The Ministry of Culture and Media will submit the Proposal for the Elaboration on the establishment of the Museum of Contemporary Art to the Council of the Center for Contemporary Art, after which it will be presented to the Government of Montenegro, Dobrila Vlahović from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture said in Colors of the Morning.
That, she said, is a legal procedure.
However, the business director of the Center, Jelena Božović, claims that the Ministry announced that the Elaborate will be presented to the Government on Thursday. Given that it is still not finished, and that it is expected to be tomorrow, it gives the Council only 24 hours to make certain suggestions and advice.
Vlahović points out that the Center is a public institution established by the Government and operating in accordance with the Law on Culture.
"I will remind you that transformation is a natural flow that is harmonized with modern standards, in this case when the question is museum art. The center was transformed from the former Gallery of the Unaligned. This project is important because contemporary art in Montenegro is not institutionalized and does not have what it deserves. "It is not up to the standards of contemporary European practice and museological practice. The Ministry assessed that the need to achieve public interest is the transformation of the Center into a Museum," said Vlahović.
Božović pointed out that one of the goals is for the Center to become a Museum, which they are working on, but that this transformation is taking place in a very non-transparent manner.
"We think that there should be a Museum, this is not a new thing for us. It is just a new way in which this Ministry deals with this problem, and it is in a very non-transparent way. The center is preparing a three-year transformation plan, a regulation on the purchase of works of art... .".
He points out that the curators who manage the collections are not included in the process of writing the Elaborate or in the working groups.
"No one came to see the condition of the collection, nor did they even contact us by email to submit the documentation that our colleagues are keeping, and that collection should be a permanent exhibit of the Museum. No one has ever contacted me either," said Božović.
Božović: The center does not meet the technical requirements, the gallery space will work out
When asked where the Museum will be located and whether it will remain in the premises of the Center, Vlahović states that the Elaborate envisages the construction of a new building in the coming period, but that the current premises of the Center have sufficient capacity.
"The center has the basic legal requirements to grow into a museum, both in terms of employees and spatial capacities. The Ministry has established communication with the Ministry of Ecology and Spatial Planning and the Capital to provide space for the construction of a new museum building in the coming period," said Vlahović.
Božović points out that everyone is happy that the Government allocated money for the construction of a new building, however, he states that the Music Center was built for 10 years and that the gallery space in the Center will suffer at the expense of all the contents that a museum should have.
"We don't meet the technical requirements to be a museum. Our depot is in a private estate, which is not according to the law, we don't have space for a permanent display, a shop, a souvenir shop, a conservation studio, a conference hall, rooms for educational workshops. We don't have that many things. Everything will that has to be taken away from the gallery spaces, which leaves us with the question of why this is being done in a hurry and why they are transforming us in a hurry and changing our name if we are going to wait for the building for another 5-6 years and where and in what way they will exhibit our and visiting art, because we are the main institution for the affirmation of contemporary local artists," Božović asked.
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