An interdisciplinary forum bringing together specialists in the field of mediation with many years of experience in cultural practice.
How to Work Together? Mediation in the Context of Contemporary Cultural Practices
- Date:
- 12–
13 Apr 2024
- Age restrictions
- 12+
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How does mediation differ in cultural institutions in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and other cities? How is independent mediation organised? What related approaches can be introduced in the fields of accessibility, inclusivity or performative practices?
We invite specialists in the field of cultural practices to take part in the forum: mediators, museum educators, curators of exhibition projects and education programmes, and also specialists in the field of accessibility and inclusivity.
Illustration: Alena Koleso
Mediation is a form of interaction between a cultural institution and its visitors. The main principles of mediation are co-participation and respectful dialogue between all participants, regardless of their experience, opinions or age. But even the attempt to define the nature of this practice and establish a unified concept gives rise to numerous productive contradictions and emphases on individual components.
In April 2024,
The forum will be a place to exchange experience and dialogue about mediation both as a method for working with contemporary and classical art, and also for applying mediation in such disciplines as inclusivity, sound studies or performative practices.
Work group
Alexei Boiko—head specialist on museum education, “Art mediation in the museum” project coordinator, mediator, PhD in art history (St. Petersburg)
Ekaterina Voronovich—head of
Darya Malikova—mediation programme curator and head of the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art (Yekaterinburg)
Maria Kolpakova—coordinator of the Cultural Mediation Workshop (MKM), researcher of contemporary art, independent mediator (St. Petersburg)
Sergei Kochkurov—mediation programme curator at
Marina Romanova—mediation programme curator at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Coordinator
Sonya Mezhericher — mediation programme coordinator at
Producers
Olga Koroleva, Yulia Buchinskaya
Media specialist
Anya Kolpakova
Programme
12 April
12:00–12:30
Forum opening
Where: Central Platform, Online
Forum opening and presentation of the group work plan.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Speakers
Ekaterina Voronovich—head of
Alisa Prudnikova—Programme Director,
12:30–14:00
Mediation Community: How to Work Together?
Where: Central Platform, Online
Participants of the work group will discuss principles for organising the forum, and study the community’s requirements and their approaches to mediation.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Speakers
Alexei Boiko (St. Petersburg)—mediator, PhD in art history, chief specialist for museum education activity, coordinator of the Russian Museum’s Art Mediation in the Museum project.
Darya Malikova (Yekaterinburg)—curator of mediation programmes and head of the Mediation School at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Maria Kolpakova (St. Petersburg)—coordinator of the Cultural Mediation Workshop. Researcher of contemporary art, independent mediator.
Sergei Kochkurov (Moscow)—curator of mediation programmes at
Marina Romanova (Moscow)—curator of mediation programmes at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, co-host of the Dialogue with Teenagers podcast.
14:00–15:00 Break
15:00–17:00
How a Tour Turns into an Urban Mediation
Where: Class E9, Online
Recently a new format of interaction with local residents has emerged in cultural institutions and excursion projects—urban mediation. This may address an obvious or concealed problem of urban life and focus on a shared spiritual experience.
At present there is no commonly accepted theoretical framework for defining urban mediation as a type of mediator practice. The participants of this discussion want to begin work on creating this framework, determining tools for involving city residents in dialogue, and realising what may become a subject for mediator practices in the city space.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Participants
Liza Voronina (St. Petersburg)—curator, mediator, lab assistant at the State Hermitage Department of Contemporary Art, participant of the Cultural Mediation Workshop.
Anastasia Makarova (Rybinsk)— journalist and editor, author of museum and city excursions in Rybinsk. Post-graduate student at Cherepovets State University. Studies the museumification of the urban space based on the example of provincial cities.
Svetlana Melnikova (Yekaterinburg)—art-mediator, mediator of the 5th and 6th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, curator, PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the Ural Federal University, urban researcher, tour guide.
Larisa Piskunova (Yekaterinburg)—PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the Ural Federal University, head of the Avantgarde Territory platform, independent researcher of the history of Sverdlovsk constructivism, curator.
