The Van Abbemuseum became the Museum of Arte Útil, a place where art's use value and social function will be put to the test.
'Arte Útil' in Spanish roughy translates as 'useful art' but it goes further suggesting art as a tool or device. At the centre of the Museum of Arte Útil we will present an archive of case studies spanning nearly two centuries that imagine, create and implement beneficial outcomes by producing tactics that change how we act in society. Some of the case studies will be activated by users of the museum, whilst others will be analysed and debated.
Can we 'use' the museum? Can it become a site of production, and output? Through this project we are aiming to transform the museum, with a fixed set of attributes, into a Social Power Plant. We are inviting the public to produce and collaborate with us – by adding case studies to the archive, activating projects in Eindhoven or attending our public programme of workshops and discussions.
The Museum of Arte Útil, in its research and physical form is an ongoing and unfinished process. It asks visitors to realise its potential by using the museum and its contents in different and exciting new ways.
Programme opening
16.00: Speeches by Charles Esche, Tom Finkelpearl and Tania Bruguera (auditorium)
16.45: Nuria Guell, completion of the project 'Humanitarian Aid' (Room A4, Museum of Arte Útil 'A-Legal')
From 15.00-17.00 there will be a castle building workshop for children led by Mike Merrington (Room A1, Museum of Arte Útil 'Use it Yourself'). All welcome.
Museum of Arte Útil is initiated by Tania Bruguera and developed with the Van Abbemuseum and constructLab.