Collection Acquisition Policy

COLLECTION ACQUISITION POLICY OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MSN) IN WARSAW

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Aims and principles of the policy to be introduced
2. Collection development in the light of MSN's mission and statutory provisions
3. History and profile of MSN’s collections
4. MSN’s collection development strategy for the years 2025–2030
5. Criteria for the acceptance of objects into MSN’s collections
6. Submission of purchase and donation proposals 
7. Collection Development Committee
8. Deaccession

1. AIMS AND PRINCIPLES OF THE POLICY TO BE INTRODUCED
The aim of the policy to be introduced is to formulate the mission for the development of the MSN’s collections and to establish methods of selection and transparent rules for including objects in the collections and archival resources of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. The collections in the Museum are acquired in an ethical manner and in accordance with the current legislation and museum standards. In particular:

• the Museums Act of 21 November 1996 (Journal of Laws from 2018, item 720 and 1669), hereinafter referred to as the ‘Museums Act’;
• the Act of 25 October 1991 on the organisation and conduct of cultural activities (Journal of Laws from 2017, item 862; from 2018, items 152, I I 05 and 1608), hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act on the organisation and conduct of cultural activities’;
• the Act of 23 July 2003 on the protection and care of historic monuments (Journal of Laws from 2017, item 2187; from 2018, items 1595 and 1669);
• the Public Finance Act of 27 August 2009 (Journal of Laws from 2017, item 2077; from 2018, item 62, 1000, 1366, 1669 and 1693), hereinafter referred to as the ‘Public Finance Act’;
• the Statutes of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (Resolution No. XII/473/2024 of the Council of the City of Warsaw of 28 November 2024).
• The ICOM’s Code of Ethics (the International Council of Museums is the most important international organisation comprising museums and museum professionals)
• The guidelines of CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art – the ICOM’s affiliated organisation of institutions and experts in the field of museums of modern and contemporary art)
• SPECTRUM collection management standard (SPECTRUM is the UK standard for the management of museum collections. Today, Spectrum is internationally recognised as the leading collections management standard, and licences to translate and publish it have been granted in more than 100 countries. In Poland, compliance with SPECTRUM is recommended by the National Institute of Museums)
• Internal regulations – MSN’s Programme Policy and MSN's Rules for the Use of Museum Collections.

In accordance with the character of the Museum, the collection acquisition policy should be kept under constant review in consideration of current events in the contemporary world and the changes taking place in the global new museology. The policy is updated at least once every five years.

2. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT IN THE LIGHT OF MSN'S MISSION AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS
2.1. According to its mission statement, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw collects works of art and the tangible and intangible heritage of contemporary culture. The objects collected at the Museum serve public discussion and development of cognitive and aesthetic sensitivity. MSN expands its collections in co-operation with diverse groups and communities, as well as institutions in Poland and around the world. The functioning of the Museum, including the acquisition of collections, is accompanied by efforts to act ethically and professionally and with concern for the environment and social relations. 

2.2. In accordance with point 7.1 of the Statutes, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw acquires the following types of objects:

• works of art, including painting, graphic art, photography, drawing, relief, collage, works on paper, sculpture, installation;
• works of audio-visual and audio arts, including film, video art, sound works, and related specialist equipment;
• objects of applied and spatial design, including arts and crafts, interior design elements, applied art, industrial design, artistic textiles, models and mock-ups;
• visual information carriers, including print and graphic design, art book, comic book, poster, signboard, neon sign;
• works of the performing arts;
• digital objects (digitised works of art) and related specialist equipment;
• documentation relating to a form of artistic expression (e.g. performance, happening) and concerning artistic phenomena, including scripts, descriptions, artistic and documentary photography, recordings and transcripts;
• technical documentation of visual objects;
• archives relating to the life and work of male and female artists, artistic groups and organisers and animators of artistic life or persons associated with the artistic community, including letters, notes, typescripts, ephemera, personal memorabilia, documents and products relating to works of art or involved in the creative process (e.g. sketches, conceptual designs, instructions, ideas, proprietary copyright licences, prototypes, inspirations);
• exhibition copies and replicas of art works and objects;
• book collection, including old books and newspapers.

3. HISTORY AND PROFILE OF MSN’S COLLECTIONS
3.1. History of collection acquisition at the Museum
The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw was founded in 2005; at that time, the object number one, an untitled work by Piotr Uklański, was acquired for the collections. Having a unique opportunity to create a collection from scratch, the Museum’s team first defined the programme direction of the entire institution and only later created the collection programme and acquired further objects. The collection was perceived as a social fact and a platform for discourse, and works of art were seen as tools of communication open to reinterpretation. 