Anastasia Streblyanskaya (St. Petersburg)—mediator, children’s educator.
Semyon Chirkov (Yekaterinburg)—journalist, head of the PR department of Ural Opera Ballet, lecturer of the Cultural Journalism special course at the Ural State University department of culture and art studies, mediator of the 5th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Group tutors
Dmtiry Moskvin—PhD in political studies, head of the Ekbgulyaem Centre for special excursions, researcher of the Urals, public figure (Yekaterinburg).
Darya Malikova—curator of mediation programmes and head of the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
15:00–17:00
Mediation in the Digital Environment
Where: Class E7, Online
Participants will begin by sharing their experience of using digital tools in mediator practice. This will be followed by an open discussion of the advantages and shortcomings of using new technologies in mediation and carrying out mediation online.
Papers
Participatory practices as a space for neural network and human collaboration
Anastasia Bulatova (Yekaterinburg)—researcher, mediator. PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the cultural studies and design faculty of the Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg).
Independent mediation online
Leila Gizatullina (Perm)—independent art mediator, educational curator. Worked at the education department of the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art (2019–2022). Studied at the mediation school of the Ural Industrial Biennial, participated in the seminars Time of Cultural Mediation at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
Interaction methods with artworks in the online space
Elina Monakhova (St. Petersburg)—began her work as a mediator at an exhibition at the Art & Science centre, ITMO University. Studied at the Cultural Mediation Workshop.
Experience of interaction with the space of a small town using mediation and online maps
Darya Kuznetsova (Tchaikovsky)—curator of the Horizon public cultural centre, art historian. Worked as a mediator on the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art projects Art Experiment. You’re On the Air and Little Secrets. Delving into the Soviet Underground. 1966-1985. She also worked as manager on the Garage. Digital project. She is interested in participator practices in contemporary art, urbanism and the architecture of Soviet modernism.
Online experiments in mediation during the pandemic by Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Marina Romanova (Moscow)—curator of mediation programmes at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, co-host of the Dialogue with Teenagers podcast.
Group tutors
Marina Romanova
17:00–17:30 Break
17:30–19:30
Processes and Means
Where: Left Platform
This group is organised around a demonstration and discussion of specific practical tools and methods of mediation. How can visitors be drawn into the group process, and how can it be made richer? How can the viewers learn to look more deeply at artworks or other objects and phenomena, including without the mediator’s participation, and how can the process of interaction with art broaden participants’ own view of themselves?
In the first part, each guest may select two practices for familiarisation, and in the second, guests and participants exchange impressions and discuss their experience.
Participants
Darya Cherkasova (Yekaterinburg)—mediator, head of the foreign art section at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. Worked as a mediator at the Ural biennial of contemporary art and at other institutions in Yekaterinburg. Head of the project Youth Laboratory of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Anastaisa Bulatova (Yekaterinburg)—researcher, mediator, lecturer at the cultural studies and design faculty of the Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg).
Yulia Chertikhina (Yekaterinburg)—employee of the Yeltsin Centre art gallery, museum researcher, mediator.
Dianna Kovalyova (St. Petersburg)—art researcher, art mediator, guide, curator. Works with contemporary art and non-artistic heritage (St. Petersburg).
Alina Migacheva (Moscow)—philologist, guide and interpreter, art therapist.
Ekaterina Bespalova (St. Petersburg)—art mediator, designer, master’s degree in art history, specialist on educational activity and developer of the creative mediation format at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall. She has conducted art mediations at the State Russian Museum, the ROSFOTO State Museum Exhibition Centre, the Third Place cultural space, the Kuryokhin Centre for Modern Art and the Pushkinskaya-10 art centre.
Nadezhda Kovalyova (St. Petersburg/Rostov-on-Don)—art researcher, independent art mediator and curator. Guide and mediator at the ROSFOR State Museum Exhibition Centre. Curated the art mediation programme at exhibition projects in the Third Place cultural space, conducted mediations at the Nichego Strashnogo street art festival in Rostov-on-Don, at international festivals (The Dreamachine, Moryakov House of Culture; To Be a Plant, Evdokimov gallery) and contemporary art fairs (Cosmoscow, 2023).
