Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MSUM)
Background
The idea of the new museum of contemporary art in Ljubljana evolved on the basis of the Arteast Collection 2000+. The collection of predominantly Eastern European art based on the traditions of the avant-gardes has been built by Moderna galerija since 1995.
Due to the space shortage the collection was presented publicly for the first time in June 2000 to coincide with Manifesta 3 in Ljubljana, in the not yet renovated building of the former barracks complex on Metelkova Street.
In April 2002 the director of Moderna galerija, Zdenka Badovinac, and the curator Igor Zabel conceived the mo(nu)ment Museum of Contemporary Art - Metelkova 22 programme. The initiative was articulated in the Resolution on the National Program for Culture for 2004– 2007 where it was stated that the renovated building at Metelkova 22 would serve as an exhibition space for contemporary visual art, managed by the Moderna galerija.
Up to November 2011 when the museum was eventually opened, a line of Arteast Exhibitions and some public talks were organised to promote the idea of the collection and the new museum in Ljubljana. The international exhibition Form-Specific (2003), which was staged at Metelkova 22, was followed by the 7 Sins: Ljubljana-Moscow (2004), Interrupted Histories (2006), The Arteast Collection 2000+23 (2006) (staged at the Moderna galerija building) and the Schengen Women (2008) in the ŠKUC Gallery. The public discussion What contemporary art demands from its institutions? and a panel discussion entitled Museum of Contemporary Art – Instrument of Constitution? were organized in the Moderna galerija in 2003. In June 2006 Kasper König, Carlos Basualdo, Nicolas Bourriaud, Marco de Michelis, and Peter Pakesch presented their ideas in a series of talks entitled Between a Museum of Modern Art and a Museum of Contemporary Art at the Beginning of the 21st Century.
Arteast 2000+ Collection
In the 1990s Moderna galerija began to assemble its international collection Arteast 2000+, a collection of works mainly by Eastern European artists. Its goals are to present Eastern European art, which has been overlooked until now, to establish a dialogue between Eastern and Western European artists and in this way create a new, different view on the development of art in the second half of the 20th century.
L’Internationale project
The founding partners of L'Internationale are the five European museums and archives: Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; the Július Koller Society in Bratislava, the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in Barcelona, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst in Antwerpen (M HKA). The first step of cooperation is the two-year project with the title 1957-1986. Art from the Decline of Modernism to the Rise of Globalisation by L’Internationale. The EU supported project comprises conferences, seminars and exhibitions.
From May to October 2011 a part of the Arteast Collection 2000+ was presented at the MACBA in Barcelona as a Museum of Parallel Narratives exhibition. In November 2011 the Museum of Affects is shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova. At the beginning of 2012 Spirits of Internationalism, a selection of Arteast Collection 2000+ will be presented at the M KHA/Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
See also
- Museum of Modern Art
- Museum of Modern Art Library
- Modern Art Archive, Museum of Modern Art
- Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory
External links
- MSUM on the Moderna galerija website
- Arteast 2000+ Collection
- The history of Metelkova 22
- Moderna galerija Ljubljana on Facebook
- "L'Internationale" project website
- Museum of Parallel Narratives exhibition at MACBA, Barcelona