24th ICOM GENERAL CONFERENCE MILAN 2016 Museums and Cultural Landscapes

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1 24th ICOM GENERAL CONFERENCE MILAN 2016 Museums and Cultural Landscapes 3-9 July Milan MiCo Milano Congressi via Gattamelata 5, Gate 14 Milan will host the 24 th ICOM General Conference (International Council of Museums) with over 3000 participants from over 130 countries and seven days of meetings and debates on the theme Museums and Cultural Landscapes Directors and curators from the most important museums in the world are expected and speakers include Christo, Michele De Lucchi, Nkandu Luo, Orhan Pamuk and David Throsby MiBACT, on occasion of the ICOM conference, will institute the first edition of the Festa dei Musei from 2 to 3 July throughout Italy, with exceptional evening opening hours, guided tours, workshops for children and families, special gatherings and interdisciplinary events for everyone Several authors and cultural figures have written new unpublished testimonies in the form of stories and essays on the importance of museums and their role in society: Alice Basso, Ginevra Lamberti, Carmen Pellegrino, Italo Rota, Igiaba Scego, Antonio Padoa Schioppa and Andrea Vitali ***************************** A museum is one of the places that show man at his noblest (André Malraux) Press release. Milan will host a new international event of great cultural, social and political importance: the 24 th ICOM General Conference, the International Council of Museums, which from 3 to 9 July 2016 will welcome more than 3000 ICOM participants coming from over 130 countries, divided among 31 international and 120 national committees, to debate the theme Museums and Cultural Landscapes, at both the MiCo (Milano Coingressi) conference centre and in some of the main museums of the city. The speakers at the official opening ceremony on Monday 4 July at 9 AM will be HANS MARTIN HINZ (ICOM President), ALBERTO GARLANDINI (President of the Italian Organizing Committee of ICOM Milan 2016), DARIO FRANCESCHINI (Minister for Cultural Assets, Activities and Tourism), FRANCESCO BANDARIN (UNESCO Assistant Director General for Culture), ROBERTO MARONI (Lombardy Region President), DANIELE JALLA (President of ICOM Italy), MARIO GIRO (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy).

2 At the end of the conference the new ICOM President and Executive Council will be elected, and the Declaration of Milan, which pinpoints the new social commitments of museums through cultural landscapes and the community, will be approved by the ICOM General Assembly. The 24 th ICOM General Conference is organised by ICOM and ICOM Italia in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Lombardy Region; the City of Milan, the Municipality of Milan, the National Italian Commission for UNESCO; Fiera Milano Congressi; Banca Intesa Sanpaolo; the Milan Chamber of Commerce/PROMOS; and 12 universities in the Lombardy Region. Yet again Lombardy is the beating heart of an international event offering multiple points for reflection and debate on the future role of museums as places where multidisciplinarity is combined with the promotion of cultural landscape and historical heritage. A multifunctional approach that also connects with fundamentally important social aspects, in a way to create culture that knows how to move in the path of tradition, and at the same time aims for innovation. Cristina Cappellini, Councillor for Culture, Identity and Autonomy for Lombardy. Milan is proud to be able to host an international event that will be a real laboratory of ideas for the future of our museums in relation to their context, which in Italy is extraordinary. I am also happy that his initiative is being held in Milan in a moment of particular growth and appreciation by the public for our museum system, which is strengthening the network of their offering with the objective of establishing agreements of strategic collaboration with other cities in Italy and throughout the world. Filippo del Corno, Milan Municipality Councillor for Culture. The relationship between museums and cultural landscapes, a key concept for museums in this Third Millennium, will be dealt with in two parallel paths: on the one hand, asking how museums can take on the function of centres of interpretation for the community and the territory they are a part of; on the other hand, how and with what means these same institutions can contribute to the promotion of the cultural heritage they house as well as knowledge about the environment outside their walls. In addition to being responsible for their collections, museum can become active protectors of their territory, in the perspective of the so-called diffused museum. This is especially meaningful in a country like Italy, counting 3847 museums, 240 archaeological sites, 501 monuments and collections of monuments, all located within cultural landscapes that inevitably interact with them. A museum is not only responsible for the landscape that surrounds it, but plays an important role in the territory, as a guardian of its historical values and an actor in urban planning and sustainable landscapes. During the ICOM General Conference, the directors and curators of some of the most important museums throughout the world are expected and there will be five special guest lecturers: - A video message from ORHAN PAMUK, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006 (Monday 4 July at 11:00) and introduced by Galina Alekseeva, Chair of ICLM-ICOM Committee for Literary Museums; - Artist CHRISTO (Monday 4 July at 11:20) introduced by Luigi Di Corato, Director of the Fondazione Brescia Musei;

