On the occasion of the exhibition "V.D.N.H. URBAN PHENOMENON" at the Russian pavilion during this year’s 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, the Moscow Ministry of Culture commissioned Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell to conceptualize a symposium that critically reflects upon the role museums and cultural spaces play today as motors of progress within the socio-political and cultural landscape of the contemporary city. It sets forth to discuss the role, tasks and aims of museums and cultural spaces now and in the future against the backdrop of the 21st century’s global, digital and demographic challenges. Together with international museum experts, architects, curators, urban planners and policy makers the symposium encourages the discussion of museums and cultural spaces as integral components in fostering the dynamics of modern society and urban change. 

The symposium is divided in two interconnected thematic clusters. Thus, reciprocal exchange is encouraged to actively foster a dialogue of ideas. 

I. Cultural Spaces as Urban Activators: The transformational power of museums and cultural spaces within the urban realm

The last thirty years have seen an unparalleled rise of new museum buildings and cultural spaces all over the world with many more to come. Apart from their purpose of cultural education, these spaces are increasingly understood as powerful instruments and activators of urban development that are capable of infusing even the most neglected areas with new social, cultural and economic possibilities. As agents of urban change and magnets for urban growth they play an essential part in the constitution of the contemporary city. 

II. New Expectations Towards Museums and Cultural Spaces: Museums and cultural space as discourse platforms of contemporary reality

Today it has become necessary for museums and cultural spaces to redefine their mission, their goals, their functions and their strategies to reflect the expectations of a changing world. Museums and cultural spaces must generate new types of dialogue in an increasingly globalized world. To create, capture and share knowledge and to engage audiences, dynamic and imaginative ways have to be invented to create new meanings in our fragmented, diverse 21st century cultural and community life.

Programme

10:00 - 10:30: Welcome and Introduction
Semyon Mikhailovsky, Principal, Repin St. Petersburg State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion
Sergey Kuznetsnov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion

10:30 - 12:00: Panel I. Museums and Cultural Spaces as Urban Activators  
The transformational power of museums and cultural spaces within the urban realm

Participants 
Anton Belov, Director, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Liz Diller, Founding Partner,Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, New York
Dmitry Ozerkov, Head of Comtemporary Art, State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg
Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion
Kjetil Thorsen, Founding Partner, Snøhetta Architects, Oslo 
Moderator
Lukas Feireiss, Curator, Writer, Studio Lukas Feireiss, Berlin

12.00 - 12:30: Q+A with peers and public

14.00 - 15.30: Panel II.  New Expectations Towards Museums and Cultural Spaces 
Museums and cultural spaces as discourse platforms of contemporary reality 

Participants
Dolla Merillees, Director, Museum of Applied Arts & Science, Sydney 
Ekaterina Pronicheva, Director, V.D.N.H., Co-curator of the Russian Pavillion, Moscow 
Martin Roth, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 
Zelfira Tregulova, Director, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Moderator
Alexandra von Stosch, Curator and Visiting Professor Humboldt Universität zu Berlin  

15:30 - 16:00: Q+A with peers and public

16:30 - 18:00: Panel III.  Concluding Discussion and Outlook 

Participants
Liz Diller, Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, New York 
Martin Roth, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Zelfira Tregulova, Director, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Sergey Kuznetsnov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy Head of Committee for Architecture and Urban Development of Moscow and Curator of the Russian Pavilion
Moderators: Alexandra von Stosch and Lukas Feireiss, Berlin

As peers and special guests joining the symposium: Anrew Asadov, Architect, Curator, The Annual International Festival of Architecture and Design "Zodchestvo", Moscow; Anatoly Belov, Architect, Journalist, 2013 - 2016 Chief Editor magazine "Project Russia", Moscow; Regina Bittner, Associate Director, Bauhaus Museum Dessau, Dessau; Beatrice Galilee, Associate Curator of Architecture and Design, Metropolitan Museum, New York; Kate Goodwin, Curator, Royal Academy, London; Elena Gonsales, Curator, International Exhibition of Architecture and Design ARCH Moscow, Moscow; Daniel González, Artist, Italy; Francine Houben, Architect, Founder and Creative Director, Mecanoo Architects, Delft; Sophie Jung, Editor, BauNetz Media, Berlin; Irina Korobina, Director, Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow; Eduard Kögel, Curator and Urban Planner, Berlin; Gary Leggett, Competition Director, Museum of Arts, MALI, Lima; Manuela Lucà-Dazio, Managing Director of Visual Arts and Architecture Department, La Biennale di Venezia; Fernando Menis, Architect, Chairman of the Laboratory for Innovation in Architecture, Design and Advanced Tourism of Tenerife, Tenerife; Miriam Mlecek, Architect, University of Hannover and Programme Manager, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin; William Menking, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Architect's Newspaper, New York;Constanze Musterer, Author and Editor, Yeast-Art of Sharing, Berlin; Jürgen Paul, Managing Director, BauNetz Media, Berlin; Herbert Resch, Head of Design and Architecture Managment, Zumtobel Group AG, Dornbirn; Ilka Ruby, Curator, Founder of Publishing House "Ruby Press", Berlin; Ellen Salpeter, Director, Institute for Contemporary Arts, Miami; Alina Saprykina, Director, Museum of Moscow; Volker Staab, Founding Director, Staab Architekten, Berlin, Professor at the Technical University Braunschweig; Eszter Steierhoffer, Curator, London Design Museum, London; Alexey Shchyukin, Expert Magazine, Moscow;Sergei Tchoban, Architect, Founder of Museum for Architectural Drawing, Berlin and Co-founder SPEECH, Moscow; Ulla Tofte, Director, M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, Helsingør; Juan Carlos Verme, President, Museum of Arts, MALI, Lima; Svetlana Yankina, Russian News Agency TASS, Moscow; Olga Zakharova, Managing Director, ADG Group, Moscow; Olga Zinovieva, Professor, The Mikhail Lomonosov Moscow State University, College of Arts, Moscow; Isabel Zumtobel, Light Designer, Zumtobel Group AG, Dornbirn

18:00: Farewell
Semyon Mikhailovsky, Principal, Repin St. Petersburg State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion

18:15: Reception

Inviting Host: The Government of Moscow
Concept: Kristin Feireiss, Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Directors, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Organization: Natalia Evenvich, Alexandrina Moreva, Julia Chibireva, ConcordGroup, Moscow

More Info: www.archsovet.msk.ru/en

The Symposium is a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Moscow and ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Berlin