Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the 7th annual Experiencing the Museum conference and invites participants to join a collective discussion of the past decade’s achievements and possible scenarios for the future development of inclusive projects.
Having completed another stage in their development, new departments and inclusive programs managers are continuously interacting with communities and initiating more projects for people with various experiences and disabilities. With a growing number of new and emerging inclusive initiatives, platforms for moderated and timely discussions that offer opportunities for a critical analysis of new plans and ideas are still lacking.
The Inclusive Programs department at Garage aims to avoid the usual conference structure by introducing new, engagement-oriented formats such as actions, performances, and other methods of collective expression. This approach can help define the function of the contemporary museum in the field of social justice and care and in working with communities and also the place that the Other occupies within the museum and outside of it. At all events, Garage will encourage collaborations on hypotheses, scenarios, and manifestos for the future, as well as joint analysis of «special» projects for people with disabilities, which long remained under the influence of Soviet pedagogy.
The conference will be a space for an open polylogue, and the aim of Garage in this polyphony is to find the answers to some of today’s most urgent questions. How can we move beyond now conventional, often surface-level initiatives in inclusion and diversity? How do we create projects that could lead to deep and structural changes in social stereotypes, norms, and relationships? Can we measure the success of inclusive projects, and if so, how? Garage invites visitors with various experiences, international and Russian experts, researchers, and social project initiators to join the discussion.
The schedule will be published in advance; participants and locations will be announced no later than two weeks before each event.
Educational Program Patron: The Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation, established by A. Usmanov