Ksenia Baldina (St. Petersburg)—artist of participatory practices Studies methods and boundaries of communication. Develops and curates interdisciplinary educational projects. Graduated from the mediation school of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Group tutor
Darya Malikova—curator of mediation programmes and head of the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
17:30–19:30
The Potential of Mediation in Inclusive Processes at Cultural Institutions
Where: Class E9, Online
Mediation as a method based on taking into account other people’s opinions is in many ways similar to another field of culture that emerged in museum practice in the early twenty-first century—inclusiveness.
Mediation and inclusiveness have much in common: the principle of equality, including different voices and opinions, rejection of the concept of a norm at all levels of experience of the viewer in museum and cultural spaces. Inclusive processes strive to make the experience of people with disabilities part of modern culture, overcoming stigmatisation—and mediation may become a method that is vital for a caring attitude to everyone’s experience.
The group consists of papers discussing the application of mediation practices with viewers with disabilities. The speakers address specific examples of adapting events and developing mediator tours, and also using mediation as a means to ensure that people with disabilities regain independence in cultural and modernity.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Papers
Audio guides as a practice for generating discourse
Maria Sharonova (St. Petersburg)—independent researcher, curator, mediator of the PhotoDepartment space.
Darya Shamova (St. Petersburg)—interpreter, researcher, senior lecturer at the Voenmekh Baltic State Technical University.
Dyslexia, dysgraphia and exhibition mediation
Sofia Alexandrova (Moscow)—curator and designer, cultural studies specialist, assistant at the Inclusive education support centre of Moscow State Linguistic University, project manager at the Study centre of the Russian Deaf Society.
Delegated mediation of contemporary art with neurodivergent people
Masha Galochkina (Moscow)—senior mediator at
Yulia Karpenkova (Moscow)—mediator at
Potential of mediator practices to change the system of the neuropsychiatric boarding school
Lena Demyanova (Moscow)—curator of inclusive programmes for divergent people at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, developer of online lessons on contemporary art for pupils of neuropsychiatric boarding schools, volunteer.
Mediating the deaf: entry point
Darya Zhavoronkova (Nizhny Novgorod)—museum educator, curator of inclusive programmes at the Arsenal (the Volga-Vyatka branch of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts).
Mediation as joint organisation of an interaction space between cultural institutions and NGOs
Yulia Levin—artist, researcher, cofounder of the Doctor Fyodor Gaaz Association for the Support of the Penitentiary System.
Group moderator
Vera Zamyslova (Moscow)—curator of accessibility programmes at
17:30–19:30
Communities and Audiences
Where: Class E7, Online
The group will consist of two parts: participants will share the experience of interaction with different communities, and then with the audience they will discuss what challenges may be faced and how to respond to them, working with such audiences as students, people with migration experience and the elderly.
Papers
Voices of the future: work with young specialists at the State Hermitage Youth Centre
Anna Tyrenko (St. Petersburg)—curator of educational programmes for young people, educator in contemporary art, art mediator, researcher of contemporary culture. Specialist at the State Hermitage Youth Centre and head of the Hermitage book club.
Features of intergenerational communication in mediation practice
Tina Shirokostup (Moscow)—independent mediator, has worked with MMMOMA, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, and
Mediation in the native language: Art for people with migration experience
Maria Martirosyan (Moscow)—independent mediator, English tutor, author of the channel Art with an Accent. Works at the GROUND Solyanka gallery, conducts architectural tours of the House of People’s Commissars in Armenian as part of the course “Tour guides with migration experience” for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Gives lectures and runs a conversation club for people interested in the Armenian language and art in collaboration with the Armenian Museum in Moscow, and has also worked with the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
Training course for guides with migration experience at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Marina Romanova (Moscow)—curator of mediation programmes at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, co-host of the Dialogue with Teenagers podcast.
