The musealisation of contemporary art in Ukraine is an urgent issue and has been identified as one of the priorities of the country’s cultural policy. In particular, the Cultural Development Strategy envisages integrating contemporary art into the cultural heritage protection system by developing new approaches and models for its musealisation as part of Ukraine’s future heritage. Key policy priorities include developing a roadmap, creating practical tools and models for musealisation, and establishing a concept for a future networked museum of contemporary art.
In this context, the Swiss-Ukrainian project UCORD has launched cooperation with the NGO “Museum of Contemporary Art” (NGO MCA), an organisation working to establish a new type of professional museum institution as an important element of Ukraine’s cultural and artistic ecosystem.
The aim of this cooperation is to develop policies for the musealisation of contemporary art and establish an institutional model for a networked museum of contemporary art, using the pilot institution — the Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art in Vinnytsia (UMCA Vinnytsia) — as a case study.
Musealisation is the process of preserving, restoring and adapting cultural heritage objects for educational, research and public engagement purposes, thereby transforming them into museum objects.
The NGO MCA, together with local partners, has already begun research into the Podillia region. The team is exploring local artistic communities and cultural networks, as well as the region’s historical and urban contexts and the architectural and historical significance of the pilot institution’s building — the M. Kotsiubynskyi Cinema.
The materials collected will form the basis for a curatorial concept that will explore the region’s cultural narratives and demonstrate how a museum can contribute to preserving and interpreting contemporary art. The concept will be tested and refined during an art laboratory and subsequently presented at a final exhibition in Vinnytsia in autumn 2026. The overarching idea is to demonstrate how a museum can serve as a resource for the local community — helping it reflect on its history while also engaging with the future.
A separate area of work involves strategic sessions with the Vinnytsia City Council and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to align approaches and develop recommendations for the Roadmap for the Musealisation of Contemporary Art.
The work is being carried out in partnership with the NGO “Plai”, Selepey, Volkovetskyi & Partners, and the international project Institution(ing)s.
The work will culminate in a practical guide for regions on how to approach the musealisation of contemporary art — a model that can be adapted and applied in other regions across Ukraine.
Background information:
The NGO “Museum of Contemporary Art” is a non-profit organisation based in Kyiv and established in 2020. Its mission is to establish the Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) as a new type of museum in Ukraine — a networked institution that will contribute to the development of the contemporary art ecosystem, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the strengthening of the capacity of communities and local actors.
Since 2021, the NGO MCA has been developing the foundations for the future UMCA, focusing on institutional development, knowledge and education, engagement with public authorities, and building the capacity to work with complexity. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 further shaped the organisation’s strategic priorities, while some efforts were redirected towards strengthening cohesion within the artistic community, fostering a culture of remembrance, and enhancing resilience in the context of war and recovery.