Curating Cracks in a Museum
25.02.2026 at 18.00
Published at:18.02.2026
Curating Cracks in a Museum
Luísa Santos (Lisbon)
Moderated by Katarzyna Jagodzińska
25.2.2026, 6 pm
In the series Deconstructing the Museum
Talk and discussion in English
Just as buildings develop structural and non-structural cracks, institutions too can exhibit disruptions that are either structural or non-structural. These ‘cracks’ reveal points of tension, vulnerability, and potential within organisational systems, challenging both their form and function of the institution. In this talk, we will examine such institutional cracks through contemporary art projects: the General Ecology initiative at the Serpentine Galleries in London, the Buro Stedelijk at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Institution(ing)s, a project that is the fruit of the collaboration of a number of European institutions. By tracing these disruptions, Luísa Santos will highlight how cracks can both expose and generate new possibilities within cultural institutions.
Luísa Santos (1980, Lisbon)
Ph.D in Culture Studies by the Humboldt & Viadrina School of Governance, in Berlin, and M.A. in Curating Contemporary Art by the Royal College of Art, in London, Luísa Santos is an Associate Professor and Researcher in Culture Studies / Artistic Studies, since 2016 at the Faculty of Human Sciences of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She is an associate curator of the Listening Biennial (headquarters in Berlin) since 2022 and a member of the advisory board of the HANGAR, in Lisbon, since 2021.
An independent curator since 2009, she conducted research in curatorial practices at the Konstfack, in Stockholm, in 2013; since 2019, she is a research fellow at The European School of Governance (EUSG), in Berlin; and, since 2023, she is a teaching fellow at the Europaeum, in Oxford. She is the artistic director of the 4Cs: from Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture, the Arctic Routes, Southern Ways, and the Institution(ing)s.
Having authored various publications in the domains of art and society, Luísa Santos is, since 2021, editing a book series on the politics of immaterial cultures with the Routledge.
