European projects
On an international scale, the Mucem promotes exchanges between the Mediterranean and European worlds, by taking part in long-term European programs bringing together a variety of complementary partners.
The ongoing European project
The “Alexandria: (re)activating shared urban imaginaries” (ALEX) project
The European ALEX project aims to take a fresh look at the many challenges facing the arts and heritage sectors, through the symbolic and historical prism of the city of Alexandria and its influence on urban development in the Mediterranean and beyond. The project is part of Europe’s Creative Culture program.
To achieve this, it relied on several tools: the setting up of nomadic artistic residencies between Egypt and Europe, the production of exhibitions in the cities of Marseille and Brussels, and the organization of professional seminars and public forums.
Among other actions, ALEX included two residency cycles that evolved independently but met at different points in the project:
The School for Sonic Memory residency, organized by Onassis Stegi in collaboration with Theatrum Mundi :
In Marseilles, the last of the three cities visited by the School for Sonic Memory residency, the artists were able to deepen the interests aroused during their weeks in Alexandria and Athens.
During their stay, they explored the city’s urban heritage and sounds, including a walk along the banks of the Marseille canal, and discovered the museum and its collections.
More information on the residency program
Echoing the exhibition “Alexandrie: futurs antérieurs”, the Mucem has co-produced the installation “In Lieu of A Prism”, presented in Alexandria, Egypt from June 1 to 8, 2023. An installation presenting productions from two nomadic residencies during which the artists traveled to Alexandria, Marseille, Athens, Nicosia, Brussels and Biella.
The installation, accompanied by a public program of discussions, performances and lectures, was held at B’sarya for Arts, the French Institute of Egypt in Alexandria and 6 Bab Sharq.
The Caravan residence: Thinking with Alexandria
Conceived and realized by the UNIDEE residency programs at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in Italy, and supervised by Edwin Nasr in conversation with Sarah Rifky
After their stay in Biella and a stay in Alexandria, the residents had to choose to travel to one of the following cities: Athens, Brussel, Marseille and Nicosia, where local social entrepreneurs prepared a rich program for them to discover the city and allow them to immerse themselves in these cities for their artistic creation.
From May 16 to 21, 2022, the Mucem welcomed artists Stella Ioannidou, Mark Lofty and Mahmoud El Safadi to discover and immerse themselves in the city, through a program concocted by Alexandre Field, co-founder of the GR13 guide bureau.
Coordinated by the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée in Marseille, with the support of cultural institutions from all over Europe and Egypt, the project is supported by the European Union’s Europe Creative Culture program.
Presentation of our partners on the Mucem International Relations page
– BOZAR (Brussels)
– Onassis Stegi Foundation (Athens)
– Royal Museum of Mariemont (Belgium)
– Cittadellarte (Biella)
– Leiden University (Netherlands)
– Point Contemporary Art Center (Cyprus)
– Kunsthall Aarhus (Denmark)
This project includes three associate partners:
-CLUSTER (Cairo)
-Institutfrançais d’Alexandrie
-TheatrumMundi (London)
Past European projects
Taking Care (2019 - 2023)
Mucem is taking part in the “Taking Care – Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care” project alongside twelve other European museums. The project explores the links between ethnographic collections and issues relating to the climate crisis and the Anthropocene, and in this context addresses questions relating to the legacy of colonialism. “Taking Care” positions ethnographic and world culture museums as “care spaces” for these issues, with a participatory and creative approach.
As part of this project, the Mucem has promoted the “Vivre au temps du confinement” (Living in a time of confinement) collection carried out in the spring of 2020, which brought together 600 donation proposals and testimonials from anonymous donors, and which gave rise to the “Psychodémie” exhibition. The collection was analyzed by artist-in-residence Antoine d’Agata and a Mucem sociologist. The collection gives a central place to care and attention to others, suggesting a link between the medical and museum worlds and creating a bridge between two of the project’s themes: social or ecological vulnerability and the material vulnerability of collections. Finally, the individual scales of sensitive experience and the globalized scales of the pandemic are articulated not only in their health aspects, but also in their economic, social and political ones.
Collection campaign Collected items Exhibition
Taking Care is part of the Europe Creative Culture program.
To carry out this ambitious program, thirteen partners from eleven European countries have come together:
– Weltmuseum, (Museum of Ethnography, Austria)
– Culture Lab, (consulting firm, Belgium)
– Institut de cultura de Barcelona, (public institute, Spain)
– Linden-Museum Stuttgart – Staatliches museums für volkerkunde, (Museum of World Cultures, Germany)
– Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, (Ministry of Culture, Italy)
– Royal Museum for Central Africa, (museum of ethnography, Belgium)
– Museum am Rothenbaum, (Museum of World Cultures, Germany)
– Nationalmuseet, (Association of National Museums, Denmark)
– Slovenski Etnografski Muzej, (Museum of Ethnography, Slovenia)
– Statens Museer for Varldskultur, (Museum of World Cultures, Sweden)
– Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, (Association of National Museums, Netherlands)
– The chancellor masters and scholars of the university of Cambridge, (public university, United Kingdom)
– The chancellor masters and scholars of the university of Oxford, (public university, United Kingdom)Taking Care follows on from four previous European projects: SWICH (2014-2018); RIME (2008-2012), and READ-ME I & II (2007-2012).
