The Research Trips

With bold and far-reaching community concepts, many cultural institutions in the former industrial city of Manchester are responding to the city’s cultural and social diversity. After a long period of economic decline, Manchester has in recent years transformed into a vibrant metropolis for culture, science and innovation. Large-scale public-private partnership projects such as the vast Aviva Studios form part of a cityscape that is changing rapidly and dramatically.

Institutions visited:
Aviva Studios / The Factory – a multifaceted cultural centre operating as a public-private partnership
Manchester Museum – an inclusive museum at the intersection of science and society
Manchester Camerata – an innovative, cross-genre ensemble with a strong social mission
Central Library – a hub for knowledge, culture and community
Contact Theatre – where young people shape an interdisciplinary programme

Ghent is renowned for its captivating blend of medieval architecture and contemporary art and culture. For several years now, the theatre world has been casting an curious eye towards Belgium when it comes to new institutional structures. Yet beyond the city’s well-known collections, a number of museums are also breaking new conceptual ground. The impressive new De Krook library has given rise to a third place that has long since gained a reputation well beyond the city’s borders, and the city itself invests considerable effort in fostering connections between its cultural institutions. Cooperation and collaboration are therefore central elements of cultural development in Ghent.

Institutions visited:
NT Gent – Collective artistic practice as a model for the future
De Krook – The third place for innovation and encounter
VIERNULVIER – New organisational structures for co-curatorial processes
Design Museum Gent – Sustainable design as a principle of construction and development
GUM (Ghent University Museum) – Beyond the boundaries of truth
BOZAR (in Brussels) – In search of interdisciplinary connections
Optional: Kopergietery, CAMPO, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, S.M.A.K. – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst

In Gdańsk, it is not only the major history museums but also the smaller arts centres, exhibition venues and stages that regard art and culture as a central instrument of democratic education and civic engagement. The city on Poland’s Baltic coast has for centuries been a contested space for trade and culture, caught between Poland, Prussia and Germany, and various international powers. After 1945, it became a symbol of political transformation. A particularly significant role in this was played by the Solidarity movement, which had its origins in the Gdańsk shipyard and made a decisive contribution to the end of communism in Eastern Europe during the 1980s. In recent decades, the city — governed along liberal and pro-European lines — has developed into a vibrant centre of contemporary culture.

Institutions visited:
European Solidarity Centre – a centre for democracy and human rights
Museum of the Second World War – the anti-war museum
Gdański Archipelag Kultury (GAK) – culture as a means of social change
Nadbałtyckie Centrum Kultury (Baltic Sea Cultural Centre) – international collaborations
Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku – infrastructure and social embeddedness

Long neglected politically and administratively by Paris, Marseille spent many years in the shadows of French public life, burdened by considerable infrastructural problems. At the same time, the port city developed a diverse and strikingly contrasted urban society, shaped by the cultures of the Mediterranean world and rich in artistic diversity. Through state investment, a targeted urban development programme, and the resources generated by its status as European Capital of Culture in 2013, new kinds of organisations emerged that engage with the complex fabric of Marseille’s urban society in genuinely distinctive ways.

Institutions visited:
MUCEM (Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée) – the Mediterranean as a space of cultural dialogue
Friche la Belle de Mai – artistic excellence and social responsibility under one roof
GMEM – Centre national de création musicale – a workshop for new sonic worlds
Citadelle de Marseille – a fortress reimagined as a third place
Festival de Marseille – a cultural force with reach and radiance across the city
La Cité des arts de la rue – a miniature city of artistic, ecological and social creation and experimentation
LE ZEF scène nationale – a theatre, an artists’ house, and a great deal more besides

Denmark’s second-largest city stepped definitively out of Copenhagen’s shadow at the latest when it was named European Capital of Culture in 2017. Aarhus combines a lively historic old town with striking new architectural landmarks to form a dynamic cultural centre, and its programme is increasingly aimed at tourists as well. The Capital of Culture designation has given the city’s creative scene a lasting boost and made a decisive contribution to its international networks. Throughout all of this, Aarhus’s cultural institutions consistently place their audiences and visitors at the heart of their work, creating a sense of closeness and resonance.

Institutions visited:
DOKK1 – A European model of the third place
Museum Moesgaard – where science meets storytelling
Musikhuset Aarhus – individual experiences, strategically orchestrated
Godsbanen and Institut for (X) – open workshops, urban experiments
Optional: ARoS Museum, Museum Ovartaci and KØN – Gender Museum Denmark