Where is the Mediation Office? is both an artistic installation and a public programme. It operates under a very simple premise:
What would happen if the mediation department of a museum was in the exhibition space, in direct contact with the public and the exhibitions?
The objective of this project is to change preconceived ideas: What is an exhibition and what is a mediation programme? Who is the artist and who are the visitors? The idea is to reformulate these roles by moving the office furnishings to the exhibition space, thus converting them into elements of an artistic installation.
This office will be managed by a public group of participants – different agents from the local context – who will design a series of activities and experiences starting from the following questions:
Can an educational programme be an artistic project?
Can a work of art be an educational device?
Does the work of an artist have a pedagogical component?
Should educational programmes be at the service of exhibitions?
Should departments of public programmes or exhibitions work in spaces where they aren’t in contact with the public or the exhibition?
These questions make it possible to explore the categories that the educational, the artistic, and the curatorial acquire in cultural institutions. They enable us to reflect on the privileges and power relations that some exert over others, and create interferences in search of new perspectives.
A project carried out in collaboration with María Acaso