ReCulture: Re-branding of Cultural Institutions in Western Balkans (2021 - 2024)
“ReCulture: Re-branding of Cultural Institutions in Western Balkans” is a long-term European project with a dual objective: to raise the profile and give a more modern appearance to cultural institutions in the Western Balkans. At the same time, it aims to support relations and cooperation between the cultural and creative sectors in the Western Balkans and the member states of the European Union.
The project is funded by the European Commission, as part of the Europe Creative Culture program. It involves 6 beneficiary partners from 5 European countries:
The Trebinje Cultural Center (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
-The“INK Fest” association (Serbia), the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Serbia)
-TheMuseum of Modern Art of the Republic of Serbia (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
-TheUmjetnička kolonija Danilovgrad Art Center (Montenegro)
-iCPInstitute for cultural policy (Austria)Metropolitan Trails Academy (2018 - 2020)
The Académie des Sentiers Métropolitains project, part of the European Erasmus+ program, aims to train an adult public in the challenges of urban planning in relation to the notion of metropolitan citizenship.
Drawing on the concrete knowledge, proven know-how and practices of the participating organizations, the project proposes to develop and promote metropolitan trails as a transdisciplinary and civic education tool. To this end, the partners will produce a charter framing the concept of metropolitan trails, a guide to developing new trails or structuring existing ones, and online training for trail users and developers. These products are aimed specifically at project developers, and will be promoted through six events, in the form of walking conferences.
This innovative training project brings together six beneficiary partners (Sentiers Métropolitains; Le Bureau des guides du GR2013; Le Mucem; Paths of Greece; Trekking Italia; Urbanegestalt PartGmbB) and eight associate partners (Le Bruit du Frigo; Le Voyage Métropolitain; Région SUD; Institut d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la Région IDF; Green Evolution; Maison de l’architecture de Cologne; Institut Français de Tunis; Counterproductions).Metropolitan Trails Academy Project Training cycles Mooc registration
Excavating Contemporary Archeology (2018 - 2020)
Since September 2018, the Mucem has been taking part in a new European project: Excavating Contemporary Archeology. This project is aimed primarily at young people aged 11 to 15, but also at artists and a wider public. The aim is to explore the links between archaeology, understood in the broad sense of traces left by the past, and contemporary artistic creation. The two-year project program includes two artist residencies, an exhibition and the creation of an educational booklet for each partner site.
Excavating Contemporary Archeology is funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program and is part of the European Year of Heritage. The project brings together three other partners: Kunsthal Aarhus in Denmark, Point Center for Contemporary Art in Cyprus and AIR Antwerpen in Belgium.
Mucem teams will be working with Portuguese artist Francisco Tropa and Cypriot artist Haris Epaminonda, as well as with a class of 5th graders from collège Louis Armand, in Marseille’s 12th arrondissement.
Publication
Booklet designed on the occasion of Francisco Tropa’s artist residency in Marseille for the European project Excavating Contemporary Archaeology, funded by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Culture program © Mucem, 2019
Based on the text “L’île, à ce que l’on dit”, produced by the 5e3 students of Collège Louis Armand and the interview with Francisco Tropa, conducted by Sandro Piscopo-Reguieg.
Publishing: Mucem
-Graphic design: Åse Eg Jørgensen
-Printing: imprimerie Caractère, Marseille
-Translation: Connected Language Services
-Corrector: Franck RemySharing a world of inclusion, creativity and heritage (2014 - 2018)
This project, supported by the European “Creative Culture” program, brings together ten European ethnographic museums in the belief that their collections have an important role to play in research into citizenship, multiculturalism and the relationship between heritage, a sense of belonging and mobility in Europe. The participative approach and co-creation processes are strongly promoted.
Partners:
– Weltmuseum Wien, Vienna
– Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden
– Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren
– Museums of World Culture, Sweden
– Linden-Museum, Stuttgart
-Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “Luigi Pigorini”, Rome
– Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge
-National Museum of Slovenia, Belgrade
Museum of World Cultures, Barcelona Creative dialogue: contemporary art in non-art museums February 25-26, 2016 The art of listening: workshop Shared authority May 25-26, 2016 Miguel Palma’s residency at the Mucem February, May and July 2016 Les jeunes font leur musée “Rêvons la ville”: a participative exhibition co-curatorial experience April 6 to June 9, 2017Project Creative Europe, the European Commission’s funding programme for culture