Agustín Ricardo Diez

The CIMAM faces a great challenge: how to be a forum for dialogues among global institutions that come from and confront drastically different economic, cultural, and political environments. One of the main goals that the CIMAM is trying to achieve is to be both a forum to generate a productive debate and a site open to a broad number of members.

The 2018 meeting in Stockholm made that challenge clear. The professionals invited to speak during the meeting presented talks that covered topics such as censorship, technology, the relationship with the private sector—galleries, collectors, etc.—or funding issues. These topics, which were discussed in smaller meetings during lunch, clarified the complexities and differences among institutions. Latin America and Asia are dealing with very singular problems that in many cases are not in line with the kind of challenges faced by European and North American institutions.

At the end of the conference, it became clear that there is an importance for CIMAM to establish bridges among museums not only in order to solve common issues but also to collaborate with one another. As director of an archive focused on Argentinean and Latin American Art, I find this topic particularly relevant, especially in a moment when archives are being acquired by museums—in many cases as if they were works of art— complicating the accessibility for researchers. Sometimes the museum´s behavior is not as collaborative as is needed.

Finally, while the CIMAM was an extremely productive forum to share experiences and to become familiar with other institutions’ projects, the issues addressed were mostly focused on exhibitions, financial support, and relationships with private and public actors. It would benefit the CIMAM Annual Conference to incorporate discussions related to institutional archives, restauration departments, or educational projects. Those are topics in which the CIMAM could improve its role as a forum to share institutional experiences.