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Get along with your organization is an opportunity for exchange and reflection, an opportunity to gather ideas and suggestions. Through the sharing of experience and research, participants will discuss the possible methods of construction and development of organizations that deal with contemporary art in Italy and abroad. The meeting stems from a desire to investigate issues and dynamics pertinent to vessel in order to make the relationships between institutions, associations, or informal groups a working method as well as a necessity.

The presentation will begin with a talk given by Alexandru Damian, Deputy Commissioner of Romania at the Biennale in Venice and works as a visual arts coordinator of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research of Venice. His talk will focus Venice ICR presentation and institutional experience. It will then transition into talks by Vlad Morariu, philosopher and art critic specializing in institutional critique, and Raluca Voinea, co-founder of E-cart.ro, co-editor of IDEA. Art + Society magazine and independent curator. The event will conclude with a group discussion.

The event will take place on Friday July 8th at 8:00 pm at vessel, Via Guido de Ruggiero, 6 Bari - 70125 (Italy).

REPORT

On Friday, July 8 th, vessel hosted Alexandru Damian, representative of the Romanian Cultural Institute, in conjunction with guest curator Raluca Voinea, philosopher Vlad Morariu and vessel curator Viviana Checchia. The discussion began with a description from Alexandru concerning his experience with the institution of the Romanian Cultural Institute. The speakers highlighted the differences between the state institution and the independent institution, such as vessel.

This served as a starting point for a debate on the position of vessel. How does it function as an institution? Is it resilient enough to independently survive despite not being an “official institution”? The audience from Bari posed pertinent questions as well as concrete examples of their experiences with taking part in and running institutions.

The main aim of vessel is to serve as a dynamic container for discussion and debate, but beyond this, does it function as an institution? Alexandru Damian expressed the viewpoint that he believes that vessel is not an institution, because it has not been in existance long enough. In his mind, “institutions are made by people and tradition”, although every independent organization is plagued by the necessity to be controlled by monetary demands. He stated that, “I see ‘vessel’ in the future as a working right-oriented art structure ... it should not be created and abandoned as a ‘cuckoo's nest’, but it must be controlled and loved. Moreover, it needs good and permanent guidance towards the right direction in order to live up to our expectations.”
The assertion that vessel is not an institution was challenged by Vlad Morariu, who stated that an institution is any group with aims, funds and structural organization. Raluca Voinea agreed that the idea of “institution” is not dependent on the duration of time that an organization has been in existance.
This discussion was integral in allowing the public to be part of the process of vessel’s development. This dialogue was introduced in order for vessel to actively focus on improving interaction and discourse with the public.