Towards a Relationship of Care and Understanding between Museums and Artists
On Monday, 27 April 2026, at 1 pm (CEST) / 7 pm (HKT), join a workshop based on the Position Paper developed through CIMAM’s Best Practices for Museums Working with Living Artists project, moderated by CIMAM Board Member and Chair of the Museum Watch Working Group, Doryun Chong, and Pascal Gielen as lead researcher.
Towards a Relationship of Care and Understanding between Museums and Artists
Monday, 27 April, 2026
- 8:00 am São Paulo, Brazil
- 1:00 pm Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 4:30 pm Delhi, India
- 7:00 pm Hong Kong
➝ Register here to attend this workshop.
Participation is exclusively reserved for CIMAM members.
Abstract:
The Position Paper developed through CIMAM's Best Practices project marks an important moment of shared reflection on the relationship between museums and artists. This workshop takes the first step of moving from principles towards practice. Starting from the insights gathered through conversations with artists' representatives and CIMAM members, and building on the MoCU framework, we ask how the values articulated in the Position Paper – integrity, care, reciprocity- can be embedded in the everyday work of institutions. Crucially, this is not a task for museums alone. Local and national governments, international bodies such as UNESCO and ICOM, civil society organizations, and independent researchers all have a role to play in nurturing an ecosystem in which artists are genuinely recognized as core stakeholders rather than peripheral beneficiaries. This session invites participants to share their own contexts, to identify what already exists, and to think together about what still needs to be built.
The workshop will be moderated by Pascal Gielen, lead researcher of the Best Practices for Museums Working with Living Artists project, developed within CIMAM’s Museum Watch program, and Doryun Chong, CIMAM Board Member, Chair of the Museum Watch Working Group, and Artistic Director and Chief Curator at M+ Museum, Hong Kong.
Conceived as an interactive session, the workshop invites registered participants to respond to a set of questions in advance. These contributions will help shape the discussion and ensure it reflects the specific contexts and perspectives of our members:
- How has this proposal been received in your context? Does it address a real and pressing need/situation?
- To what extent is the Position Paper practical and applicable to your work? Has it informed or inspired your practice?
- Are there existing frameworks or resources in your country addressing museum–artist relationships that you could share and are there frameworks or resources that you wished or thought about in your context?
- What other aspects or pressing issues in the modern and contemporary art museum field do you feel CIMAM should be addressing or could develop further?
Learn more about the project, Best Practices for Museums Working with Living Artists
About Pascal Gielen
Pascal Gielen (b. 1970) is a writer and cultural sociologist whose work explores the delicate ties between culture, politics, and everyday life. He is a full professor of Sociology of Culture and Politics at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA) at the University of Antwerp, where he also leads the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO). As editor-in-chief of the international book series Antennae – Arts in Society (Valiz), he curates critical reflections on how culture shapes – and is shaped by – society.
Gielen was awarded the prestigious Odysseus Grant by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for his outstanding international research achievements. His books have been translated into English, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Through his writings, he traces the intersections of creative labor, the commons, ecology, and (cultural) politics, often venturing into the field to study how culture takes root and resists in conflict zones such as the Amazon and Ukraine.
CIMAM 2026 Rapid Response Webinars are made possible with the support of the Getty Foundation through its Connecting Professionals/Sharing Expertise initiative.