Author Archives for AndrasAdmin
How will the Pandemic Change Institutions?
Leave your thoughts <p>The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted museums with questions ranging from the practical to the existential. What role should museums play in a time of crisis and recovery? How to welcome visitors safely? What are the changes needed for these institutions to stay relevant and sustainable in tomorrow’s social and cultural landscape? András Szántó joined Anne Pasternak, Philip Tinari, and Dr. Zoé Whitley for a discussion on these important questions moderated by Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler.</p>
Technology & the Future of Museums
Leave your thoughts <p>The role of the museum as a repository of physical objects that give access to collective memory is changing. New digital recording technologies that, among other things, allow exact facsimiles to be made, are providing access to a global audience, while new display technologies are inviting us to look at the nature of the object with new eyes. This panel, presented by the Art Newspaper and Factum Foundation with Il Giornale Dell’Arte, discusses the purpose of a museum, its role, what should it show, how and to whom. It will look at the way technology is making a ‘museum without walls’ possible and realigning the relationship between the original and the authentic.</p>
András Szántó and Terrie Sultan discuss the reopening of museums
Leave your thoughts <p>In this conversation for the Parrish Art Museum podcast, Director Terrie Sultan speaks with András Szántó about the critical need for the arts in periods of crisis, a practical plan for the reopening of museums, and the long-term changes in their role and function.</p>
Arts and Strategy: Reflections on Cultural Planning in the Modern University
Leave your thoughts <p>In this article for AKA | Strategy’s annual Strategy Matters publication, András Szántó explores how strategic planning in arts and culture is a bit of a tightrope act: it demands a deft balancing of continuity and change, inclusiveness and decisiveness, passion and reason.</p>
“As Digital Discourse Turns to a Din, Art Critics’ Clarity Will Be More Essential”
Leave your thoughts <p>Few professions have been as deeply disrupted by modern technology as journalism. Yet, as Mary Louise Schumacher writes in ArtNews, more people are writing on more platforms and from more points of view than ever. A “generational shift” has left the field of art criticism with “more women, more critics of color, and writers from a wider range of purviews.” And, “despite all the downward pressure on the media industry, our digital era has inspired an artistry in criticism itself.” Schumacher’s findings are based on a survey of 300 writers which replicated a groundbreaking 2002 study overseen by András Szántó while he was at the helm of the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University.</p>
Completion of PUAM Strategy
Leave your thoughts <p>Over the course of 2019, András Szántó LLC, in collaboration with The Art of Change, undertook a comprehensive visioning and strategic planning process to define the evolution of the Punto Urban Art Museum (PUAM). PUAM has been working to break down invisible but undeniable socio-economic barriers around the low-income Point Neighborhood in Salem, MA through a range of cultural activities and programs. The planning process mapped the universe of like-minded initiatives, undertook extensive research and local community engagement, and mapped out an ambitious strategy to help ensure to sustainability of the cultural initiative and embed it into its parent organization’s long-range plans.</p>
Art Basel Conversation: The Ethics of Museum Funding
Leave your thoughts <p>Throughout 2019, major museums across the globe were forced to take a closer look at the sources of their philanthropic funding. Direct-action campaigns, such as Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.) led by the artist Nan Goldin, were influential in persuading cultural institutions – including London’s Tate – to cease further donations from prominent patrons. How can museum directors balance ethical concerns with their responsibility to ensure their institutions remain financially stable? For this Art Conversation in Miami Beach, András Szántó moderated a discussion on museum funding ethics with Mary Ceruti, Sarah Douglas, Axel Rüger, and Dennis Scholl.</p>
The Future of Digital Art
Leave your thoughts <p>Muse, a new vision for Rolls-Royce’s Art Programme, was unveiled at the Serpentine Gallery in Fall 2019. Muse’s flagship initiative, the Dream Commission, will provide opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists to advance moving-image projects. To celebrate the launch, András Szántó moderated a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist and artists Jenna Sutela and Isaac Julien at the Serpentine Galleries in London.</p>
Art Basel Conversation: Constructing the Kunsthalle of Tomorrow
Leave your thoughts <p>The Kunsthalle model—a space for showing rather than collecting art—continues to proliferate. Chiefly committed to new and experimental practices, it is often tasked with reflecting the social, cultural, and aesthetic trends that define contemporaneity. How can the Kunsthalle serve as an incubator for innovation and experimentation, especially for performance and digital art? In this conversation at Art Basel, András Szántó speaks with Thomas Geiger, Petr Pudil, and Elysia Borowy-Reeder about how the Kunsthalle can retain its relevance for today and tomorrow.</p>
The Role of Museums in the Age of Political Polarization
Leave your thoughts <p>Throughout the world, museums are confronting a new, polarized political landscape. So how should museums navigate this new landscape? Should they openly engage in contemporary politics? Conversations | Art Basel, Miami Beach, 2018 | </p>