As museums worldwide shuttered in 2020 because of the coronavirus, New York-based cultural strategist András Szántó conducted a series of interviews with an international group of museum leaders. In a moment when economic, political, and cultural shifts are signaling the start of a new era, the directors speak candidly about the historical limitations and untapped potential of art museums. Each of the twenty-eight conversations in this book explores a particular topic of relevance to art institutions today and tomorrow. What emerges from the series of in-depth conversations is a composite portrait of a generation of museum leaders working to make institutions more open, democratic, inclusive, experimental and experiential, technologically savvy, culturally polyphonic, attuned to the needs of their visitors and communities, and concerned with addressing the defining issues of the societies around them. The dialogues offer glimpses of how museums around the globe are undergoing an accelerated phase of reappraisal and reinvention. CONVERSATION PARTNERS: Marion Ackermann (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), Cecilia Alemani (The High Line, New York), Anton Belov (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow), Meriem Berrada (MACAAL, Marrakesh), Daniel Birnbaum (Acute Art, London), Thomas P. Campbell (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), Tania Coen-Uzzielli (Tel Aviv Museum of Art), Rhana Devenport (Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide), María Mercedes González (Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín), Max Hollein (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Sandra Jackson-Dumont (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles), Mami Kataoka (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo), Brian Kennedy (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem), Koyo Kouoh (Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town), Sonia Lawson (Palais de Lomé), Adam Levine (Toledo Museum of Art), Victoria Noorthoorn (Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Galleries, London), Anne Pasternak (Brooklyn Museum), Adriano Pedrosa (MASP, São Paulo), Suhanya Raffel (M+ Museum, Hong Kong), Axel Ruger (Royal Academy of Arts, London), Katrina Sedgwick (Australian Center for the Moving Image, Melbourne), Franklin Sirmans (Pérez Art Museum Miami), Eugene Tan (National Gallery Singapore & Singapore Art Museum), Philip Tinari (UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing), Marc-Olivier Wahler (Musée dArt et dHistoire, Geneva), and Marie-Cécile Zinsou (Musée de la Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah) ANDRÁS SZÁNTÓ (*1964, Budapest), PhD, advises museums, cultural institutions, and leading brands on cultural strategy. An author and editor, his writings have appeared in the New York Times, Artforum, the Art Newspaper, and many other publications. He has overseen the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University and the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Szántó, who lives in Brooklyn, has been conducting conversations with art-world leaders since the early 1990s, including as a frequent moderator of the Art Basel Conversations series.

Cover Contents Introduction: Ambition & Anxiety: Reimagining the Art Museum SUHANYA RAFFEL Location VICTORIA NOORTHOORN Museums for Everybody FRANKLIN SIRMANS Equity MARIE-CÉCILE ZINSOU Museums from Scratch ANNE PASTERNAK Community ADRIANO PEDROSA De-Westernization TANIA COEN-UZZIELLI Think Global, Act Local EUGENE TAN Rethinking Art Museums in Asia KOYO KOUOH Museums in Africa MARÍA MERCEDES GONZÁLEZ Latin American Museums PHILIP TINARI Learning from China RHANA DEVENPORT Indigenous Voices THOMAS P. CAMPBELL Museums & Public Trust MERIEM BERRADA Lowering Barriers ANTON BELOV Museum as Campus MARION ACKERMANN Museums & Political Power HANS ULRICH OBRIST Ecology & Slow Programming SONIA LAWSON Art & Biodiversity MAX HOLLEIN Contemporaneity CECILIA ALEMANI The Public Realm BRIAN KENNEDY Visual Literacy SANDRA JACKSON-DUMONT Education & Inclusion DANIEL BIRNBAUM Museums & Technology KATRINA SEDGWICK Immersive Experiences AXEL RÜGER Museum as Business ADAM LEVINE Quality in the Twenty-first Century MAMI KATAOKA Museums for a Better Future MARC-OLIVIER WAHLER The Post-Museum Acknowledgements