Since 2011, the regular development of the collections became possible thanks to the 'National Collections of Contemporary Art’ – a programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as well as close co-operation with the visual arts community and the commitment of artists who support the idea of establishing the Museum. The development of MSN’s collections has always been closely linked to the institution's exhibition and research programme.
       
In connection with the exhibition Art More Precious Than Gold, works by such artists as Paweł Althamer, Wilhelm Sasnal and Monika Sosnowska were donated to the Museum’s collections at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Another group of works significant for the early acquisition of the collections was commissioned by the Museum with a view to Early Years – an exhibition in Berlin's Kunst Werke in 2010. At that time, MSN’s collections were expanded with such fundamental works as Yael Bartana's Wall and Tower and Sanja Iveković’s Invisible Women of Solidarity, Zbigniew Libera’s The Exodus of the People from the City and Joanna Rajkowska's The Ravine. The largest presentation of the collection, prior to the opening of the Museum’s final location, was the exhibition In the Heart of the Country, which took place at the Museum's temporary location – the Emilia  pavilion, a former furniture showroom. The exhibition was accompanied by an emancipatory narrative, a demand for critical reflection and making symbolic amends to hitherto excluded groups. The belief in the unlimited inclusivity of this path, international alliances in the art world and the sense of mission gave the first major presentation of MSN’s collection the status of a founding act. The first part of the collection in MSN’s new building, entitled The Impermanent Four Takes on the Collection closed the pioneering phase of building the Museum and its collections. 

The opening of the new building starts a new chapter in the Museum’s work and the development of its collections. It is accompanied by a reflection on the ethics of art collecting. The visibility gained by the Museum and its collections after the opening of its new premises, places responsibility on MSN’s team in terms of developing public debate, the image of contemporary art and the conscious promotion of various tendencies in art and the output of individual artists. The awareness of the polycrisis of modernity is accompanied by a reflection on the materiality of works of art and the validity of collecting them.

3.2. Structure of MSN’s collections

• Collection 1 
  is an international collection of art works representing current tendencies in art. It is a collection of significant works by contemporary artists that expresses the diversity of media and artistic attitudes. It depicts local and global social processes, the circulation of information and the technological developments of our time. The collection and the associated debate provide tools for understanding and resolving the rapidly changing challenges of modern times. An important place in the collection is played by the art that responds to emancipatory needs to create ahierarchical structures that counteract cultural exclusion.
• Historical collections
  are collections of works of art and artistic documentations acquired by important avant-garde art circles and institutions in the 20th century, including Warsaw’s Foksal Gallery and Łódź’s Exchange Gallery. These collections are included in MSN's collections as closed whole sets and are subjected as such to research, conservator’s care and digitisation.
• The Archives are a collection of material and digital artefacts and a documentation of artistic life in Poland and worldwide from the second half of the 20th century. The mission of MSN’s Archives is to secure, examine and disseminate diverse, often ephemeral artistic practices from the recent past that were more or less closely connected to Poland and our part of Europe. The archive collections and the laboratories built on their basis are used for the animation of contemporary research and artistic activities. The aim of the programme is to participate in the current global debate on contemporary art and culture and to contribute local content to it. The Archives include the Artist Archives, the Museum’s Film Archives and the Polish Archive of Home Movies, the Performance Archive and the Enthusiasts Archive.

4. MSN’S COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE YEARS 2025–2030
The Museum constantly redefines the concept of a work of art and explores current phenomena and means of expression. It looks for works that touch on the condition of the human being and other inhabitants of the planet, whether on a social, political or ecological plane, as well as an intimate personal experience as emphatically as possible. It acquires works of art created using a variety of artistic techniques by artists from different parts of the world, regardless of their social status and education. The basic criterion for the selection of works is their artistic value, the quality of the authentic experience of the spectator confronted with the work, the ideas behind the practice of the artist concerned and the ethics of creating the work.

The inclusion of works of art in the Museum's collections is achieved through purchase, thanks to funds provided to the Museum by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Culture Office of the City of Warsaw. Particularly valuable is the fact that the collection also grows through donations from artists, their heirs and heiresses and private individuals who are committed to the idea of creating a collection of contemporary art in Warsaw that is representative of world culture.

