CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUMS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A NECESSARY PRACTICE
An online Study Day promoted by the Association with the support of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, dedicated to the fundamental role of museums and cultural institutions with regard to some of the major emergencies of contemporary society.
Together with Henry McGhie, founder of Curating Tomorrow,
institutions representatives and specialists will address
the theme of sustainable development in the museum sector
Friday 31 March 2023, from 10 a.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Free participation upon registration.
In 2015, the United Nations drew up a document titled Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, identifying seventeen sustainable development goals. Starting from these points, Friday 31 March 2023 from 10 am, AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums presents Contemporary Art Museums and Sustainable Development: a Necessary Practice: an online Study Day curated by Marcella Beccaria, Vice President of AMACI and Deputy Director, Chief Curator and Curator of the Collections of the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, dedicated to the role of museums and cultural institutions in achieving more sustainable global development.
The Study Day will be led by Henry McGhie, author of numerous publications and founder of the museum consultancy firm Curating Tomorrow, which supports museums and cultural institutions by implementing sustainable development programmes. People, Planet, Prosperity, Partnership and Peace, will be the topics addressed, directly inspired by the United Nations Agenda.
“Sustainable development needs people – individuals and in groups – to understand our world, debate alternatives, and agree on actions to take,” declared Henry McGhie, “Contemporary art museums are well placed to support this endeavour, to critique the past, and to combine creative activity and imagination with a concern for our shared futures. In order to do so, museums and those who work in them also need to be empowered, and that is what I hope we can achieve, together, on this study day.”
Together with McGhie, leading professionals and representatives of the AMACI network will talk about examples of museum practices currently in progress, aimed at a sustainable development.
On Friday 31 March 2023, Lorenzo Balbi, President of AMACI, Director of MAMbo, Fabio De Chirico, Director of Service II – Contemporary Art and Service V – Photography of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, and Marcella Beccaria, Vice President of AMACI, will start the day with the institutional greetings, followed by five sessions dedicated to specific themes, giving space for direct dialogue between institutions, cultural sector operators and the public.
Henry McGhie founded Curating Tomorrow to help museums and their partners enhance their contributions to sustainable development agendas, including the SDGs, biodiversity conservation, climate action, human rights and Disaster Risk Reduction. He writes a series of open-access guides on these topics, including Museums and the Sustainable Development Goals (2019). He has always had a passion for nature, and has worked in and with museums for thirty years, with an interest in using museums 'to their fullest'. He has helped create partnerships between researchers, museums and policy makers, and to incorporate museums into United Nations’ agendas and events. He is a member of the Sustainability Working Group established by ICOM in 2018 and, within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a member of the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). He was involved in the recognition of museums as key sites for climate change education and action in the 2021 Work Programme for the Paris Agreement. He is interested in working with museums, museum networks and their partners who want to embrace sustainable development as a principle for their contribution to society.
On the occasion of the Study Day AMACI is making a digital library available to all. The collection of material is not exhaustive and will grow in the coming weeks; it collects biographies of the speakers of the initiative, free online resources mentioned during the study day, and projects of AMACI Museums. The Association continues in its efforts to support museum policies related to the contemporary and to inform and raise awareness of pressing issues.
PROGRAM
Time 10:00 a.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Institutional greetings
Lorenzo Balbi
President AMACI
Fabio De Chirico
Director Unit 2 - Contemporary art and Unit 5 - Photography of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture
Marcella Beccaria
Vice-President AMACI
Introduction to the day with presentation of the program and the keynote speaker Henry McGhie
SESSION 1
People
Time 10:25 a.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Marcella Beccaria
Deputy Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli - Turin
Moderator
Henry McGhie
Founder Curating Tomorrow, Liverpool
"The 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals and the five Ps. The First P: People”
Bettina Leidl
Vice President ICOM Austria, Director MuseumsQuartier, Wien
“17 Museums x 17 SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals. Museums as Pioneers of Social, Environmental and Economic Development”
José Luiz Pederzoli
Unit Manager, Strategic Planning, ICCROM, Rome
"Connecting the dots between heritage collections and the SDGs - ICCROM’s Our Collections Matter"
Case studies
Stefania Napolitano
Senior Educator, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
"De-genre objects. Different definitions of spaces and elements of everyday use."
Cristina Gazzola
Education Services Department, MUVE, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia
“From artwork to storytelling”
Q&A
SESSION 2
Planet
Time 11:40 a.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Caterina Riva
Director, MACTE, Termoli
Moderator
Henry McGhie
Founder, Curating Tomorrow, Liverpool
“The Second P: Planet”
Birgitte Kehler Holst
Project Lead The Green Museum Academy, Copenhagen
"Green Museum Academy"
Karin Vicente
Programme Manager, Curator Adamson-Eric Museum, Head of the sustainable work group, Art Museum of Estonia, Tallin
“Green Museum: from actions to certificate”
Paola Brambilla
Lawyer, VIA Commission Coordinator – Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security
“Regulation and evaluation of museum sustainability: CAMs”
Case study
Pietro Scammacca
Assistant curator, Museo MADRE, Naples
“Rethinking Nature”
Q&A
LUNCH BREAK
SESSION 3
Prosperity
Time 1:55 p.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Lorenzo Balbi
Director MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna
Moderator
Henry McGhie
Founder, Curating Tomorrow, Liverpool
“The Third P: Prosperity”
Michele Lanzinger
President ICOM Italia, Director MUSE, Trento
“Why shouldn't museums care about the things that really matter today?”
Case study
Paola Zanini
Head Education Department, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli - Turin
“Of Beauty One Lives. We Cultivate a Dream”
Q&A
SESSION 4
Partnership
Time 2:40 p.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Emma Zanella
Director Museo MA*GA, Gallarate
Moderator
Henry McGhie
Founder, Curating Tomorrow, Liverpool
“The fifth P: Partnership”
Elizabeth Wilde
Policy Officer, NEMO – Network of European Museum Organisations, Berlin
“Museums in the Climate Crisis”
Camilla Bove
Founder Gallery Climate Coalition Italia, Gallery Associate Thomas Dane Gallery
"How to create a green team"
Case study
Cristina Ferretti
Head of Marketing, Sales and Business Development, Museion - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea, Bolzano
“Museion, Carbon Report 2022”
Q&A
SESSION 5
Peace
Time 3:40 p.m. CEST (UTC+2)
Elisabetta Barisoni
Head of Ca’ Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Fondazione Musei Civici, Venice
Moderator
Henry McGhie
Founder, Curating Tomorrow, Liverpool
“The fourth P: Peace”
Laura Searson
Cultural Heritage Preservation Lead, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
“The V&A’s Culture in Crisis Programme”
Case study
Chiara Gatti
Director MAN Museo d’arte della provincia di Nuoro
"Weaving Peace. Homage to Guernica."
Q&A
Marcella Beccaria
Vice-President AMACI
Conclusions
INFO
Initiative open to the public with free admission, subject to availability of places and following compulsory registration by Wednesday 29 March 2023 at this link. The initiative will be held on the Zoom platform, and the link for participation will be sent by Thursday 30 March exclusively to those pre-registered. Remote simultaneous translation will be available for the entire day in English and in Italian. For more information, visit info@amaci.org
