"Can mutual listening, direct dialogue on a small scale, be able to break the spiral of pain and anger that can only lead to increased polarization?"
"Can mutual listening, direct dialogue on a small scale, be able to break the spiral of pain and anger that can only lead to increased polarization? Then the same should be possible on a larger scale."
"In today's polarized political climate, cultural producers may encounter a difficult situation and be faced with a choice: should they engage with reactionary voices and risk normalizing them, or should they rather boycott those voices and risk further alienating them?
The path taken by the Albertinum Museums offers a third possibility: art organizations can win over a hostile public while remaining true to their ideals by proposing the museum as a place where direct encounters between different generations, attitudes, and social groups can still take place. An opportunity that we must seize."
Hilke Wagner, Direktor Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden, Germany
The CIMAM 2021 Annual Conference was held on November 5-7, 2021, hosted as initially planned by the Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz and the NOMUS New Art Museum/ Branch of the National Museum in Gdansk, Poland.
During the three days of discussions, the conference focused on the two interconnected current crises of Xenophobia and Climate Change, and the sometimes hidden or unexplored connections between the two.
Keynote speakers and relevant case-study presentations showed how institutions, artists, and thinkers working together can provide practical laboratories concerning these emerging issues and offer methodological tools to combat discriminatory and nationalistic tendencies in an increasingly divisive and divided world.
Learn more about CIMAM's 2021 Annual Conference: