Museum of Care
Image Credit: Landing page of the Museum of Care
John
Tell me about the Museum of Care and how it came about.
Nika
The Museum of Care was an idea that developed during conversations with my late husband, the anthropologist and activist David Graeber, during the COVID pandemic.I was talking to David about a blog post by a Russian gallerist called Marat Gelman, who proposed turning empty office spaces into galleries, museums and cultural spaces. It seemed like a good idea, but on reflection we thought it would be yet another route to gentrification with all its accompanying evils.
Reflecting on alternatives, I spoke about the Houses of Culture from my Soviet childhood, remnants of the Proletkult movement initiated by Alexander Bogdanov early in the revolution. Despite later control by the Stalinist regime, these centers retained a focus on democratic access to education and cultural activities. They catered to the educational needs of ordinary people and allowed many cultural initiatives to thrive under the Soviet radar, offering a variety of activities from chess and mathematics to puppet theater and classical painting. They became hubs for dissidents and nurtured significant cultural movements within their walls.
David and I fantasized that one day we might set up a place called The Museum of Care, in some way modeled on Proletkult ideas, where value would reside in the care and freedom of people rather than the production and consumption of objects. David often said that people are the result of mutual care. So museums should do exactly that: provide a space in which people can create new relationships and new ways of interacting to both cultural content and to each other.
Around the time of these discussions, David and I were working on our collection of essays Another Art World, or Art Communism in which we critique the art world and its star system founded on a myth of scarcity and artificial value and celebrate the real world of abundant cultural production, initiative and creativity.
John
How would you visit the Museum of Care?
Nika
It has existed as a website for the past three and a half years. We use the metaphors of ‘curator’ and the ‘room’. Curators create rooms and take care of them. Potentially everyone can be a curator. There are no restrictions on what activities can take place in a room, except for anything totally illegal, such as selling weapons.
The museum doesn’t check people’s credentials. It is built on exactly opposite rules to a regular museum.
The website administration, which is currently provided by the David Graeber Institute, is only there to maintain the website. Unlike regular museums, it doesn’t dictate the activities that take place in the rooms.
John
So what happens in these rooms?
Nika
Sometimes nothing, and that’s okay. Sometimes art events such as when the Museum of Care and the Museum of Unrest organize a joint exhibition.
It hosts a lot of reading groups, talks and discussions. During the past three and a half years we have had meetings or events every week.
John
So can anyone set up a room?
Nika
Yes, absolutely anyone, again unless you’re doing something illegal. We can provide limited support. We help people to set their rooms up initially and assist with social media access and promotion.
There was, for example, a room about photography set up by people from Victoria and Albert Museum that was very active for a while.
There is also a core community which keeps the place alive by organising exhibitions, discussions, reading groups, and other projects.
John
So how would someone set up a room?
Nika
They would write an email to the Museum of Care website. And we will set up a room for them. We can help advertise their project in our social media and mailing lists, but then they are on their own.
John
What’s the relationship between the Museum of Care and the David Graeber Institute?
Nika
Initially, the museum helped me cope with David’s loss and became a community centered around his legacy. The institute was later established to focus specifically on David’s work, but both entities share a common goal of promoting ideas of care and freedom.
John
What are the plans for the future for the Museum of Care and also for the David Graeber Institute?
Nika
The future of the Museum of Care is in the hands of the people who want to do their own projects in the Museum. The moment that there is no project, the Museum will be archived.
There are some new people setting up projects. Some of it I don’t have a clue about, and some I am extremely interested in. There is a new reading group about Mikhail Bakhtin that I plan to join.
My friends and I are organizing some art events including collaborative projects between the Museum of Care, the David Graeber Institute and other organisations including the Museum of Unrest.
I would like to see more glimpses of Proletkult education: international, non-profit, imaginative, inclusive for all, appear in the cracks of the system.
The Hermitage and the Louvre do not create new masterpieces; they only store already existing ones, but we don’t require palaces and museums for people to be able to connect to and teach each other.
John
What about the future of the David Graeber Institute?
Nika
The Institute is centered around David’s legacy, particularly on research involving his archives, but like the Museum of Care, the institute will strive to cultivate ideas of care and freedom.
We are setting up a university in the global South, where we hope to implement some experimental art and technology projects connected to David’s academic research and writings.
I am a strong believer in the power of integration and horizontal connections, so we will continue to share some of the DGI’s projects with the Museum of Care.
John
Tell me about the university?
Nika
We are developing a project based in the Caribbean island of St Vincent , and are exploring possible partnerships with some American and Australian universities.
I am fascinated by the idea of creating a Department of Carnival. There are entire universities dedicated to Theater, Film, and Television, but few, if any, focus on Carnival and Carnivality. Yet carnivals are fundamental to almost every culture.
I hope that our project on Saint Vincent can contribute to the wider development of egalitarian educational initiatives.
The Museum of Unrest is also a place that provides resources, gives away content, and connects people together.
I think it’s a useful endeavor!