STUDYING AT THE MUSEUM/STUDYING THE MUSEUM

The fifth 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 profound changes affecting contemporary art museums, their mission and their ways of operating.

Curated by Elisabetta Barisoni and Emma Zanella

On Friday 28 March 2025, from 9.30 am onwards, Studying at the Museum/Studying the Museum, the fifth edition of the annual Spring Study Day organised by AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, took place online, with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.

Curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, Head of Museums Area / Ca' Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art and Fortuny Museum and Head of MUVE in Mestre, and Emma Zanella, Director of MA*GA, this event represented a significant opportunity to reflect on the profound transformations affecting contemporary art museums, their mission, and their operational approaches in the current context.

The museum is a place of complexity: it collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible – while playing a crucial role in research and education through ongoing dialogue with universities, academies, AFAM institutions, artists, students and researchers.

Within this network of relationships, the museum itself becomes a subject of study, both for the heritage it safeguards and for the enhancement and educational projects it promotes to engage audiences. Furthermore, artistic practices often place the museum at the centre of their work. This evolving tendency also influences the role of artists, who increasingly position themselves as researchers, investigating themes of contemporary culture, heritage, education and social relationships – ultimately entering various museum contexts to reinterpret and present them in unconventional and innovative ways.

On these premises, the fifth AMACI Study Day aims to foster dialogue among experts in the field to identify the best practices to acknowledge the formative role of museums and strengthen their synergy with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Merit, universities, AFAM institutions, and other organisations that view museums as strategic partners in teaching and higher education programmes.

The event featured three thematic sessions, introduced by a preliminary survey analysing the status of AMACI Museums in relation to the themes proposed. The panels included contributions from AMACI Museum professionals, sector experts, representatives from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Merit, as well as figures from the academic and artistic spheres.

Now in its fifth edition, the Study Day follows on from previous annual events, in 2024 The Time of the Museum. The contemporary art museum as a site of complexity – a reflection on the perceived or real dichotomy in the vision of museums, seen both as spaces for intellectual discourse and as venues for entertainment; in 2023 Contemporary Art Museums and Sustainable Development: A Necessary Practice, curated by Marcella Beccaria, explored the role of museums and cultural institutions in achieving a more sustainable global future; in 2022 Seize the Day. Performance Art and Its Presence in Italian Museum Collections and Archives, curated by Marcella Beccaria, focused on performance art in museum collections; in 2021 Contemporary Art Museums and Copyright: A Collaborative Perspective, curated by Andrea Pizzi, brought together, for the first time, institutions safeguarding creative works and those seeking rights for research, study and cultural dissemination.

The Study Day was opened by Angelo Piero Cappello, Director-General for Contemporary Creativity at the Ministry of Culture, and Lorenzo Balbi, President of AMACI. It included three in-depth sessions on The Museum as an Educational Institution, The Museum and the Academic World and The Museum, Artists and Art Practices.

SESSION 1

The Museum as an educational institution

Ministry of Education and Merit Directive No. 170/2016 states that “museum institutions” are “qualified entities for school staff training and do not require registration in the lists mentioned in paragraph 3, letters a) and b)” (Art. 1, paragraph 5). Despite this provision, non-state public museums struggle to obtain this recognition and must undergo lengthy processes to receive only temporary accreditation.

Moderated by Emma Zanella, director of MA*GA, this session opened with a brief analysis of the current accreditation status of the 26 AMACI Museums regarding training centre recognition and their educational activities.

Participants included:

Laura Pazienti, director at the Directorate-General for School Staff of the Ministry of Education and Merit;

Alessandra Franzone, director at the Directorate-General for Education, Research and Cultural Institutions at the Ministry of Culture;

Roberto Vannata, director of Service II, Directorate-General for Museums at the Ministry of Culture.

Their contributions clarified the various forms of collaboration and regulatory frameworks concerning museums’ educational role.

SESSION 2

The Museum and the Academic World

Moderated by Elisabetta Barisoni, head of Museums Area / Ca' Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art and Fortuny Museum and Head of MUVE in Mestre, this session explored the complex relationship between museums and research centres. Several AMACI Museums have established dedicated departments that have fostered extensive research, education and training activities for decades.

Speakers included:

Irene de Vico Fallani, head of the Orientation and Development Department and In-Depth Programme Office, MAXXI – National Museum of 21st -Century Arts;

Francesco Tedeschi, director of CRA.IT (research centre on abstract art in Italy), Università Cattolica di Milano;

Pietroluigi Genovesi, Head of MUVE Academy, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia;

Marcella Beccaria, Deputy Director of the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Chief Curator and Curator of the Museum’s Collections, and Head of the CRRI – the Museum’s Research Center.

SESSION 3

The Museum, Artists and Art Practices

Artists engage with museums not only to exhibit their works or publications but also to expand their research, transforming museums into spaces for investigation and relational exchange.

Moderated by Eva Elisa Fabbris, director of Madre Museum, this session featured:

Alexander Damianisch, head of Support Art and Research Department; Research Centre of the University of Applied Arts Vienna;

Corinne Mazzoli, artist and PhD candidate at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca with Lorena Giuranna, head of Heritage Education and Higher Education, MA*GA;

Alice Visentin, artist and PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples with Alberta Romano, head of Education and Public program, Madre.

The event concluded with remarks by Lorenzo Balbi, President of AMACI.

INFO

The event was free of charge upon registration and it took place on Friday 28 March 2025, starting at 9:30 AM CET online. The link to join has been sent via Zoom exclusively to those registered. The event has been fully translated into English to ensure accessibility for an international audience. For more information: info@amaci.org