The first panel of the Museum as Hub conference, “How Do You Feel (About Institutions)?,” lays the groundwork for the discussions that follow by presenting institutions not as ossified, inflexible structures but as systems of dynamic scale, position, and possibility. This conceptual shift is made through an exploration of a “question of feelings” or the personal stakes—and, indeed, the people—that are central to any organization’s constitution at a given time. Considering ways in which “feelings” can structure both visible and also internal operations, panelists will discuss their own institutional practices and investments relative to the structures they work in and around; the connections between authorship and accountability; the affective as it pertains to curatorial practice, and suggest ways in which institutions themselves might be thought otherwise within such a framework.

Panelists: Naomi Beckwith, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Eungie Joo, Director of Art and Cultural Programs, Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil; Hyunjin Kim, Chief Curator, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul; Michelle Marxuach, Cofounder and Codirector, Beta-Local, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sarah Rifky, Codirector, Beirut, Cairo. Moderated by Johanna Burton, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement, New Museum.

A livestream of the conference will be available here.

MUSEUM AS HUB CONFERENCE

On April 12 and 13, the Museum as Hub will host its Annual Conference. Marking the sixth anniversary of the Hub initiative, this conference aims, in part, to consider strategies for the next phase of the project, while also reflecting more broadly on the rapidly shifting global context it inhabits. The conference will dedicate itself to a number of questions pertaining to the notion of “institutions” as such, exploring ways and means by which art organizations assume shape via programming, alliances with other institutions, and dedication to specific content or context. Developed with Museum as Hub partners, this two-day conference held in the New Museum Theater convenes an international group of curators, artists, and scholars to examine themes including: the concept of regionalism; the “question of feelings” in relation to curatorial practice; and the imperfect institutionalization of the “discursive object” within the museum.

As both a physical site and a growing network, the Museum as Hub facilitates artistic and intellectual exchange through forms of exhibition, residency, public programming, editorial and digital projects, and other projects. Museum as Hub activities are inspired, in part, by a group of international partner institutions who collaborate to produce shared research and programming. Current Hub partners are art space pool in Seoul, Beirut in Cairo, de_sitio in Mexico City, Inhotim in Brumadinho, Brazil, Miami Art Museum, Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.