In the years 2025-2030, the Museum will focus on acquiring works of art within several program lines:

• works by international young artists at the beginning of their careers, whose aesthetics and way of seeing the world bring a new quality to contemporary culture in its broadest sense;
• works by the women and non-heteronormative artists working in the 20th and 21st centuries whose artistic output has not entered the art canon due to exclusions made by patriarchal structures of symbolic power;
• works of art that address the polycrisis of the present: climate change, the rise of authoritarian forces and the resurgence of fascism in many parts of the world, culture wars, armed conflicts and war crimes, enforced disappearances and migrations
• works of art that stand out in the oeuvre of established artists, often associated with the historical neo-avant-garde artistic traditions of the second half of the 20th century, which are a point of reference for subsequent generations of artists;
• ephemeral works, art events and performances acquired on the basis of their documentation, as well as instructions, scripts and licences for their performance;
• archival collections created by artists active in the 20th and 21st centuries who are more or less closely associated with the Polish art scene.

5. CRITERIA FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF OBJECTS INTO MSN’S COLLECTIONS
5.1. Purchases and donations

• Compliance with the Museum's mission
  The primary criterion for the acceptance of objects into the collections is their compliance with the Museum’s mission, the nature of the existing collections and the current collection development strategy (see par. 4). Works proposed for acquisition are analysed with a view to their possible use in the Museum’s exhibition and research plans.
• Provenance and regulated ownership status
  The Museum accepts objects with known and unquestionable provenance, i.e. on the basis of the full history of the object since its production that makes it possible to establish its authenticity and ownership status. 
• The person offering the objects to the Museum should present a valid title to the works. The Museum does not acquire the objects that were made or acquired unethically or in violation of applicable laws.
• Copyright
  The Museum should acquire works with full economic copyrights for the collections. In justified cases, where it is not possible to acquire economic copyrights, it is permissible to acquire objects with a copyright licence where the fields of exploitation allow the object to be used freely in the Museum's activities. 
• The Museum’s ability to maintain its collections
  The Museum expands its collections with objects whose examination, maintenance and use are within the technical capacity of the Museum.
• Purposeful and rational use of public funds
  The Museum acquires objects by purchase only if their price is equal to or lower than the market price. Valuations of objects are made by analysing auction results and on the basis of data provided by the artist, the gallery and other public institutions. The Museum may appoint external experts to prepare a valuation of works being considered for purchase.
• The subject of the analysis also includes costs of use of financial, human and material resources necessary for the maintenance and exploitation of the work; such costs should be adequate to the tangible and intangible value of the work. The risk of duplication of collection areas with other public institutions in the country and region is also analysed .
• Sensitive materials
  The Museum does not acquire objects containing human remains or radioactive or biologically active materials. Where appropriate, storage of sensitive material is permitted subject to appropriate permissions and compliance with the ICOM’s Code of Ethics.
• Special conditions imposed on museums
  The Museum does not accept objects whose acceptance is subject to conditions that are impossible to fulfil or that hinder the use of the work in the Museum's statutory activities. 

5.2. Deposits
As a rule, the Museum does not accept objects for deposit so as not to expose the institution to the costs of research and maintenance of objects that are not its assets. Exceptions to this rule can be made for objects included in the Museum's exhibition or research plans and objects planned to be acquired permanently in the future.

6. SUBMISSION OF PURCHASE AND DONATION PROPOSALS
MSN builds its collections in a transparent and egalitarian way, any private or legal person can make a proposal to donate or sell a work to MSN’s collection. The proposal must include the value of the work and full details of the object offered: names of the authors (with detailed specification of their role), dimensions, techniques and materials used for its making, number of objects, its components and edition number, place of creation and provenance of the work. Offers can be sent to the Museum by post or electronically to: collection@artmuseum.pl.

7. COLLECTIONS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
The Collection Development Committee functions as an advisory and consultative body for the Museum’s Director in the development of the Museum's collections, including the qualification of objects for acquisition, deaccession and the setting of further directions for the development of the collections. The Committee operates on the basis of the Collection Acquisition Policy approved by the Director of the Museum and the Statutes of the Museum. The members of the Committee meet at least four times a year and, after reviewing the purchase and donation proposals submitted to the Museum, make their recommendations by public vote. The Collections Development Committee consists of the Chief Registrar and Chief Conservator of the Museum, as well as specialists and experts in contemporary art and culture, conservation of art works and copyright, appointed by the Museum’s Director. Membership of the Committee is open both to MSN’s staff and external specialists. 

During the Committee's meetings, special attention is paid to the likelihood of a conflict of interest. In cases where a member of the Commission has a family or business relationship with the artist or gallery offering the work for purchase, he/she should abstain from voting.
 
8. DEACCESSION
By definition, objects acquired for the Museum are not subject to further sale or exchange. De-accession is only possible in exceptional cases upon approval obtained from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The reason for de-accession can be:

• total destruction of the premises;
• gaining new information about the provenance or nature of the object concerned, particularly with regard to the originality of the work or when the object is derived from criminal activity;
• transfer of the object to another public institution whose profile is more relevant to the character of the object concerned.