Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Fondazione Torino Musei, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
Titled “Enduring Game: Expanding New Models of Museum Making”, with the guiding mantra “Of Necessity Virtue”, this year’s Annual Conference taking place in Turin November 28–30, invites museum professionals to come together in a spirit of critical inquiry and collective imagination to explore the evolving role of contemporary art institutions in an increasingly complex global context.
Organized by CIMAM, the conference is supported by Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT and Fondazione CRT and co-hosted by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Fondazione Torino Musei, and Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, involving museums and cultural institutions of the city.
Key information: Conference abstract / Conference program November 28–30 / Register now! Until September 30, or when capacity is reached.
Conference program
The conference is designed as three collective working sessions around the paradox of having to face important and hard systematic changes—cuts and a growing climate of political and social antagonism—while inventing and revitalizing the social, pedagogical, and cultural mission of the multiple institutions dedicated to contemporary art.
The Content Committee proposes a carefully choreographed three-day program to foster deep engagement and shared reflection. Each day will open with a welcome remark and an artist's intervention, followed by a 40-minute keynote lecture, breakout sessions, and complementary performative acts, which will set a tone of bodily and intellectual attention.
Day 1 motto: Doing Less vs. Doing Differently
The day will begin with a performance by artist Alessandro Sciarroni (Italy), followed by a keynote address from Françoise Vergès, Senior Fellow at the Sarah Parker Remond Center for the Study of Racism and Racialization, University College London (UCL), UK. The morning concludes with breakout sessions facilitated by 25 moderators.
Day 2 motto: Mapping Desires
The day will open with a performance by Abdullah Miniawy—expressionist, writer, composer, and performer, Paris, followed by a keynote address from Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University, New York.
Short presentations will follow this, each lasting 15 minutes and Q&A by speakers Karen Archey, Head of Curatorial Department, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Rustom Bharucha, Professor, International Fellow of the British Academy in London, Kolkata; Alessandra Ferrini, Artist, Researcher, Educator, University of the Arts London, Corby; Francesco Manacorda, Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, and Azu Nwagbogu, Founder/Director, African Artist’s Foundation & LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos.
Day 3 motto: Transactions and Transmission. Tactics of Togetherness
The day will open with a performance by Diana Anselmo, performer and visual artist, Milan, followed by a keynote address from Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose. The morning continues with rotating breakout sessions on how audiences perceive museum communication, what is conveyed, how, and how effectively it informs and engages.
The Post-Conference Tour, on December 1 & 2, will feature a tour of contemporary art in the Langhe hills and visits to major art spaces, such as Pirelli HangarBicocca, in Milan.
Sign up for the Post Tour.
The CIMAM 2025 Annual Conference is conceived by the Content Committee chaired by Chus Martinez, Director of the Institute Art Gender Nature in Basel, and consisting of Chiara Bertola, Director, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino; Bernardo Follini, Senior Curator, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Leevi Haapala, Dean, Academy of Fine Arts, University of Arts, Helsinki; Malgorzata Ludwisiak, PhD, Museum Management Expert, Curator, and Academic Teacher, Warsaw; Francesco Manacorda, Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Victoria Noorthoorn, Director, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires; Davide Quadrio, Director, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO), Turin; and Kamini Sawhney, Head, Public Arts Projects, BlrHubba, Museum Management Expert, Independent Curator, Bangalore.
CIMAM thanks the individuals and organizations funding the 2025 Travel Grant Program, which supports modern and contemporary art professionals at its Annual Conference.
Getty Foundation, Saastamoinen Foundation,Teresa A. L. Bulgheroni, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC), Mercedes Vilardell, Aimée Labarrere de Servitje, Eloisa Haudenschild, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Chitra Talwar.
