CALL IT MUSEUM

With artworks, interviews and material from: Simon Fujiwara, Rubén Grilo, Flo Kasearu, Clara Amaral, Madeleine Andersson, Apparatus 22, Izabella Borzecka, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Jacob Fabricius, Maria Elena Guerra Aredal, Stefanie Hessler, Julia Morandeira, Paul O’Neill, Julie Robiolle, Manuel Segade, Elena Tzotzi & Carl Lindh, Ar Utke Acs, Kiasma, LOUISIANA, MACBA, Moderna Museet, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofia, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

In the final weeks of 2024, visitors to IKEA’s most centrally located Stockholm franchise were met by a pair of neon signs. The rightmost one read “IKEA Museum”, its neighbor announcing “IKEA Museum Pop-up shop”. In recent years Stockholm has become populated by numerous new establishments branding themselves as capital M Museums without adhering to the most basic traits in the word’s definition; displaying objects which are part of a collection to be preserved. Albeit packed with objects and gadgets, what the Paradox Museum, Museum of the Future, and indeed the Museum of New Experiences promise is not to observe, but to experience. Their spaces are not built to house an arrangement of items from a collection, but as scenographies for a cultural experience (after paying an entrance fee). CALL IT MUSEUM exhibition at Index looks to read such tendencies against the backdrop of recent developments in the arts, and the broader cultural field.

In parallel to this new use of the concept “museum” to mean “offering experiences labeled with museum value”, some art institutions have been moving away from defining themselves as art centers (with desire for experimentation, for the present, and a will to define the future) to instead identify as museums, turning the focus to a possible collection being built. Also, independent structures, artist-run spaces and artistic residencies in different parts of the world identify themselves as museums, questioning temporalities and showing a will to last longer than precarious economic support systems usually allow for. In parallel, some artists are defining their artistic practices as a “museum” playing with language, performativity and possible ethical freedom that such a type of institution can embrace.

After decades of institutional critique, the artistic ecosystem is in a process of redefining its structures again. As Andrea Fraser commented in her talk at Index a few years ago, a shift from institutional critique to institutional analysis is perhaps desirable, and we now witness new dialogues, appropriations, and dragging moves – a possible reconfiguration and definition of production and presentation sites for contemporary art. It’s not a surprise that the recent attempt to establish an official definition of the word “museum” at ICOM (International Council of Museums) has resulted in a prolonged series of discussions and disagreements.

The exhibition CALL IT MUSEUM observes this moment and the shifts in the idea of what the museum is addressing regarding its role in society, its language and DNA. When visitors at Index (not a museum but an art center with a desire for experimental practices, performativity, language and working close to artists and the artistic ecosystem) enter the room during CALL IT MUSEUM, the first thing they encounter is a screen with a logotype. This is an artistic intervention by Rubén Grilo, presenting versions of logotypes for a selection of museums. Grilo has on many occasions – while working with exhibitional projects for art institutions – offered the institution a new logotype. These new logotypes have rarely been accepted. In conjunction with Grilo’s new graphical identities, Index will be occupied by soundscapes coming from the same selection of museums. Every day the sound of Index will be mixed with the registered sound from Kiasma, LOUISIANA, MACBA, Moderna Museet, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofía and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art. The exhibition also presents a selection of labels coming from some of the same museums. The label next to an artwork can inform about very different things, it can be directed to specific audiences, labels can include (or lack) technical information and interpretations of the artworks to facilitate specific approaches. The museum labels in general look quite similar, but every museum has its own way to work with them in relation to language, accessibility and other criteria that seems to be deemed necessary. Labels are usually “invisible”, but in CALL IT MUSEUM these objects become objects of observation by themselves.

If Rubén Grilo reworks logotypes of museums, both Simon Fujiwara and Flo Kasearu adopt the concept of the museum in their works presented in CALL IT MUSEUM. Simon Fujiwara creates content under the name of “Museum of Incest”, opening the question of what the content of a museum can be and what kind of methodology defines what the museum is. Flo Kasearu informs us that her house in Tallin is a museum and, as a museum, has a shop, a set of rules and guided tours including moments for taking pictures. CALL IT MUSEUM also presents an archive of dialogues between Index team and some artistic agents (Clara Amaral, Madeleine Andersson, Apparatus 22, Izabella Borzecka, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Jacob Fabricius, Maria Elena Guerra Aredal, Stefanie Hessler, Julia Morandeira, Paul O’Neill, Julie Robiolle, Manuel Segade, Elena Tzotzi & Carl Lindh, Ar Utke Acs) about institutional desire. The conversations were recorded during the exhibition project THE -ING FORM, commenting on the need for institutions to be adapted to artistic practices, the multiplicity of institutional bodies, the politics of the museum and its role in society.

For many years Index team has been working from within the exhibition space, making its methodologies visible for visitors and inviting conversations about the multiple questions and layers that an exhibition like CALL IT MUSEUM offers. In contrast, this type of labour is usually hidden at museums as office spaces are placed far from exhibition spaces. Another usually invisible layer of the museum work happens at the storage room; at CALL IT MUSEUM a storage room for upcoming exhibitions and general material will be embedded in the exhibition space. An extensive program of activities accompanies the exhibition to monitor and present some of the questions behind CALL IT MUSEUM.

We would like to express our gratitude to the museums Kiasma, MACBA, Moderna Museet, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofia for their collaboration with the exhibition.