The Age of the Museum

On Friday 22 March 2024, Il Tempo del Museo. Il museo d’arte contemporanea presidio di complessità (The Age of the Museum. The Contemporary Art Museum as a Cabinet of Complexity) took place — the fourth edition of the online Study Day organised every spring by AMACI with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, as a moment of in-depth reflection dedicated to the role and responsibility of museums and cultural institutions in relation to the changes currently under way in contemporary culture and society.

Il Tempo del Museo. Il museo d’arte contemporanea presidio di complessità, curated by AMACI’s Executive Board, addressed the profound changes that have affected museums, their mission and their way of operating, including the need to reconcile the long timeframe of research and training with the far more accelerated pace of communication and information. The 2022 ICOM international definition also acknowledges the broadening of museums’ functions, extending from conservation to education, participation and the sharing of knowledge, as well as the organisation of entertainment activities designed to give visitors pleasure and enjoyment. The Study Day reflects on the dichotomy, whether real or apparent, that emerges in the vision of museums, conceived both as places for the development of thought, debate and discussion, and as places of entertainment.

Now in its fourth edition, the Study Day Il Tempo del Museo. Il museo d’arte contemporanea presidio di complessità follows on from the third edition in 2023, I Musei d’arte contemporanea e lo sviluppo sostenibile: una pratica necessaria, curated by Marcella Beccaria and dedicated to the role of museums and cultural institutions in achieving more sustainable global development; the second edition in 2022, Cogli l’attimo, Carpe diem, Seize the Day, also curated by Marcella Beccaria, on the art of performance and its presence in Italian museum collections and archives; and the first edition, I Musei d’arte contemporanea e il diritto d’autore. Una prospettiva di collaborazione sull’esperienza del Progetto RAAM, curated by lawyer Andrea Pizzi, held in March 2021.

The Study Day was opened by Fabio De Chirico, Director of Service II Contemporary Art at the Ministry of Culture, and Lorenzo Balbi, President of AMACI, followed by a theoretical introduction by Mauro Ceruti, philosopher and theorist of complex thought, before continuing with three in-depth sessions dedicated to specific themes: Education or Edutainment?; Speed or Slowing Down?; Accessibility and Co-design.

The communications strand featured an illustrated talk by Elisa Nocentini, museum educator, author and illustrator of picture books, who has worked on issues of accessibility through the Toolkit for Museums programme, promoted by the Fondazione Scuola dei beni e delle attività culturali.

PROGRAMME

Theoretical introduction
Mauro Ceruti, Philosopher and theorist of complex thought

SESSION 1
Education or Edutainment?
The museum is constantly experimenting with new forms of public engagement and participation, guided by daily attention to the people who visit it or might visit it, to issues of physical, perceptual and cultural accessibility, and to educational and training projects that broaden and strengthen dialogue with the local area in which they operate. In this great opening-up of its vision and functions, the museum often draws on technological and digital innovation to expand the possibilities for public engagement and participation, to the point of offering emotional and immersive experiences that come close to genuine forms of entertainment, more closely tied to cultural consumption and to edutainment — a learning process aimed at educating through enjoyment.

With:
Christian Greco, Egyptologist and Director of the Museo Egizio, Turin
Andrea Viliani, Art historian, curator and Director of the Museo delle Civiltà, Rome

Chaired by Emma Zanella, Art historian and Director of the MA*GA Museum, Gallarate

SESSION 2
Speed or Slowing Down?
While the trend of contemporary life is towards speed and simplification in information processes, driven by ever more advanced technology, the museum in many cases operates as a place for slowing down, for visual and perceptual understanding, where the public is invited to take time to reflect and to grasp processes, to learn, and to engage with artistic practice through all the senses.

The museum has also long positioned itself as a centre for study, research, advanced training and specialisation: works of art and their documentation, archives, specialist libraries, and the research underpinning exhibitions and projects with artists make the museum a place of research and training capable of pursuing parallel paths of high specialisation and broad public engagement.

With:
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Curator and museum director
Andrea Moro, Professor of General Linguistics and Vice-Rector at the IUSS – Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pavia

Chaired by Elisabetta Barisoni, Head of Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice

SESSION 3
Accessibility and Co-design
The museum’s field of action has expanded enormously, and this complexity also encompasses the highly topical issue of physical and cognitive accessibility, with attention paid to diverse audiences. How can a museum be built in which differences can coexist, while also remaining capable of research and advanced training? How can people be listened to and involved in co-design, within a vision that shapes each museum in relation to its own audiences?

With:
Francesco Stocchi, Curator and Artistic Director, MAXXI
Mario Cucinella, Architect, founder and creative director of MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects

Chaired by Caterina Riva, Curator and Director of the MACTE Museum, Termoli

The closing remarks were given by Marcella Beccaria, Vice President of AMACI, Curator and Deputy Director of the Castello di Rivoli.

INFORMATION

The initiative Il Tempo del Museo. Il museo d’arte contemporanea presidio di complessità was fully translated into Italian Sign Language (LIS) to enable access for deaf signing audiences. A complete transcript of the talks in English is also available.