Gulbenkian extinguishes the CAM brand – Modern Art Centre – publico

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
 

When in June if they are to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Gulbenkian Museum and the Modern Art Centre José de Azeredo Perdigão (CAM), these two museological poles foundation will have a new common name, the Museum Calouste Gulbenkian, and what differentiate are the collections:. the pole of the Founder’s Collection and the pole of the Modern Collection

However, as explained on the morning of Friday the manager of the Gulbenkian Foundation, Teresa Gouveia, a breakfast with the press, “the meeting of the management of the two museums poles in a same direction,” by the British Penelope Curtis, is already in place since 1 January. Now change the name, but the different poles of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum “will retain its identity, from the point of view of museum collections from the point of view of the activities,” not lose “their valences.”

When it held the public international tender for the new director, in 2014, was implicit that this would manage the two poles. The output of the CAM director, Isabel Carlos, one year earlier than expected only accelerated the process. “Museums are not textbooks and art is one, and this separation sometimes has a very artificial character,” said Teresa Gouveia. This is the philosophical reason for the solution, but what we thought was mainly ” . on the synergy between collections “and own joint programming

Another of the changes announced on Friday is that the teams of the two museum centers will be merged, getting to work together, the integration does not imply, however, a decrease of people, keeping will be the same, assured Teresa Gouveia. “in principle, budgets will be the same,” added the manager, explaining that this solution was decided unanimously by the advisory board, and that ” decision was not made for financial reasons, “not yet know whether there will be savings. And will keep a budget of 500,000 euros available to modern art acquisitions.

the Gulbenkian desire is to equate Collection modern Collection of the Founder, and this has a projection not only national but much more international. According to the institution’s numbers on visitors recorded since 2011, the Gulbenkian Museum has been twice or more CAM entries, including, in 2015, the first counted 217,000 visitors and the second 107,000. This year, the Gulbenkian Museum had 57,000 domestic visitors and 160,000 foreigners, while the CAM received 63,000 domestic and 43,000 foreigners, a record percentage that is repeated approximately over the past five years.

“from an international point of view, the CAM’s collection has always had a much less recognition than the founder of the collection,” said Teresa Gouveia. And this is a way to match the modern art collection, from this point of view, the collection that has the museum. “Interestingly, the founder of the collection ends in the period that begins the collection of CAM, there is a continuity,” he said.

They also want a modern collection and contemporary can be more widely presented, why they are think of a more flexible use of space, and the idea is that the Modern Collection occupy a larger space in the building without exhausting because there will still be contemporary programming. “At this time, due to space and programming features, those who come here can not possibly have a broad view of what the Portuguese art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,” said Teresa Gouveia.

When the CAM began, had an experimental character, but today its collection, the Modern collection, is “significant”, “significant in size” and “justifies its museological character”, which will be developed in this new format.