Offering alternative narratives to a limited yet mainstream canon of art has become one of the primary tasks of museum practice. The conference takes this status quo as a starting point for discussing museum programs, particularly those of museums of modern and contemporary art, which are thinking research, collection, exhibition, and public from a global perspective.

In current discourse, such endeavors take notions of inclusivity and diversity as well as universalism and imperialism as animating principles. They all enter into “The Idea of the Global Museum,” a title that serves as shorthand for a debate on the different approaches that museums are taking today, and that could be taken in the future.

Over two days, conference participants offer specific knowledges and points of view: what are the effects of a “global” approach on museum work past, present, and future? What are its necessities, possibilities, and challenges? Is there a common denominator for “global” museum practice?

This conference is part of the project “Global Resonances” (working title), which explores the collection of the Nationalgalerie with respect to its international and transregional entanglements. The project will result in a large-scale exhibition project that will take place at Hamburger Bahnhof from November 2017 to April 2018. On the initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the project is funded as part of its program “Global Museum.”

Conference language is English. Simultaneous translation into German is available.

The conference is open to the public and free of charge. Please register your attendance before November 15, 2016 at service@smb.museum indicating your name and address.

Conference venue: Aktionsraum (right wing of the museum building; enter from Invalidenstraße) Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

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Program

Friday, December 2, 4–8pm

Introduction
4pm: Welcome, Hortensia Völckers, Artistic Director, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Halle
4:15pm: Welcome, Udo Kittelmann, Director, Nationalgalerie, Berlin
4:30pm: Keynote lecture, Luis Camnitzer, artist, New York

Panel 1: Museum programs
What might museum practice look like if taking the global into account? A look into museum programs and a discussion of possible future approaches

Speakers
5:30pm: Jelle Bouwhuis, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam / independent researcher
5:50pm: Patrick Flores, University of the Philippines, Manila
6:10pm: Reem Fadda, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, New York
6:30pm: Roundtable discussion. Chair: Andrea Buddensieg, independent curator, Berlin

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Saturday, December 3, 10am–7pm

Panel 2: Museum Surroundings
Museum practice is situated within local surroundings and conditions. How to reconcile the global and the local?

Speakers
10am: Andrea Giunta, University of Texas at Austin and Universidad de Buenos Aires
10:20am: Anda Rottenberg, independent curator and writer, Berlin
10:40am: Mark Coetzee, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, Cape Town
11am: Roundtable discussion. Chair: Atreyee Gupta, Minneapolis Institute of Art
12:30pm: Lunch break

Panel 3: Museum Structures
Research and exhibitions are tools that go hand in hand when it comes to offering alternatives to established narratives of art. A discussion of approaches.

Speakers
1:30pm: Natalia Majluf, Museo de Arte de Lima
1:50pm: Zdenka Badovinac, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana
2:10pm: Clémentine Deliss, independent curator and writer, Berlin
2:30pm: Roundtable discussion. Chair: Wendy Shaw, Freie Universität Berlin
4pm: Break

Panel 4: Museum Public
Who constitutes the public of a museum of art? And who feels represented by it?

Speakers
4:30pm: Ahmet Öğüt, artist, Amsterdam/Berlin
4:50pm: Paul Goodwin, independent curator, lecturer and theorist, London
5:10pm: Nora Razian, Sursock Museum, Beirut
5:30pm: Roundtable discussion. Chair: Nora Sternfeld, Aalto University, Helsinki

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