Open Museum 2013/2014
The Open Museum is a programme of lectures, workshops, meetings and screenings organised by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
The agenda of the Open Museum has been inspired by the Open Form theory by Oskar Hansen. In the same spirit, we focus on the process of collective learning which replaces the hierarchical model of knowledge transfer. We are also inspired by the Hansenian negation of the primacy of professionals, the continuous strive to translate their knowledge into commonly understood categories. We are not afraid to get inside the reserved “black boxes” of professional expertise, merely as a “public amateur”, and dismantle them on behalf of our audiences. Another important thing is to build a common vocabulary for professionals from various areas and cooperation among them. The Open Museum is a museum open towards knowledge.
Our Autumn/Winter edition of the Open Museum is almost entirely devoted to the exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, entitled "In the Heart of the Country”. Works presented in the exhibition constitute a multi-layered story about how contemporary art comments on and accompanies the modern times, trying to describe and cope with them. While communicating, these works create narratives and thematic axes which infiltrate one another: complement or criticise one another. Every new interpretation has a potential to broaden this area: making it more complicated or consistent, in response to the questions raised by the collection: When does the present become history? How to describe the past in order not to lose track of its timeless potential? How to preserve an active attitude both towards the past and the present, in order to be able to shape and comprehend them in a conscious manner?
Therefore, first of all: the WORKS, secondly: the NARRATIVES, and thirdly: TIMELINESS.