Simona Žvanut: Museum of Contemporary Art: Institution and Architecture

World of Art | School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing | Year 16


Since the last quarter of the 20th century, we have been witnessing growth in number of art museums and changes in their mode of action; there are more museums than ever, which must perform more and more various and different functions, exhibit broader variety of art, while they can choose from varied approaches to their architectural design. This generates new expressions and terminology, which often overlap: eg. “New Museum,” “synchronous Museum” (both point to the new link between museum architecture and presented works of art in the museum), “the museum as architectural sculpture”, “spectacular museum”; where especially the latter one is often a meeting point for all other expressions.
Architecture of art museums allows for more experimental aspects, both in the conception of exhibitions and in the design of the museum space. Architects invent innovative solutions to meet these new requirements, the identification of the museum with the architecture and in it exhibited art as an aesthetic whole. At the same time they see programs of museums of contemporary art as an opportunity to develop new spatial, conceptual, architectural and technological solutions, not only to meet the demands, but also to redefine the requirements of the museum program.
The lectures will present basic concepts of museum, art museum and museum of contemporary art while attempting to consider newer concepts for labeling museums of contemporary art, with an emphasis on the question of what really is new in that relation. One of the possible answers considered and offered is a new way of connecting contemporary art and contemporary architecture.


Simona ŽvanutSimona Žvanut (1985)
Art historian, author of texts in the field of contemporary art and curator. Doctoral student at the Department of Philosophy Faculty since 2015/16. She graduated from the two-subject studies of comparative literature and literary theory and art history at the University of Ljubljana (2011). Between 2011 and 2015 she was the programme coordinator at SCCA-Ljubljana, between August 2015 and June 2016 she was the head of programme of World of Art school, and Studio 6 exhibition and research programme. In the context of both programmes she curated numerous exhibitions.

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