate.
The new CIMAM Board for the period 2023-25 will be announced during the General Assembly in the context of the CIMAM Annual Conference.
CIMAM Conference, Pre and Post-Tour Programs of Visits
The afternoon program includes visits to Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, Galeria Fran Reus, Kewenig Gallery, CaixaForum Palma, Estudio Bernardí Roig (Binissalem), Estudio Ana Laura Aláez (Inca) and L21 LAB (Polígono Son Castelló), Fundació Joan Miró, Museo Fundació Juan March, Galeria Pelaires, Galeria Xavier Fiol, and Pep Llabrés Art Contemporani.
Pre-conference Tour to Eivissa (Ibiza). 10 November
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
Hauser & Wirth, Santiago Sierra and Alicia Framis studios in Menorca, and visits to 6 artists' studios in a tour of 6-8 hours around Mallorca's inland, including the studios of Susy Gómez (Campos), Gary Hill (Palma) and 2-3 more studios pending to be confirmed in Mallorca.
Travel Grant Funders 2022
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.
The Getty Foundation, Byucksan Cultural Foundation, OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Mercedes Vilardell, SAHA – Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey, and Beijing Public Art and Culture Foundation. Deadline to apply is 30 June 2022 (and 3rd July for Spanish Professionals).