How to develop guides for people who speak a different cultural and historical language
Anya Leonova (Moscow)—mediator at
Group tutor
Marina Romanova
19:30–21:00
Mediation Experiences at the Istanbul Biennal
Where: Central Platform
The Istanbul biennial has been held with the support of the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts (IKSV) since 1987. The biennial aims to create a space where artists from different cultures can meet with Istanbul residents.
Mediation experience at the Istanbul biennial begins with a survey of the most striking projects of the biennial in the many years of its existence. However, the centre of the presentation will be a discussion of the programme of the 17th Istanbul biennial, which brought together 250 completely different events: from poetry readings to music concerts. This organisation method involves numerous encounters with the same artworks in different contexts.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Participants
Gamze Öztürk (Istanbul) is an architect who has been working for the Istanbul Biennial since 2014. Currently, she holds the position of exhibition and programmes manager. In addition to her role at the biennial, she is a PhD candidate at Istanbul Technical University and her research focuses on housing for degrowth.
Sonya Mezhericher (Moscow)—coordinator of mediation programmes at
13 April
12:30–13:50
What to Read about Mediation in Russian?
Where: Central Platform
Mediator practice is becoming increasingly popular in Russia, but the questions “Where can you study to be a mediator?” and “What texts should one read?” are still relevant. In this discussion, specialists from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg will recommend texts on mediation in Russian, and talk about how these works may be useful.
Marina Romanova presents a study aid for developing and implementing mediation programmes from the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, as based on the museum’s eight years of experience in the field of mediation.
Darya Malikova will talk about a reader that is a supplement to the collection The Time of Cultural Mediation, translated into Russian in 2022.
Alina Belishkina will discuss an anthology of texts published after the Curator forum “A Turning Point in Education. Who else produces knowledge in culture?” in 2020.
Anna Tyrenko will share the list of texts she recommends for young adults at the Hermitage Youth Centre.
Lera Kononchuk will talk about how
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Participants
Alina Belishkina (St. Petersburg)—art educator, researcher, curator of mediation programmes at the House of Radio.
Marina Romanova (Moscow)—curator of mediation programmes at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, co-host of the Dialogue with Teenagers podcast.
Darya Malikova (Yekaterinburg)—curator of mediation programmes and head of the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Lera Kononchuk (Moscow)—senior research associate of
Anna Tyrenko (St. Petersburg)—curator of youth education programmes, teacher of contemporary art, art mediator, researcher of contemporary culture. Specialist at the State Hermitage Youth Theatre and head of the Hermitage book club.
14:00–16:00
Mediation of Contemporary Dance and Challenges of Audio Description
Where: Left Platform
Since 2023,
In the first part of the Mediation of Contemporary Dance and Challenges of Audio Description roundtable, participants will share experience and discuss at what moment the dancer, choreographer and viewer find the need to talk about contemporary dance, and what forms of collective reflection exist.
The discussion will then turn to issues of audio commentary. Is audio commentary for contemporary dance capable of replacing mediator discussion? What problems exist for interpreting choreographic terms by the sighted, the blind and the visually impaired, and how can clarity be attained in translation from the bodily to the verbal—and vice versa?
Participants
Nastya Bylinkina, Vasya Elenkin, Katerina Lyainen, Tatyana Melnikova (Moscow)—mediators at
Anastasia Proshutinskaya (Moscow)—curator of contemporary dance programs at
Oksana Osadchaya (Moscow)—curator of accessibility for the blind and visually impaired at
Lena Panyovina (Moscow)—choreographer, performer, teacher and organiser of dance and movement training sessions, including for the blind and visually impaired.
Tina Shibalova (Moscow)—interdisciplinary artist, creates video art and performance and represents them in different media. Tina’s main practice is theatrical instrumentation. She works in the aesthetic of non-spectacular art, following the method of living art, where life itself and various methods of living become art. Member of the PNI art group (Practice of Non-Spectacular Art), resident of the Vinzavod modern art centre workshops, participant of the ColLab 2023 programme at the Vaults centre for artistic production.
