Launched on French and foreign roads since 2011, the MuMo, designed to be a mobile museum, transports works signed by international contemporary artists in a playful and spectacular container. After years of touring in France and abroad, MuMo got a facelift in 2015, with a stronger territorial anchoring.
The MuMo presents its works to children in schoolyards and public squares. The MuMo’s mission of artistic education also has a social dimension: its mobility and free access enable it to reach out to audiences who, because of socio-cultural barriers or remoteness from facilities, are excluded from artistic and cultural practices.
Creation
Between 2011 and 2016, MuMo 1 traveled to 7 countries in Europe and Africa and was visited by over 80,000 children. A tour of Spain was organized in 2015/2016 with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.
Since 2015: rolling out the concept
After four years on the road with MuMo 1, “MuMo 2 – New Generation” has taken over, with a new container designed by designer Matali Crasset. It is intended as a lever and a tool for the public players responsible for cultural policy in their territories. While retaining the strengths of the original MuMo (ultra-mobility, free admission, encounters with works of art, territorial networking potential), it aims to achieve more far-reaching objectives and more effective operating methods. Thus, MuMo 2 has been built to expand and simplify its mobile exhibition space.
The original MuMo continued to operate for some time, both because it is the company’s calling card and tells its story, but also to meet special requests such as the tour of Spain.
A partnership with FRAC and CNAP
The MuMo cooperates with the Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain and the Centre national des arts plastiques, with the aim of helping to disseminate contemporary art by breaking down social, geographical and cultural barriers. The traveling museum exhibits a selection of works from the collections of the Frac and Cnap in order to circulate them throughout the region, with priority given to rural areas and Quartiers Politiques de la Ville. In fact, each change of region implies a new exhibition, reflecting the identity of the public collections and the territory. The “MuMo 2 – Nouvelle Génération” aims to be a tool for cultural policy.
Artists and works
Since its inception, the MuMo has given visitors the opportunity to see and discover specific projects by artists from the international contemporary scene. For MuMo 1, each of the 21 artists commissioned has created or chosen a work, taking into account the particular context of this museum – limited space, constraints linked to the container’s itinerancy, but also and above all, everything involved in confronting children with their creations. For MuMo 2, the works are chosen from the partner FRACs according to a theme defined together. In cooperation with teachers, educational advisors and sometimes artists, the MuMo organizes practical art workshops as an extension of the visit. The team consists of a driver-technician and cultural mediators.
Photo : MuMo