Samal Mamytova

2017 CIMAM Annual Conference, which was held at the National Gallery of Singapore, was organized at a very high level. The conference addressed the crucial issues of the role and responsibilities of museums in civil society. The conference topics were very informative and useful. I especially liked the presentation by the first speaker, Nikos Papastergiadis. In his speech he reviewed two main questions: how will museums deal with the extended frontiers of institutional spaces, and what are the means for engaging complex forms of public interaction. Also, useful were discussion seminars on censorship, governance and the future of collections. The conference was attended by researchers, curators, theorists and practitioners from around the world. They all had very interesting presentations and shared their experiences. I got a lot of useful information and experiences from foreign colleagues in this sphere. We visited museums and galleries of contemporary art that was a good chance to know about the state of art in Singapore. Especially, I was impressed by the collection of the National Gallery Singapore, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and Gillman Barracks and NTU Center for Contemporary Art Singapore, Art Science Museum. I strongly believe that the participation in the conference The Roles and Responsibilities of Museums in Civil Society in Singapore with the study of international experience has significantly raised my professional level and I hope to use productively this experience in my further scientific research, curatorial activity and to reflect it in the reports at the national and international conferences.