Coordinator: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb (HR)
Partners: Koroška galerija likovnih umetnosti, Slovenj Gradec (SI), Fundació Antoni Tàpies (ES), Muzej savremene umetnosti Vojvodine (RS)

Project duration: 01. 11. 2014 – 31. 10. 2016

Performing the Museum is built on the initial resources of the institutions collaborating on the project and based on different practices, some set on tradition and the already established working methods and others seeking a different methodology, resulting in experimental practices.

Collaborating institutions, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Koroska galerija likovnih umetnosti, Slovenj Gradec, Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona and Museum of Contemporary Art, Vojvodina, Novi Sad, invited total of 30 artists, experts, curators and researchers to reflect upon their history, practices, audience and possible future, and created a core of a project, an eight-part perfomative exhibition taking place in all the participating institutions from October 2015 till October 2016.

The exhibitions were followed by educational programmes based on the participatory approach, intended for both the audience and the staff. Creation of knowledge, based on the non-hegemonic, emancipatory principle is one of the strategic orientations of all the participating museums.

Educational and participative approach, directed towards general audience, youth, artists and professionals, delved through all the activities happening during the project. It was integrated in programmes of participating institution, with an aim to give tools both to the audience and professionals, as well as artists, to enhance direct contact of the visitors and general audience with the artworks taking into consideration their context.

The project resulted in following: 8 performative experimental exhibitions, with a total duration if 28 months, 30 traveling interpreters, 6 artistic residencies, 26 new artworks produced, 300 travelling artworks and publications, 6 international conferences, series of public lectures and screenings, an on-line archive of artworks and interventions for experts and broad public, an educational portal in 4 languages with content aimed at primary-school and teenage public, a 200-page reader including the theoretical positions, research, and experiences of the participating artists and curators as well as 2 artistic books, 4 project meetings, and 4 curatorial residencies for curators and museum professionals.

The project main goals are: involvement of the audience in the museum’s activities , integrating performativity in museum practices, enhancing cooperation among professionals, new public visibility of the institutions in terms of resources for the artists, professionals, and audience, applying educational and discursive approaches in curatorship, and introducing new models of exhibiting and mediating art, with a focus on affordable and user-friendly digital technologies.

Source: EAC.