Mariana Marchesi
Conference Report. November 2023
The 55th CIMAM Conference focused on the role of the museum in each community, the possibilities that exist for collaborating in social change, and its ethical responsibilities to citizens as well as the social functions that cultural heritage can play.
Over the course of three days, different issues were discussed, such as the role of the museum in building knowledge, as a catalyst for action, or its social responsibility with regard to putting issues that are relevant to communities on the agenda.
In this sense, the conferences allowed us to hear the different perspectives and problems that related to the work of each participant. The range of approaches, without a doubt, enriched a program that already included actors with diverse points of view and from spaces and institutions of different sizes, with a variety of interests and objectives, ranging from community initiatives to collective projects, artists liaising with institutions, as well as directors and cultural agents who work in institutions of varying degrees of complexity.
I would like to highlight three lectures that I believe raised concerns that are of interest to museums and cultural spaces today.
On the first day, Elvira Espejo, artist and director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore (MUSEF) of La Paz, presented her vision of the role of that museum and of the character of the collection as a common good and community asset. She also expressed the need to install diverse cross-cultural readings of collections and the possibilities for rethinking the mode of knowledge production from a pluricultural perspective.
On Day 2, Luis Camnitzer raised the issue of the crisis in the “educational shift” of museums, a paradigm he helped to construct and is now urging to be rethought. In addition to the value of this critique, I believe it is very important that museums consider their real social impact and the real possibilities of generating alternative and effective systems of knowledge.
On the last day, the dialogue between María Belén Correa, director and founder of the Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina (Argentinian Trans Memory Archive), and Sidhi Vhisatya, curator of the Queer Indonesia Archive, was particularly interesting. The discussion led to questions about new ways of shaping collections and archives based on current social agendas, as well as the possibility of becoming agents for disseminating and constructing a social identity based on diversity.
Meetings such as those of CIMAM provide opportunities for professionals from different parts of the world to exchange and confirm experiences and to discuss issues of common interest to art and museums today. At the same time, they allow us to strengthen ties with cultural scenes in different countries, to share challenges and they can even provide the catalyst for the execution of joint projects.
In my opinion, the presentations raised very important issues, although I wonder if the dynamic of the meeting could be enriched by the introduction of a hybrid format of presentations and roundtable discussions to allow common issues and interests to be discussed more directly among smaller groups.
I would also like to highlight the excellent work of the host institution and its director, Victoria Noorthoorn, as well as the CIMAM Organizing Committee.
In this regard, special mention should be made of the important and valuable agenda of visits to local institutions, galleries, and artists’ studios that were programmed by the organizers. The opportunity to raise the profile of local art and culture globally and the strengthen of this international network of contacts is something that can only occur on occasions such as this when such a quantity and diversity of agents from the artistic field are brought together. As a professional at a cultural institution, I believe that this was one of the greatest achievements of the CIMAM Meeting.
In addition, I would like to extend my thanks to the ArtHaus Grant Program and the Selection Committee for endorsing my attendance at the meeting. In this respect, it must be noted that this national grant program allowed a significant number of curators and directors of Argentinian museums in various parts of the country to attend the meeting.
Bio
Mariana Marchesi. Background June 2017- June 2023.
INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Since 2017. National Museum of Fine Arts. Position held: Artistic Director.
Appointed by competition Res. Del Poder Ejecutivo 735/2017 - Ex 2017-02253638-APN-DMED#MC. Responsibilities of the current position: leading the programs and projects related to the artistic heritage of the Museum in relation to its registration, research, conservation, enhancement, exhibition, exchange and communication.
Since 2019. Argentine Center of Art Researchers (CAIA). Position held: President.
Since 2019. She is the editor in charge of Caiana Magazine. Revista de Historia del Arte y Cultura Visual, Centro Argentino de Investigadores de Arte.
DEGREES
Postgraduate (in progress: thesis finalized. Estimated date of defense: September 2023)
Doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, UBA. Thesis title: "Violence, censorship and resistance. Symbolic tactics in Argentinean visual arts (1973-1983)". EXP- S01: 0874799/201. Director: Dr. Andrea Giunta.
Undergraduate degree
2004. Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts. School of Philosophy and Letters. University of Buenos Aires. Average: 8.20 (eight with twenty).
CURATOR and PUBLICATIONS.
As artistic director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, since October 2017 she has been in charge of the museum's collection. In addition, she has curated and/or produced, among others, the following exhibitions: Rodin. Centennial in Fine Arts (November 2017 - April 2018, curator); Venice in a Green Key. Nicolás García Uiburu and the coloration of the Grand Canal (June-September 2018, curator); Masterpieces from Renaissance to Romanticism (March-July, 2018); Julio Le parc. Buenos Aires-Paris Transition. 1954-1959. (August-November 2019, curator); The Accidental Canon. Women artists in Argentina (1890-1950) (March- August 2021); Ernesto Deira. Identificaciones (July- September 2022, curator); Contemporary Scenes. A tour through the collection of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Centro Cultural Kirchner, June 2022-November 2023, curator); Raquel Forner. Spatial Revelations 1957-1987 (November 2022 - March 2023); León Ferrari. Recurrences (May-August 2023); Old Drawings from the National Museum of Fine Arts Collection (April-June 2023).