The CoMuseum International Conference is organising a series of digital conversations entitled Leadership in Challenging Times with local and international experts from museums and other cultural organisations. The digital conversations will take place in September and October 2020, and will be convened by the CoMuseum main partners: the Benaki Museum, the British Council and the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy. 

The second Leadership Talk is entitled “Managing Museums”, hosted and curated by Dr George Manginis, Academic Director of the Benaki Museum. The discussion takes place on 29 October 2020, 17.00 – 18.00 (Greek Time). 

The discussion will focus on how museums have dealt with – and continue to deal with – the pandemic, what museum leaders have learnt from the current crisis, and what they anticipate the future will hold for museums and cultural organisations.

Panel members:

Ellen Bierwisch, Head of Exhibitions Management, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Deputy Speaker of the Exhibition Management Workgroup, German Museum Association

Ellen Bierwisch joined the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf as Head of Exhibitions Management in 2019 and together with her team is responsible for the implementation of a very diverse exhibition programme starting from classical art exhibitions such as Caspar David Friedrich, shows of contemporary and digital art and presentations by outside curators such as Claudia Schiffer. Before moving to Düsseldorf, she was Head of Exhibitions and Collections Management at Klassik Stiftung Weimar, one of the largest cultural institutions in Germany. Ellen holds two Master degrees one in Museum studies and in Scandinavian History. Ellen is also deputy speaker of the Exhibition Management workgroup within the German Museum Association.  

Agnieszka Tarasiuk, Chief Curator, Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture at the Królikarnia Palace, Division of The National Museum in Warsaw

Artist, curator and social activist. Graduate of Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. At the beginning of the XXI century she organised unconventional artistic events in eastern Poland, creating art spaces in locations far removed from cultural centres. Currently, as head curator of the Sculpture Museum at Królikarnia, division of the National Museum in Warsaw she combines traditional museology and contemporary curatorial practices.

Syrago Tsiara, Deputy Director MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art, Director of the Thessaloniki Biennale

Syrago Tsiara studied Art History at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Social History of Art at the University of Leeds and completed a PhD on public art and national memory in Greece. She taught public art, historical avantgardes and art theory at the University of Thessaly (2003-2006). Tsiara was the Director of the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art  for 13 years and of the 6th and 7th Thessaloniki Biennale. She was the curator of the Greek Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) and national commissioner of the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. The same year, she co-directed the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Tsiara curates exhibitions, writes and gives speeches for subjects such as identity, public sphere, gender, memory and politics in contemporary art.

Curated and hosted by:

George Manginis, Academic Director of the Benaki Museum

George Manginis has taught history of Byzantine, Islamic and Chinese art and has published articles on Cypriot prehistory, Islamic art, Sinai studies, Chinese ceramics, European decorative arts and the Greek and Armenian diasporas as well as two books (both in 2016): Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims and China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics.