The Museum as a Catalyst of Community. Case Study: The Exhibition Imagining Futures: Urban Comics From Artivistory Collective at the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca

Abstract

The Museum as a Catalyst of Community. Case Study: The Exhibition Imagining Futures: Urban Comics from ArtiViStory Collective at the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca. The present article aims at illustrating the role of the contemporary museum as a conscious central stakeholder that strengthens the community and connects in the era of participatory culture with different types of audiences. Built in two parts, the article points out the main concepts of the new museum philosophy as explored in the expertise in the field and brings on a case study that focuses on the analysis of the cultural mediation program built for an original thematic exhibition, centered around the exploration of the urban future and having as its conceptual stake to draw the viewer into a process of reflection on the different ways of perceiving the surrounding society. Understanding social issues, remembering the past, exploring the ecosystem, acting on change and imagining futures are the invisible problems launched for debate through the creative laboratory of the members of the ArtiViStory Collective whose artworks could be explored within the exhibition. Their visual narratives, gathered in the various sections of the exhibition, have invited the viewers to respond to a series of questions that envisage the role of art in the community, the way we perceive the world around us, the stories that can be told about our past, the need for engaging young people into building inclusive communities or the way we can imagine our future. Through a wide variety of formulas for exploiting the potential of the graphic imaginary (visual documentaries, comic strips, animations, sequential illustrations), the exhibition offers an overview of this space of creative investigation of the urban imaginary and social identity, rendering sequential art not only as a tool of representation but as a catalyst for activating the collective imagination, which can serve to coagulate the common interests of the community. At the same time, the cultural mediation program conceived for the exhibition is an important component that creates engagement and participation of young audiences in a discourse on the future of our community. Keywords: urban comics, participative art, museum education, cultural mediation