While the world of culture is struggling in Nice due to the global pandemic, Hélène Guenin, director of the MAMAC since 2016, shares insights on the museum’s activities and ambitions.
For several months now, the world of culture has been anesthetized. Cinemas, operas, and museums are closed, time is passing, and the situation is worsening. Christian Estrosi, committed to culture in the city of Nice, speaks of a key date corresponding to the upcoming September 15th. Meanwhile, MAMAC director Hélène Guenin continues her work despite the uncertainties.
What is the current situation of the museum, what is happening at MAMAC? Are you implementing anything to keep in touch with art enthusiasts?
Our connection with the public was never severed. Since my arrival at MAMAC as director, I have strived to make this place a space of sharing and exchanges between our collections and the public. The health crisis has not made us change course. On the contrary, with the team, we have adapted and worked on new forms of connection.
We have worked on revamping our website, which is now regularly enriched with new content: filmed tours of current and past exhibitions, online film captures of performative interventions in the museum, games, quizzes, family-friendly activities around the collections, and tutorials for workshops with children. The team, especially mediation, is actively involved in this. On MAMAC’s Instagram account, we also regularly share anecdotes about the museum’s key artworks or confined exhibitions.
Can you talk about the situation of the artists, what do they do on a daily basis? Do they continue to work?
The crisis has exacerbated the precariousness of many artists with project postponements, or even cancellations, and now the difficulty for institutions to make commitments for 2021-2022 and to project new invitations. From a very pragmatic standpoint, many visual artists also earn a living by getting involved in exhibition setups, mediation, and all activities that ceased or were significantly slowed down by successive lockdowns.
At the museum, we have been very vigilant in maintaining our commitments to artists, authors, and companies engaged in several of our events. Even if museums have closed, creation has never stopped. MAMAC has hosted and still hosts numerous performances by artists and companies whose work is filmed and shared online, and it is preparing exhibitions and new collection hangings for 2021-23.
Have you received any financial support from the city hall? From the State? How do you manage the financial aspect?
In response to the health crisis, the City of Nice voted on a municipal recovery plan last December, including a Culture Investment Plan 2021/2026, which includes the renovation of Nice’s museums. This vast museum plan stems from a strong desire by the City of Nice to promote these institutions nationally and internationally. They are indeed integral to the city’s cultural heritage and must meet international museum standards.
MAMAC is housed in a quality heritage building but needs renovation and requalification of its surroundings, both to preserve collections, increase the establishment’s visibility, and offer the public suitable facilities. A first program of work is due to begin in 2021 focused on two main areas: conservation and enhancement of artworks, and improving visitor reception. The museum will benefit from both interior and exterior renovation work and plans to create a new gallery dedicated to emerging creations on Yves Klein square.
Do you understand the closure of museums when we can see shopping centers crowded throughout the day?
I don’t think it’s right to oppose situations and compare the incomparable. The question of public health must prevail above all, and I hope upcoming announcements will be positive. Like many, I am deeply convinced of the role our institutions can play in this period of great tension, fatigue, and psychological stress. Going out, seeing artworks while following a strict protocol can provide well-being, escape, allow one to break from daily life, discover alternative perspectives on the world around us, and reconnect with emotions and contemplation. It’s often mentioned the distress of students, isolated individuals, or senior disengagement. Experiencing a visit or interaction with artworks could be very precious and beneficial.
Beyond this social aspect and the desire to fulfill our public service mission, there is the disappointment of seeing projects representing three years of work closed and inaccessible. However, the situation has forced us to rethink and strengthen the meaning of what we do, our commitment to artists and audiences, and to be inventive with our online content to continue sharing.
How do you see the future of museums? Will people be more reluctant after all these events related to the health crisis?
I am optimistic about the future of museums. In the days and weeks following the 2016 attacks in Nice, a reverent crowd flocked to the museum. We felt very strongly a need from our public to reconnect with culture, to share the artists’ worlds, and find forms of reflection beyond the current events. I fundamentally believe that this health crisis will reveal a greater-than-ever need for exchanges, meaning, and shared contributions with our audiences and those we are yet to build.
As soon as we reopen, we will continue to reinforce support in the core missions: preserving, offering new perspectives and highlighting through exhibitions, and transmitting. For beyond museums, it’s all the independents of the artistic ecosystem that need support in this period.
Christian Estrosi mentioned the date of September 15 as an irrevocable reopening of cultural venues; what was your reaction to this announcement?
This deadline provides a new horizon for cultural players. Having a date to aim for at last allows us to plan, anticipate, and above all, work. The world of culture cannot wait indefinitely; this deadline allows for creation to be relaunched.
The City of Nice is currently working with the Metropolitan Health Safety Agency, as well as specialized firms, lawyers, and constitutionalists to define a strict and effective health protocol that will make cultural venues places where the virus will circulate less than anywhere else in daily life. Until then, we are ready to open and welcome as soon as the health authorities and government allow it.
