Tatiana Kochubinska

Visiting CIMAM Annual Conference The Roles and Responsibilies of Museums in Civil Society was very fruitful for me in terms of networking as well as receiving new knowledge in my professional field.

First of all, I would like to stress that the conference was very well organized and scheduled both content-wise and technically including the whole crew team who was very helpful in navigating through the labyrinth-space of the Singapore National Gallery. The conference has shown an optimal balance between lecture/theory part and workshop/visiting locations.

Secondly, humid yet steaming hot atmosphere of Singapore has given a special feeling to the whole process. Exactly being in Singapore was very particular. The context, surrounding, architecture, history and attitude to art are completely different from any context I have ever been. Visiting Substation and its exhibition Discipline the city was one of the discoveries. It was the only moment that has shown critical potential and revealed a scratch in the ideal situation of the completely new city.

The conference itself was very important in terms of networking (meeting colleagues from around the world, colleagues of my age and other experienced professionals from the leading museums of the world). I am personally more practical person, so some case-study perspectives were the most relevant for me. The keynote speech by Donna De Salvo has given a lot of insights into my work and has given a lot of ideas and questions for developing the Research Platform of the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev.

Moreover, the discussions around censorship were interesting exactly by the way this topic is being articulated. It is really a discussion rather battle-like situation. In the workshop on the topic of censorship I really respected the insistence and patience of Suzanne Cotter who was moderating our workshop and her willingness to have a practical outcome and possibilities that CIMAM can provide in this perspective.

Last but not least, I really liked the part of CIMAM General Assembly for its easiness, disengagement and transparency, especially the clarity in terms of budgeting process and the whole structure.

I am very thankful to Getty Foundation for this amazing opportunity to dive into such a different context, to get in touch with so many people and to get so much visual and intellectual inspiration.