УЛОГАТА НА МУЗЕЈСКИТЕ ИНСТИТУЦИИ ВО РАЗВОЈОТ, ЗАЧУВУВАЊЕТО И АФИРМАЦИЈАТА НА МАКЕДОНСКОТО СОВРЕМЕНО ЛИКОВНО ТВОРЕШТВО И НАЦИОНАЛНИОТ КУЛТУРЕН ИДЕНТИТЕТ
THE ROLE OF MUSEUM INSTITUTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT, PRESERVATION AND AFFIRMATION OF MACEDONIAN CONTEMPORARY ART AND NATIONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY

Summary/Abstract: This paper briefly presents the development of museums in the Republic of Macedonia in the field of contemporary art, as a basis for further deepened and expanded research in this area. Speaking on some aspects of the current activity of the two institutions specialized in this field in Macedonia, the Museum of Contemporary Art - Skopje and the National Gallery of Macedonia, as well as the activities which are in that sense taken in museums in Ohrid, Bitola, Stip, Kumanovo and Strumica, the author concludes that the collecting of works of contemporary art in Macedonia began shortly after the final political and national liberation of the Macedonian people after the Second World war. The constitution of the modern Macedonian state as an equal part of the Yugoslav Federation created optimal conditions for an organized form of action in the field of fine art, and for the development of museums, when they experienced intense growth in quantitative and qualitative terms. Generally speaking, all significant institutions and public collections of contemporary art in Macedonia were shaped by the end of the 1960s, providing material and other conditions for research, collecting, processing, protection and presentation of museum material, and the realization of extended activity. Thus began planned, professional and programmatic activity in this area, in accordance with the needs of the Macedonian contemporary art and current museological principles. Despite the importance and contribution of the oldest museum-gallery institution in Macedonia, the Art Gallery in Skopje, the paradigmatic model for the realization of museum activity in the field of contemporary art was the action of MoCA, not only in terms of methodological approach to processing and presentation of museum material, but also in terms of scientific research and publishing activities. From today's perspective, it can be said that in the past these institutions achieved remarkable results in their work, although recent experience has shown the necessity that museums in Macedonia have to substantially align some of its developmental features with streams in Europe and beyond. However, observations about the future, should result from the involvement of the wider context. They must take into consideration the objective circumstances, not only in museums, but in general culture, from the insufficient number of professional staff to insufficient awareness of the importance of the policy of long-distance projection of cultural development and the museums in this context. This means that recommendations for the future, which should necessarily include the current world experience should be provided with due attention to historical and contemporary Macedonian characteristics, not as an abstract set of goals, but referring to those relevant examples that can realistically be implemented.

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