The launching of programming and collections dedicated to contemporary arts and cultures fits transversally with the Museum of Civilizations’ impressive corpus of collections, connecting with its contemporary perspectives and integrating, through further research and knowledge, with the disciplines of anthropology, ethnography, prehistoric archeology, earth sciences (paleontology and litho-mineralogy), colonial history and Italian folk traditions. The methodologies of contemporary art open the museum to alternative epistemologies and the reconstruction of omitted histories, leading to new dialogues and integrating with ongoing work on collection rearrangements, new interpretations and narratives. In this way the Museum of Civilizations enters further into the national and international debates on rethinking the role of contemporary anthropological museums, and the needs for responsible inclusion of the multiple cultures it studies and shares.

The museum confirms its interdisciplinary vocation, entering into issues of absolute relevance and urgency, including: the climate crisis and the cultural and socio-economic challenges arising from the anthropization of global environments; the recovery of indigenous material and immaterial cultures and natural forms of creation as matrices of possible new humanisms and multi-species institutions, in the face of the constantly evolving scenarios posed by the digital revolution; the telling of the histories of colonialisms through long-term research and collaboration processes, applying post-colonial and de-colonial practices; the study of marginalized and endangered visual and oral expressions in the dynamics of globalized modernity. The participatory co-creation of a contemporary art collection implies research into the provenance and the reconstruction of the contexts and means through which objects entered the museum collections, thereby providing critical input into re-installation of our museum exhibits. This approach also provides for the establishment of specific intra-disciplinary thinking and working groups, supporting the development of the actions and languages through which the institution expresses itself and communicates with its audiences.

The museum has developed its Contemporary Arts and Cultures Collections through assistance from the Italian Council and the PAC-Plan for Contemporary Art, both promoted by the Ministry of Culture’s General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity, as well as through donations, acquisitions, and projects supported by the European Community. Some of the artists represented have participated in the museum’s Research Fellowship program. The Collection of Contemporary Arts and Cultures, currently at about 30 works, includes those of: Maria Thereza Alves, Denilson Baniwa, Bianca Baldi, Sammy Baloji, Gianfranco Baruchello, Antonio Biasiucci, Rossella Biscotti, BRACHA (Bracha L. Ettinger), Adriana Bustos, Edgar Calel, Ali Cherri, Cooking Sections, Isabella Ducrot, Theo Eshetu, Bruna Esposito, Victor Fotso Nyie, Peter Friedl, Jermay Michael Gabriel, Theaster Gates, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Wissal Houbabi, Adelita Husni-Bey, Karrabing Film Collective and Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Bertina Lopes, Marzia Migliora, Elisa Montessori, Gala Porras-Kim, Moira Ricci, Juan Sanchez, Shimabuku, Daiara Tukano, Malak Yacout. Also present in the collection paths, in rotation, have been works by DAAR – Decolonizing Architecture Art Research (Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal), Luca Guadagnino, Pino Musi, Otobong Nkanga and Francis Offman.