Symposium Marking MQ’s 25th Anniversary: “Hosting Futures: Cultural Institutions Shaping the Future”

Four panels will bring together international experts from the fields of culture, architecture, academia, and museum practice. Participants include: Stefan Charles (City of Cologne), Kathrin Dellantonio (Museumsquartier Bern), Nikolaus Hirsch (KANAL Architecture Brussels), Bettina Leidl (MuseumsQuartier Vienna), Grégory Castéra (KANAL Centre Pompidou Brussels), Fatima Hellberg (mumok), Angelika Fitz (Architekturzentrum Vienna), Paulus Hochgatterer, Rebekka Rinner (German Hygiene Museum, Dresden), Andrea Lissoni (Haus der Kunst, Munich), Nora-Swantje Almes (Gropius Bau, Berlin), and Elvira Dyangani Ose (Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town).

1:00–1:30 p.m. Welcome

1:30–2:30 p.m. Panel 1 and Q&A
: Cultural Spaces as Venues for Participatory Democracy | hosted by MuseumsQuartier Wien

Today more than ever, cultural institutions face the challenge of not only preserving and communicating culture, but also positioning themselves as active social actors. While cultural spaces are emphasizing their role as venues for cultural exchange, education, and reflection, they are increasingly affected by government intervention—whether through attempts to exert political influence over content, the restructuring of management, or budget cuts. What responsibilities and exemplary role do cultural spaces have, as “third places” for civic participation, in increasingly repressive and polarized times? How do we remain places where democracy is lived out and continually renegotiated? Against the backdrop of the climate crisis and increasing polarization in society, the contribution and role of cultural institutions in fostering sustainable social transformation become all the more important.

Stefan Charles, Head of the Department of Culture, City of Cologne
; Kathrin Dellantonio, Executive Director, Museumsquartier Bern
; Nikolaus Hirsch, Artistic Director, KANAL Architecture Brussels
; Bettina Leidl, Director, MuseumsQuartier Vienna
; Moderator: Doris Rothauer, cultural manager and author

2:30–3:30 p.m. Panel 2 and Q&A
: A Space for Almost Everyone | hosted by mumok

Gatherings, participation, play, care, hospitality, unlearning, committees, collective experimentation: How do art institutions become spaces for public discourse and participation? Drawing on twenty years of project work in the fields of curating and institutional development, as well as his work as Curator-at-large and head of the “Commoning” department at the Kanal-Centre Pompidou (Brussels), Grégory Castéra reflects on current curatorial and institutional efforts to expand the concept of education and engagement and to redefine who is considered part of the audience and in what ways. The conversation with Fatima Hellberg, Director General of mumok, will be followed by a Q&A.

Grégory Castéra, Curator-at-Large and Head of Commoning, KANAL Centre Pompidou Brussels
; Fatima Hellberg, Director General, mumok Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation, Vienna

4:00–5:00 p.m. Panel 3 and Q&A
: “Spaces of Care
: Museum Practice Between Well-being and Social Responsibility” | hosted by the Architekturzentrum Wien and ZOOM

Visitors no longer perceive museums exclusively as places of presentation, preservation, and education, but also as spaces for social and individual well-being. Future concepts must therefore address how museums can actively contribute to mental health, social resilience, and the sustainable shaping of the future, as well as how to foster dialogue and build community. In particular, the focus should be on children and adolescents, for whom museums serve as transformative spaces that foster emotional accessibility through participatory formats, inclusive educational programs, and visitor-centered design. As active co-creators, they experience a sense of self-efficacy and social belonging. A panel of experts from academia, the medical humanities, museum practice, and child and adolescent psychiatry will discuss current research findings and visionary concepts for the museums of the future—with a focus on sustainable, audience-centered museum work in which well-being and resilience are integral components of the institutions’ missions.

Angelika Fitz, Director, Architekturzentrum Wien
; Paulus Hochgatterer, former Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Tulln
University Hospital; Rebekka Rinner, Curator, Hygiene Museum Dresden
; Moderator: Lene Benz, Curator of Public Programs, Architekturzentrum Wien; Andrea Zsutty, Director, ZOOM Children’s Museum

5:15–6:15 p.m. Panel 4 and Q&A
: Terms of Engagement: Live Programming and New Forms of Institutional Encounter | hosted by Tanzquartier Wien and the Kunsthalle Wien

Participation has become a core value in contemporary cultural institutions. Through live programming, performance, discourse, and participatory formats, museums and cultural institutions are increasingly seeking to create spaces for engagement, encounter, and collective experience. But what structures do participation and engagement actually follow? What notions regarding bodies, behavior, attention, accessibility, and sociability are embedded in institutional formats?

This discussion brings together curators who work at the intersection of exhibition design and participatory live formats. Together, they will explore how institutions—whether consciously or unconsciously—shape their visitors’ experiences, and what museums and cultural institutions can learn from one another to develop more conscious, pluralistic, and embodied forms of audience engagement in times of increasing social fragmentation and precariousness.

Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich

Nora-Swantje Almes, Curator of Live Programs and Outreach, Gropius Bau Berlin, and Curator of the Austrian Pavilion at the 2026
Venice Biennale Elvira Dyangani Ose, Artistic Director, Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa), Cape Town
Moderator: Isabel Lewis, Co-Director, Tanzquartier Wien

Contact Information

Anna Lena Schmidt, MA
, MuseumsQuartier
Press and Public Relations | Editorial Department
M. +43 699 130 60 112
anna.schmidt@mqw.at | presse@mqw.at

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