Elina Shtanko (Moscow)—assistant at events for the blind and visually impaired at
14:00–16:00
Mediation with Children and Teenagers: Issues, Practices, Solutions
Where: Classes E4—E5, Online
The practice of holding mediator formats for children, teenagers and the family audience sets task for developing both cognitive and game skills. In this group, the discussion will cover several topics: problems of working with groups with members of different ages, principles for building a verbal and visual metaphor for the child audience, examples of storytelling and the basics of clowning in developing game mechanics, and examples of implementing programmes of mediator schools of interaction with teenagers.
Specialists will also discuss the experience of working with institutions, non-commercial associations and interested communities. The topics will be addressed in papers, collective presentations, practical sessions and discussion of results. Teenage mediators will also participate in the group — this will help to hold a discussion based on personal experience.
Papers
Mediation and language: collaboration with specialists in the field of children’s education
Anastasia Streblyanskaya (St. Petersburg)—mediator, children’s educator.
Art mediation for children with elements of theatricalization and storytelling
Lana Vetoshkina (St. Petersburg)—researcher and teacher of contemporary art, independent art mediator at museums and galleries of contemporary art.
Game practices of clowning in art mediation
Elena Stepanova (Barnaul)—professional mediator, PhD in political studies.
Fun lessons for children and teenagers: games, practices, activities
Anastasia Tikhonova (Moscow)—educator, mediator.
How participants of the Arsenal youth club hold art mediation. Formats and methods of preparation
Polina Sporysheva (Nizhny Novgorod)—head specialist of the cultural and education section of the Arsenal (part of Volga-Vyatka branch of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts).
Organising the art-mediation school for teenagers at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall
Vera Reikhet (St. Petersburg)—Advisor to the director on educational activity at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.
Mediation summer school for teenagers at
Alina Miroshnik (Moscow) —art historian, mediator at
Maria Galochkina (Moscow)—senior mediator at
Tasya Sedova, Ekaterina Pechurkina, Liza Ryzhova, Ekaterina Frolova (Moscow)—participants of the mediation summer school for teenagers at
Why do children and teenagers need mediation?
Anna Sukhina (Moscow)—senior mediator and guide at the Zotov centre.
Mediator practices of teamwork and joint activity for participants of different ages
Renata Enikeeva (Ufa)—mediator of exhibition projects, mediator at the ZAMAN Museum of Contemporary Art.
Group tutor and moderator
Karina Chernyshova (Moscow)—art historian, illustrator and graphic art, senior mediator at
14:00–16:00
The Professional Community and Education
Where: Class E9, Online
The world around us is diverse, and this means that we must always be prepared not only for dialogue and exchange of knowledge, but also for disagreements and conflicts. Mediators are required to support an open discussion at cultural and educational institutions. But to what extent are institutions ready for this? Group participants will attempt to answer this question during a roundtable discussion.
Representatives of Russian cultural institutions, independent mediators and museum educators will discuss different approaches in training mediators, forming professional standards, and address crucial issues in developing and forming a community of mediators in Russia.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Participants
Liliya Akhmetova (Sterlitamak)—art historian, head of the Sterlitamak art gallery (branch of the Bashkir State Art Museum).
Alexei Boiko (St. Petersburg)—art historian, mediator, coordinator of the Art Mediation in the Museum project at the Russian Museum.
Marina Dvorskaya (St. Petersburg)—curator, art mediator, student of the European University in St. Petersburg, majoring in museum studies and curator strategies.
Irina Kelner (St. Petersburg)—co-founder of the Museum Experience Centre for social innovations, curator of the Museum Experience professional club and online journal. Member of the curator group at the 5th and 6th Russian Museum Forum for children’s, family and teenage programmes. Co-author of the Manifesto on museum interaction with children. Curator of the Big Museum Walk project, co-author and editor of game guides for museums.
Darya Malikova (Yekaterinburg)—curator of the mediation programme and head of the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Svetlana Sarkisova (Moscow)—director for development and head of work with the commercial sector at Donors’ Forum. Cultural volunteer since 2017. Expert of several grant competitions.
