Museums and Cultural Spaces as Motor of Urban and Social Progress
Saturday, 24 September 2016

An international symposium accompanying the exhibition V.D.H.N. URBAN PHENOMENON at the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016

Video 1 - What are the key functions of a museum today?


Video 2 - What are the future tasks for a museum?


Video 3 - What tools generate access to a museum?


Video 4 - What are the current architectural challenges designing a museum?

BACKGROUND
On the occasion of the exhibition V.D.N.H. URBAN PHENOMENON at the Russian pavilion during this year's 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Moscow Ministry of Culture commissioned Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell to conceptualize a symposium that critically reflects upon the role museums and cultural spaces play today as motors of progress within the socio-political and cultural landscape of the contemporary city. It set forth to discuss the role, tasks and aims of museums and cultural spaces now and in the future against the backdrop of the 21st century’s global, digital and demographic challenges. Together with international museum experts, architects, curators, urban planners and policy makers the symposium encouraged the discussion of museums and cultural spaces as integral components in fostering the dynamics of modern society and urban change.

The symposium was divided in two interconnected thematic clusters. Thus, reciprocal exchange was encouraged to actively foster a dialogue of ideas.

I. Museums and Cultural Spaces as Urban Activators
The transformational power of museums and cultural spaces within the urban realm

The last thirty years have seen an unparalleled rise of new museum buildings and cultural spaces all over the world with many more to come. Apart from their purpose of cultural education, these spaces are increasingly understood as powerful instruments and activators of urban development that are capable of infusing even the most neglected areas with new social, cultural and economic possibilities. As agents of urban change and magnets for urban growth they play an essential part in the constitution of the contemporary city.

II. New Expectations Towards Museums and Cultural Spaces
Museums and cultural space as discourse platforms of contemporary reality

Today it has become necessary for museums and cultural spaces to redefine their mission, their goals, their functions and their strategies to reflect the expectations of a changing world. Museums and cultural spaces must generate new types of dialogue in an increasingly globalized world. To create, capture and share knowledge and to engage audiences, dynamic and imaginative ways have to be invented to create new meanings in our fragmented, diverse 21st century cultural and community life.

PROGRAMME

Welcome and Introduction
Semyon Mikhailovsky, Principal, Repin St. Petersburg State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion
Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion

Panel I. Museums and Cultural Spaces as Urban Activators 
The transformational power of museums and cultural spaces within the urban realm

Participants
Anton Belov, Director, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Liz Diller, Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, New York
Dmitry Ozerkov, Head of Comtemporary Art, State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg
Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion
Kjetil Thorsen, Founding Partner, Snøhetta Architects, Oslo
Moderator
Lukas Feireiss, Curator, Writer, Studio Lukas Feireiss, Berlin

Q+A with peers and public

Panel II.  New Expectations Towards Museums and Cultural Spaces
Museums and cultural spaces as discourse platforms of contemporary reality

Participants
Dolla Merrillees, Director, Museum of Applied Arts & Science, Sydney
Irina Korobina, Director, Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
Martin Roth, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Zelfira Tregulova, Director, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Moderator
Alexandra von Stosch, Curator and Visiting Professor Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 

Q+A with peers and public

Panel III.  Concluding Discussion and Outlook

Participants
Liz Diller, Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, New York
Martin Roth, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Zelfira Tregulova, Director, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion
Moderators
Alexandra von Stosch and Lukas Feireiss, Berlin

As peers and special guests joining the symposium:
Andrew Asadov, Architect, Curator, The Annual International Festival of Architecture and Design Zodchestvo, Moscow; Anatoly Belov, Architect, Journalist, 2013–2016 Chief Editor magazine Project Russia, Moscow; Regina Bittner, Associate Director, Bauhaus Museum Dessau, Dessau; Beatrice Galilee, Associate Curator of Architecture and Design, Metropolitan Museum, New York; Kate Goodwin, Curator, Royal Academy, London; Elena Gonsales, Curator, International Exhibition of Architecture and Design ARCH Moscow, Moscow; Daniel González, Artist, Italy; Francine Houben, Architect, Founder and Creative Director, Mecanoo Architects, Delft; Sophie Jung, Editor, BauNetz Media, Berlin; Eduard Kögel, Curator and Urban Planner, Berlin; Gary Leggett, Competition Director, Museum of Arts, MALI, Lima; Fernando Menis, Architect, Chairman of the Laboratory for Innovation in Architecture, Design and Advanced Tourism of Tenerife, Tenerife; Miriam Mlecek, Architect, University of Hannover and Programme Manager, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin; William Menking, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Architect's Newspaper, New York; Constanze Musterer, Author and Editor, Yeast-Art of Sharing, Berlin; Jürgen Paul, Managing Director, BauNetz Media, Berlin; Herbert Resch, Head of Design and Architecture Managment, Zumtobel Group AG, Dornbirn; Ilka Ruby, Curator, Founder of Publishing House Ruby Press, Berlin; Ellen Salpeter, Director, Institute for Contemporary Arts, Miami; Alina Saprykina, Director, Museum of Moscow; Volker Staab, Founding Director, Staab Architekten, Berlin, Professor at TU Braunschweig; Eszter Steierhoffer, Curator, London Design Museum, London; Alexey Shchukin, Expert Magazine, Moscow; Bernhard Schulz, Journalist, Der Tagesspiegel Newspaper, Berlin; Sergei Tchoban, Architect, Founder of Museum for Architectural Drawing, Berlin and Co-founder SPEECH, Moscow; Ulla Tofte, Director, M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, Helsingør; Juan Carlos Verme, President, Museum of Arts, MALI, Lima; Svetlana Yankina, Russian News Agency TASS, Moscow; Olga Zakharova, Managing Director, ADG Group, Moscow; Olga Zinovieva, Professor, The Mikhail Lomonosov Moscow State University, College of Arts, Moscow; Isabel Zumtobel, Light Designer, Zumtobel Group AG, Dornbirn

Farewell
Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion

Inviting Host: The Government of Moscow
Concept: Kristin Feireiss, Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Directors, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Organization: Natalia Evenvich, Alexandrina Moreva, Julia Chibireva, ConcordGroup, Moscow

More Info: www.archsovet.msk.ru/en