Thi Thanh Mai Bui

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Thi Thanh Mai Bui, Researcher, Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam.

In 2022, 41 contemporary art curators, researchers, and museum directors from 24 different countries were awarded to attend the CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference. The CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference, titled "The Attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a Common Ground", was held in Mallorca (Balearic Islands), Spain on 11–13 November, hosted by Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma.

Thi Thanh Mai Bui's Conference Report

The CIMAM 2022 Annual Conference The Attentive Museum. Permeable Practices for a Common Ground was an opportunity for me to have a broad vision of museum work and learn through the experiences of other institutions and different models of collective actions beyond the world of museums to learn ways to create change in times of social emergency. The three-day program includes 03 keynote speakers, 10 perspective presentations, 3-panel discussions, a networking session, workshops, and tours to art museums, galleries, and artist studios. The conference's subjects covered include: Changing from the Inside: How should we Govern Ourselves, Unlocking History and New Narratives, and Learning from the Community: Collective Actions in the Face of Emergency.

I learned many things from the presentations and discussions during the conference and had a great experience, and in this report, I'd like to mention some of them here. For example, the presentation by Meskerem Assegued Bantiwalu, Curator and General Director, Zoma Museum PLC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, impressed me with how she and her colleagues transformed a polluted land into a museum with a beautiful botanical garden. Next, I liked the informative presentation M+: to see is to believe by Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Hong Kong, China. The M+'s rich art collections and how actively M + works grabbed my attention. In addition, the reminder that we should remember how to live and breathe in the presentation by Sethembile Msezane, a Visual Artist from South Africa, was meaningful. Some colleagues and I discussed the role of a museum, and we agreed that happiness is the most valuable thing in life; for that, a museum should be a place that cultivates the good seeds inside everyone as goodness, kindness, compassion, empathy, and mutual understanding. I am very grateful to all the speakers, organizers, and other participants who made the conference a special moment and a meaningful experience.

I enjoyed the tours to art institutions. The Palma organizing committee for CIMAM was warm and helpful, and the visits they planned to art studios, institutions, and museums were very informative and engaging. Through the tours, I learned about the Spanish contemporary art scene. Besides, It was the first time I visited Palma, Spain, and the location of the 2022 CIMAM Annual Conference, a scenic setting in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, in the archipelago of the Balearic Islands, between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and its rich culture impressed me much.

CIMAM Annual Conference 2022 allowed me to meet, learn, discuss, and hear diverse perspectives on common concerns and challenges, and to introduce Vietnamese art to other participants. The new knowledge from the conference would help to strengthen my research and develop my career, and I believe that some new professional collaborations might emerge in the coming time.

I would like to express my gratitude to the funding institution, the Getty Foundation, and CIMAM for awarding me the travel grant, making it possible for me to attend the CIMAM 2022 Conference in Palma, Spain, and I also would like to thank Ines Jover and Susana Carnicero so much for their support.