“Museum under Construction. Tokyo–Warsaw” is a programme of lectures and screenings prepared by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Andrzej Wróblewski, “Muzeum” (Museum), 1956. Gouache on paper, 40 x 31 cm. From the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

The programme is centered around contemporary institutional critique and the dynamics of attraction/conflict between the artist and the museum. Is there any influence that museums have—through their architecture, collection-building policies or curatorial strategies—on the shape of contemporary artworks? How can artists alter the priorities of an institution and modify their programmes? Can a museum function without artists? The brief history of Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art—one of the youngest European art institutions hints at the major problems of modern museum-related policy. The speakers at the two institutions in Tokyo, National Arts Centre and Mori Art Museum, are Polish artists and critics, and they will join Japanese theorists in dealing with art from Central and Eastern Europe. They will examine the “side effects” and “margins” of museum operation. The adopted reference points are the problems of politics and history (artist “replacing” the museum), social reflection (artist “teaching” the museum), or activity in public space (artist “leaving” the museum).

Programme:

14 November 2011, The National Art Centre Tokyo
Symposium 13:00–17:00
I. Sebastian Cichocki (Programme Director, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw) and Hirai Shoichi (Curator, the National Art Center, Tokyo) as moderators, and artists: Marysia Lewandowska, Agnieszka Polska, Jan Smaga II. Sebastian Cichocki and Kasuya Akiko (Art Historian, Kyoto City University of Arts) as moderators, and artists: Joanna Rajkowska, Zbigniew Libera

15 November 2011, Mori Art Museum
“Star City” Film Screening and Performance 19:00–21.30
Introduction by Łukasz Ronduda (Curator, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw) with Kondo Kenichi (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum). Guest starring: Paweł Althamer

www.artmuseum.pl

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