Museum member of L’Internationale
In 2018 The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw became member of L’Internationale - the confederation of modern and contemporary art institutions, that brings together MACBA (Barcelona), Moderna Galerija (Ljubljana), Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (Antwerp), SALT (Istanbul and Ankara), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), and the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid).
L’Internationale was founded on the initiative of Moderna galerija, Ljubljana. It proposes a space for art within a non-hierarchical and decentralised internationalism, based on the values of difference and horizontal exchange among a constellation of cultural agents – associate organisations from the academic and artistic fields – locally rooted and globally connected. L'Internationale Online is the common platform for research, debate and communication for the confederation.
The ethics of L'Internationale are based on the values of difference and antagonism, solidarity and commonality. It also defends the critical imagination of art as a catalyst for concepts of the civic institution, citizenship and democracy.
L'Internationale represents a new internationalist model for heritage today, challenging traditional notions of exclusiveness, closure and property. It defends a concept of common heritage that is based on interconnected archives and collections, and it brings together those who view legacy as an active tool in the processes of individual and collective emancipation.
As part of the Creative Europe Culture Programme, the European Commission will provide 2 million euros to fund the cultural project Our Many Europes, to be implemented and developed in 2018–2022 by L’Internationale and headed, on this occasion, by the Museo Reina Sofía. The Our Many Europes project and its wide-ranging schedule of lectures, exhibitions and education initiatives seek to advocate enhancing visitor-museum engagement and study more innovative forms of participation.
The content of each activity will focus on the 1990s, the dawn of contemporary Europe and a decade which saw a pivotal change take place, from an art perspective, in a society that opened up to the Internet and broadened horizons.
To date, L’Internationale has successfully implemented its program of cultural projects with European Union’s funding twice. The first program entitled "1957–1986. Art from the Decline of Modernism to the Rise of Globalization" was headed by Moderna galerija. Next came "The Uses of Artproject", which brought new readings of European art history to a broader public, generating around 1,900 activities – exhibitions, lectures, seminars – and attracting over 1,600,000 visitors over the past four years.
The first meeting between L´Internationale members and their partners in the "Our Many Europes" project took place at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and was attended by the directors from each of L’Internationale’s member museums: Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna galerija); Bart de Baere, (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp); Ferran Barenblit, (MACBA); Charles Esche, (Van Abbemuseum); Joanna Mytkowska (MSN Warsaw); Meriç Oner (SALT); and Manuel Borja-Villel, (Museo Reina Sofía).