Dmitry Stalnoi (Moscow)—educator and researcher, art mediator, deputy head of the department for museum education programmes and guide services of the Tsaritsyno museum sanctuary.
Polina Fishchenko (Samara/St. Petersburg)—art historian, mediator, manager for educational and inclusive projects, curator of the 6th Forum for children’s family and teenage programmes.
Ksenia Martynova (Moscow)—head of the guide department of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Since 2016, she has worked on programmes for training volunteer consultants to become mediators at the museum. She conducted training programmes for mediators at the exhibition Here and Now (2019), the 7th Moscow Biennial of Youth Art (2020), the Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennial (2021, online), and the exhibition Dmitry Nalbandyan. Nevozmozhnoenevozmozhno [The Impossible is Impossible] (2023).
Vladimir Beresnev (Perm)—art historian, curator of guide and educational programs at the PERMM museum of contemporary art, senior lecturer at the department of cultural studies and socio-humanitarian technologies, faculty of philosophy and sociology, Perm State Scientific Research University, chief research associate of the Perm Art Gallery.
Section tutor and moderator
Maria Kolpakova (St. Petersburg)—coordinator of the Cultural Mediation Workshop (MKM), researcher of contemporary art, independent mediator.
17:00–19:00
The Creative Gesture: Incorporating Performance and Theatre Elements into Mediation
Where: Left Platform
Mediation has long since moved beyond the boundaries of verbal format, and many specialists add performative and theatrical elements to their practice. To what extent is this justified, and why does an artist need mediation, and why does a mediator need an artist? These questions will be discussed by group participants, employees of Russian cultural institutions and independent specialists, artists and mediators. They will try to find a place for performance and the performative in cultural mediation, and share practices: bodily, theatrical, poetic and verbal.
Papers
Mediation with an artist. The practice of co-adjustment
Karina Chernyshova (Moscow)—art historian, illustrator and graphic artist, senior mediator at
Why do artists do this? Artists in mediation
Alina Kugush (St. Petersburg)—artist, works in the mediums of performance, gif-animation, painting, graphic art and total installation. Creates events on the boundary between performance and art mediation, using make-up practice and audience participation. As a mediator, she was worked with the Petersburg galleries Anna Nova, Marina Gisich, and Myth Gallery, and the CyFest-13 festival.
Playback at the museum
Alexandra Lopata (Yekaterinburg)—senior research associate of the Boris Yeltsin’s Museum, author of a number of museum programmes. Graduate of the Mediators’ School of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art. Student of the Central School of Playback Theatre.
Conversational performances at an exhibition
Oleg Taratukhin (Yekaterinburg)—graduate of the School of mediators and mediator of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art. Director of “conversational” performances for museums, cultural spaces and libraries.
Poetry as a tool of art mediation
Anastasia Tsepina (St. Petersburg)—philologist and literature specialist, graduate of the Mediation School at the Museum of 20th—21st Century Art of St. Petersburg. Her sphere of interests includes interdisciplinary tools of mediation.
Group tutor and moderator
Katerina Lyainen (Moscow)—mediator at
17:00–19:00
Experiments with Format
Where: Classes E4—E5, Online
Group with papers on theoretical and practical experiments with mediation and its formats. The audience can ask questions and comment on each paper immediately after its delivery.
Paper
Im-mediation. Mediation without interaction?
Alina Belishkina (St. Petersburg)—art educator, researcher, curator of mediations at the House of Radio.
Irina Frenkel (St. Petersburg)—senior mediator at the House of Radio.
Mediation, participation, archive
Anna Abramova (St. Petersburg)—art historian, art mediator, head specialist of the artistic programmes sector at the Northwest branch of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
Studying the future: mediation in the interdisciplinary context. How are new formats born?
Ksenia Baldina (St. Petersburg)—artist of participatory practices. Studies methods and boundaries of communication. Develops and curates interdisciplinary educational projects. Graduated from the mediation school at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Mediation and policy of viewing
Nadezhda Valeeva (Tyumen)—student at the SAS School of Advanced Studies, moderator of the course The City as Text.
