CONTEMPORARY ART HUB – ARAD

Development of a Master Plan
First Cut: Learning and Listening

Friday, 23.10.2016 Teba Hall
Saturday, 24.10.2016 Teba Hall

Speakers:
Anda Ionescu, Speaker for ARAD Initiatives.
Iara Boubnova, Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art Sofia, Bulgaria.
Zoran Eric, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia.
Anya Medvedeva, Director, Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives Kyiv, Ukraine.
Zofia Ploska, Curator, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Poland.
Slaven Tolj, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Rijeka, Croatia.

Chaired by Office for Art – Rainald Schumacher / Nathalie Hoyos
1. Panel
Introduction by Anda Ionescu
Promise and hope for a Contemporary Art Hub in Arad.

Slaven Tolj – Museum of Contemporary Art Rijeka
How to combine regional and local interests with the international community?
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka has a long tradition since 1947, when it was founded as Fine Arts Gallery. The gallery was home to Salon 54 and following Rijeka Salons in 1956, 1959, 1961 and 1963 – exhibitions of Yugoslavian painting and sculpture. From 1960 on 16 Youth Biennials were held until 1991. In 2001 the institution changed its name into Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Since 2001 there exists a concept and a project to develop a new site for the Museum.
In 2012 artist Slaven Tolj was appointed as director for the Museum.
As an artist he knows about the obstacles to work in the social reality of today Croatia. He will focus on the role and importance of such an institution for the local and regional art scene and speak about organisational tasks and future perspectives for collaboration.

Iara Boubnova – Museum of Contemporary Art Sofia
Learning from failure and developing new strategies.
A Museum of Contemporary Art does not exist in Sofia. As director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, which was founded as a NGO by artists, independent curators and cultural theoreticians, based on a shared vision to develop a contemporary art scene in Bulgaria after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Iara Boubnova has been engaged for the past years to establish an official, state run Museum of Contemporary Art. The project was not realised.

Zofia Ploska – Museum of Modern Art Warsaw
Planning and realising an institution might be faced by many delays and obstacles.
In 2005 the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw has been brought into being. A new building complex is planned just in front of the large Palace of Culture and Science in the very centre of the city. Since that time – due to some postponements – the Museum was operating in temporary locations. In October 2012 the Museum moved for four years into a former furniture store, just nearby the future location of the new building. Nevertheless the Museum is playing an important role by collecting, displaying and mediating contemporary art.
Zofia Ploska will talk about the difficulties to work under such conditions, the struggle with the authorities and the future perspective and role of the institution.

2. Panel

Zoran Eric ­––Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade
As a Museum in Motion during reconstruction, will it be able to keep up such flexibility?
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade was founded in 1965 and played an important part in displaying national and international art. In 2007 the museum was closed for reconstruction and extension. Since that time the collections are displayed as a Museum in Motion at different cities and locations throughout the country. What are the perspectives for such an important institution and how it will balance local and regional interests with the international dialogue?

Anya Medvedeva – Izolyatsia Kyiv
A non-governmental organisation as a model for an Art Hub in Arad?
The Platform for Cultural Initiatives is a private NGO for contemporary culture, which was founded in 2010 in a former insulation materials factory in the east of Ukraine. The territory remains seized by the self-proclaimed ‚Donetsk People’s Republic’ since it was occupied on 9 June 2014. Many of the site-specific artworks and installations have been destroyed. Also a work by Pascale Martine Tayou ‚Make Up’, a large lipstick on some former smokestack, which has become something like a new town’s landmark, was blown up by the occupants.
Izolyatsia has moved to Kyiv and has opened on the factory site of a shipyard a new centre. Anya Medvedeva will tell more about the dramatic events, but she will also give invaluable information about models of becoming active and initiative especially with local artists and groups.

Final Statement by Anda Ionescu.