A contract for art?
The programme planned for the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2010 and 2011 deals with the task carried out by art and art institutions in society and how this relates to the opposing poles of artistic autonomy, social significance and the appropriation of art. However the commission for art can not be equaled to commissioned art. At the forefront of the debate is the social value of art, of artists and art institutions.
In various modules, which are to be understood as a set of questions instead of conclusions, the focus in 2010 is firmly placed on the possible tasks the institution performs as a mediator between artistic agendas and social demands. And since the latter does not limit itself to the field of art, an interdisciplinary approach will be adopted. Art connects, among many other things, with questions of education, economics and cultural policy.
In 2010 special emphasis is put on the New Patrons project in which groups with a particular interest in art get to articulate their expectations of art and artists to the Museum of Contemporary Art. This may involve such disparate parties as associations, groups of work colleagues or villagers. The institution takes up the role of the mediator and suggests an artist for the respective task. The artist then comes up with possible solutions and brings his or her own interests and professional experience to the table. The ideal scenario is one in which the two sides not only get to know each other better, but also exchange their set of expectations and suggestions and approach the respective task on a mutual basis.
Module: The Museum as Partner?
>The Museum as a Partner< module tests forms of cooperation between private parties and the GfZK, which comprise ideal and monetary aspects, and raises questions to the relationship between public and private interests.
Module: The Museum as Mediator?
>The Museum as Mediator< module negotiates between individual artists and heterogeneous public interests. The key question here concerns the structural and policy preconditions, which first need to be created so that the museum can function as a mediator in the first place.
Module: The Museum as Corrective?
The reassessment or, in some cases, first appraisal of artists will be carried out under the slogan >The Museum as Corrective?< and debates led on the criteria of collecting art as well as various concepts on quality. In the process, the question as to the defining power of the museum will also be raised.
Module: The Museum as Patron?
>The Museum as Patron?< addresses the role of the institution as patron, in particular in its relation to the next generation of young artists. Needless to say, this aspect of the museum’s role also involves the promotion of an understanding of art in society at large.
Module: The Museum as Business?
>The Museum as Business?< module is dedicated to the business activities of the museum such as the bookshop, hotel and café by discussing alternative concepts for doing business.
Module: The Museum as Educator?
>The Museum as Educator< module explores the possibilities of cultural ties with a particular focus on children and youth work and asks to which extent the museum can tap into its/a traditional role to educate the public and to which extent it is able to develop new approaches to education.
Until 2001, the focus of the Museum of Contempo-rary Art Leipzig (GfZK) was on temporary exhibi-tions. Since then the GfZK is an exhibition hall for contemporary art and a museum for art since 1945, showing and increasing awareness of national and international artists. The individual functional areas have grown yet more distinct from each other since 2004. Among the temporary exhibitions are annual collection presentations, there is a public library, lectures, workshops, book presentations, an education centre for children, young people and adults with its own exhibition space, a compre-hensive stipendium programme and two prizes, one for artistic/graphic design and another for young artists from post-Communist countries. The Café and >gfzk garten< have been and continue to be con-ceived and designed by artists.
With the project >Kulturelle Territorien< (Cultural Territories), examining the role of art and culture in other post-Communist countries, a public debate was begun on the past of Eastern Germany, on the social relevance of the art display-ed and its local and global role. We then devoted ourselves to the legacy of modernism >Heimat Moderne< (Heimat Modernism), >Schrumpfende Städte< (Shrinking Cities) and the significance of artistic critique/ criticality in different political and economic systems >dagegendabei< (againstwithin). In 2007, we looked at the possibilities of art in connection with the politics of memory, under the headings of collective and individual cultural memory, but we also questioned the social gover-nance of artistic means themselves. In 2008 and 2009, we made private involvement in art the focus of our investigations in the project >Carte Blanche<.
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