Nastya Volobueva (Tyumen)—student at the SAS School of Advanced Studies, moderator of the course The City as Text.
Group tutor and moderator
Sergei Kochkurov—curator of mediation programmes at
17:00–20:00
Mediation in Different Environments
Where: Classes E6—E7
The environmental approach involves examining mediation practices from the standpoint of institutional spaces: museums and institutions. It is this approach that will be the central topic of this group.
Participants, based on their professional experience, determine the questions that are most significant for supporting mediation within a cultural institution, and together with the audience will look for answers to them.
Separately, group participants will examine organising cultural mediation as forming an audience and understanding its requirements, and test their own skill in a dialogue with the audience.
Participants
Anna Akimova (Yekaterinburg)—producer of the art-residency programme of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, head of the Ural branch of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, author of regional socio-cultural projects, graduate of the Arkhitektory.rf programme.
Sofia Belan (Rostov-on-Don)—musician (piano), teacher at the Rostov State Conservatory.
Olga Vladimirova (Moscow)—historian, head of the department of museum education programmes and guide services, art mediator at the Tsaritsyno state museum sanctuary.
Alexandra Golubievskaya (Murmansk)—specialist at the Cultural Exhibition Centre of the Russian Museum, Murmansk Regional Art Museum.
Yulia Kiseleva (Moscow)—art historian, academic secretary at the Tsaritsyno state museum sanctuary.
Natalia Mikhailova (Moscow)—biologist, head of the education department of the State Darwin Museum, author and curator of education programmes for different target audiences.
Anastasia Shestak (Moscow)—curator, participant of projects at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
Darya Cherkasova (St. Petersburg)—mediator, head of the foreign art section at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. Was a mediator at the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art and other city institutions. Head of the Project Youth Laboratory of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Viktoria Zybkina-Chernokova (St. Petersburg)—art historian, specialist on working with audience, curator of mediation and the public program at the Sarai Gallery of Contemporary Art at the Anna Akhmatova Museum in the House on Fontanka.
Lyudmila Kashtanova (St. Petersburg)—curator of cultural projects and specialist at the department for developing and implementing projects at the Alexander Palace, Tsarskoe Selo state museum sanctuary.
Lera Mostovaya (St. Petersburg)—educator, curator of educational projects at the Mayakovka and Sevkabel Port libraries.
Group tutor
Alexei Boiko (St. Petersburg)—mediator, PhD in art history, chief specialist on museum education, coordinator of the Russian Museum project Art Mediation in the Museum.
17:00–19:00
Mediation Experience at the 35th Bienal de São Paulo: Archive or Documentation
Where: Class E9, Online
At the 35th São Paulo Art Biennial with the title Choreographies of the Impossible, curators examine dance practices as a medium for a discussion about decolonization and social injustice.
In the spring of 2024, the biennial team published a collection of texts which also contain mediators’ diaries. In their notes they recall visitors and topics raised in conversations with them, and share bodily, vocal and fortune-telling practices they used in their tours.
At the meeting we discuss whether diaries can be considered documentary mediation, and what other methods exist for archiving practices. However, the central question of the meeting will be “What is the difference between documentation and archiving?”
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Participants
Thiago Gil de Oliveira Virava (São Paulo)—content manager of the educational department of the Brazilian Bienal de São Paulo foundation, where since 2016 he has been developing the education programme. Doctor in philosophy in the field of visual arts at the School of Communication and Arts, University of São Paulo.
Ekaterina Voronovich (Moscow)—head of mediation at
Sonya Mezhericher (Moscow)—coordinator of mediation programmes at
19:30–21:00
Demands and Effects
Where: Central Platform
A discussion to mark the closing of the forum. In open mic format, with all participants and audience members we will sum up the results and try to understand whether a professional community is possible, and how we see the development of mediation in the future. We will discuss the effects we expect from the forum—this will become a message to ourselves in the future.
Interpretation into Russian Sign Language and English will be provided during the event.
Moderator
Yulia Karpenkova (Moscow)—mediator at
