Civic Pride: The City as Collector

This event was recorded at 1 PM EDT / 7PM CET (19:00)

All museums may be local now – or at least, with travel restricted, the physical premises and collections of museums are largely only accessible to local audiences. But many museums, for all their international presence and reputation, started out as civic collections, reflecting the tastes and priorities of cities and their inhabitants. In this time of crisis, could those museums be more meaningful to urban populations than ever?

This discussion will explore what it means for a city to collect, or for a museum to collect objects relating to the history and artistic production of cities. How did such collections emerge and who were they for? What does it mean to put on display the cultural and/or social histories of a city? And what role might such museums play in reflecting the contemporary city, especially at a time in which cities themselves are under such strain?

PANELISTS

Christophe Léribault
Director of the Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux
-Arts de la Ville de Paris

Louise Mirrer
President and CEO, New-York Historical Society

Benno Tempel
Director, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands

Moderator: Fatema Ahmed
Deputy Editor, Apollo