Institution(ing)s: Art Institutions as Living Organisms
Turning cultural organisations into living laboratories for collaboration, regeneration, and social change.
Caption: Re-Wall | Installation view of the scenography for the Engawa space at CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian was entirely designed and built by students from the Departamento de Arquitectura da Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (DA/UAL), Centro de Estudos de Arquitectura, Cidade e Território (CEACT/UAL) | Photograph by Diana Quintela
Institution(ing)s encourages contemporary art and cultural organisations to co-create innovative institutional models. Through experimentation, co-creation, speculation, and advocacy for sustainable futures, the project contributes to social inclusion as well as environmental, economic, and artistic transformation. Comprising eight organisations of varying scales, impacts, and target audiences across seven European countries, Institution(ing)s represents the diversity of the cultural sector ecosystem.
Caption: Francisco Trêpa, Gall Ball | Installation view of of the exhibition-residency curated by the MA students in Culture Studies, The Lisbon Consortium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa | Photograph by Pedro Pina
The cooperation project is cofinanced by Creative Europe and led by Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Headquartered at CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Institution(ing)s launched in September 2025 with Gall Ball, an exhibition-process by Francisco Trêpa, curated by MA students in Culture Studies from The Lisbon Consortium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Gall Ball serves as a prologue to the project and draws inspiration from the galls found in CAM’s garden. Galls are “cellular multiplications that form on plant organs in response to insect bites or the attack of fungi, bacteria, and nematodes.” These structures, produced by trees in response to external aggression, become safe havens for insects to lay their eggs, protected from predators. Beyond sheltering the insects that create them, galls are also reused by other species as refuge.
Like galls, Institution(ing)s is an organisation developed in response to challenges both internal and external to artistic institutions: social exclusion and inequality; environmental crises; and economic tensions. It provides a safe haven for institutions of varying sizes, capacities, and scopes to experiment and develop new practices. In addition to offering shelter and facilities to network members, the Institution(ing)s space at CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian also functions as a laboratory for the wider artistic ecosystem, where ideas, knowledge, and practices can emerge.
Caption: Mycelial Methodologies; what fungi teach us about interconnected approaches to collaborative and creative practices | Talk by Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez | Courtesy of CAM-Gulbenkian
Reflecting its laboratory-like nature, the scenography for the Engawa space at CAM was entirely designed and built by students from the Department of Architecture at the Autonomous University of Lisbon (DA/UAL), in collaboration with the Center for Studies in Architecture, City, and Territory (CEACT/UAL). Conceived as an architectural system without obsolescence, it proposes a flexible, sustainable, and circular museography, accommodating a wide range of activities, including artist residencies, assemblies, workshops, performances, and laboratories.
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By Luísa Santos, Coordinator of Institutio(ing)s of of .