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Enseigne de baraque foraine, France, 20ème siècle © Mucem -
Présentée vivante, Mucem ® Agnes Mellon
Presented Alive
Mucem, Centre de Conservation et de Ressources—
1, rue Clovis Hugues, 13003 Marseille
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From Friday 7 June 2013 to Monday 3 February 2014
The first exhibition, that will open its doors to the public at the same time as the rest of the museum and that will last until the end of the year 2013, was entrusted to Jean Blaise, managing director of the "Journey to Nantes". For this project, Jean-Blaise drew his inspiration from the building constructed by Corinne Vezzoni and the first aspects of the collection that arrived on site.
Sensitive to the intimate aspects and the literary potential of many of the everyday objects kept at the museum, he immediately called on a writer to create a link between everything, using literature, despite the fact that the objects came from a wide range of sources and each had their own specific history. Consequently he called on the writer, Joy Sorman and also sought the skills of Patricia Buck, the exhibition curator.
Together, they put together the "Presented alive" exhibition project using an enigmatic object kept in the collections of the Mucem. On the subject of metamorphosis, the itinerary offers a choice of objects from the collections, arranged around a text by Joy Sorman. This text will form part of a publication that is separate from the exhibition itself.
Exhibition itinerary
The exhibitions of the CCR: Experimental Exhibitions
The conservation and resources centre has a small exhibition room. This relatively small space demonstrates the benefit of being located right next to the collections. It displays some atypical, experimental and innovative exhibitions. As a consequence, the CCR could be at the cutting edge of a completely new kind of museum of civilisations with lots of potential and modestly sized exhibitions that provide added value with regards the knowledge, the level of discussion and the diversification of the perceptions of the collections.
In order to satisfy this demand for new features, research and experimentation and turning the CCR into a real museum incubator, the Mucem has opted for a schedule of exhibitions entrusted to external curators, who are invited to take a fresh look at its collections, using a kind of "carte blanche". The invited curators are chosen from among personalities from the world of culture (exhibition curators, artistic directors, as well as architects, plastic artists, collectors, choreographers, writers...) All of them already have a proven track record for their taste with regards works, objects and collections, for mixing up different genres, combining disciplines and the attention to detail in its interpretation... What's more, they have all demonstrated their capacity to tackle radically new issues that are off the beaten path.
They are asked to explore the collections of the Mucem and look at them from a new angle and address a specific issue that they can use to express their own vision of the collection. It is a matter of distancing oneself from a single-minded anthropological approach, and give some space to other scientific or artistic disciplines, thereby creating a new more remote or alternative outlook and draw out the polysemy of the Mucem's collections in a dramatic way.
This polysemy will emerge with even greater force given the exhibitions that are very different yet have the following common characteristics:
— A starting point composed of the objects of the Mucem's own collections, kept on site
— A specific and new look at these collections that allows the curator to add their own particular spin and express an issue or a question with a general scope of application
— The reinterpretation, review, rediscovery or enhancement of understanding on all or part of the collection
— The summary report of this experimental and reflexive museum experience in a publication aimed at adding to a collection