3 - Architect MICHELE DE LUCCHI (Tuesday 5 July at 9:00) introduced by Claudio Salsi, Director of the Civic Museums and Sforzesco Castle in Milan; - Zambian Minister of Gender Equality NKANDU LUO (Tuesday 5 July at 9:45) introduced by Hans Martin Hinz, ICOM President; - Economist DAVID THROSBY (Wednesday 6 July at 9:00) introduced by George Abungu, ICOM Vice President. There will also be three important panel discussions: - WHAT DOES THE NEW RECOMMENDATION BY UNESCO REGARDING THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF MUSEUMS, THEIR COLLECTIONS, THEIR DIVERSITY AND THEIR ROLE REALLY MEAN (Tuesday 4 July) with the following guests: Francesco Bandarin (Assistant Director-General for Culture, Unesco); François Mairesse (Professor Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France); Paola Marini (Director of the Gallerie dell Accademia in Venice, Italy); Tereza Scheiner (Professor UNIRIO, Brazil); - HOW CAN MUSEUMS CONTRIBUTE TO THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL OBJECTS (Tuesday 5 July) with the following guests: Eric Dorfman (Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, US), Prof Dr. Khaled El-Enany (Minister of Antiquities, Egypt), and Markus Hilgert (Director of the Ancient Near East Museum in the Pergamon, Germany). - THE SOCIAL ROLE OF MUSEUMS: NEW MIGRATIONS, NEW CHALLENGES (Wednesday 6 July) with the following guests: David Fleming (Director of the Museums of Liverpool, Chair of the Human Rights Museums Association, United Kingdom), Robin Hirst (Director Collections, Research and Exhibitions Museum Victoria, Australia), Marlen Mouliou (Professor Faculty of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), and Giusi Nicolini (Mayor of Lampedusa and Linosa, Italy); Following: show of the documentary La distruzione della memoria directd by Tim Slade for Vast Productions. From the Robert Bevan s book of the same name, the documentary recalls the destruction of cultural heritage, legacy of memory and identity of a people, in several historical eras. Within 24 th ICOM General Conference, Milan will be offering a rich calendar of additional events open to the public in some of the city s most important museums. Furthermore, on occasion of the 24 th ICOM General Conference, MiBACT will give further emphasis to this event by holding the very first edition of the Festa dei Musei (Festival of Museums) on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 July. This will be an enormous initiative, with educational workshops, guided tours, conferences, lessons, meetings with museum directors, and interdisciplinary events, all held at different times of day with the aim of involving a wider public and inviting them to return to the museum more than once during these two festival days. (

4 To further promote the 24 th ICOM General Conference, several authors and Italian cultural figures have written new unpublished testimonies in the form of stories and essays on the importance of museums and their role in society: Alice Basso (latest book: Scrivere è un mestiere pericoloso, Garzanti 2016), Ginevra Lamberti (latest book: La questione più che altro, Edizioni Nottetempo 2015), Carmen Pellegrino (latest book: Cade la terra, Giunti Editore 2015), Italo Rota (latest book: Una storia elettrica, Edizioni Quodlibet 2013), Igiaba Scego (latest book: Adua, Giunti Editore 2015), Antonio Padoa Schioppa (Director of the BEIC Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura), and Andrea Vitali (latest book: Le mele di Kafka, Garzanti 2016). Not only will professionals in the field of cultural heritage museums participate at the ICOM General Conference, but also restorers, archaeologist, architects, town planners, exhibition designers, conservators, researchers, librarians, students, university professors and artists. Hans-Martin Hinz, ICOM President: We expect sharing and dialogue about projects that cover numerous fields of interest, thanks to the presence of participants coming from many cultural and linguistic horizons. This is a unique occasion to develop conceptually inclusive, interdisciplinary and innovative frameworks in a museum environment in evolution. Alberto Garlandini, President of the Italian Organising Committee of ICOM 2016 Milan: We have the opportunity to build new partnerships with other professionals in cultural heritage, who like us have always defended the role of knowledge in the growth of society. ICOM works for the promotion of excellence in the museum field, as well as in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural objects and emergency response in the event of natural or human-made disasters. ICOM furthermore collaborates with UNESCO and with institutions such as ICCROM, INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization in carrying out its missions. During the 24 th ICOM General Conference there will be 75 stands presenting the latest solutions for the museum community. Furthermore, to celebrate the 70 th anniversary of the international organization, born in 1946 with the aim of promoting and protecting natural and cultural, tangible and intangible heritage, present and future, a photographic exhibition will be held at MiCo (Centro Congressi). For further information: Press with appropriate credentials may register free of charge. Please contact icom2016-registration@kit-group.org. Italian Press ICOM MILANO 2016 PRESS OFFICE Studio De Angelis, Milan info@deangelispress.it Italian Press Office only c Foreign press office logistics c International Press ICOM Headquarters Press Office Icom.press@icom.museum T.:

5 MAIN MEDIA PARTNER - ICOM MILANO 2016 MEDIA PARTNER - ICOM MILANO 2016