Made in Mirrors | Vitamin Creative Space

Made in Mirrors is an intercultural mirroring experiment, an exchange model aimed at opening up perspectives for innovative approaches to museum policy and intercultural accountability. Made in Mirrors will take the form of a cultural interface, whereby, according to a kind of ‘follow the leader’ principle, Museum Het Domein enters into small-scale exchange projects with international cultural institutions with which it shares an affinity both in terms of socio-geographic positioning and artistic orientation. Made in Mirrors is implemented by a foundation of the same name, and is a joint venture between two museums (Museum Het Domein in Sittard and Museu de Arte Moderna Aloisio Magelhaes in Recife, Brazil), the corporate sector (DSM), an independent art initiative (Vitamin Creative Space) and a private patron.

The plan Made in Mirrors was born out of a sense of urgency, the feeling that this is the time to launch projects that redeem cultural diversity by investing in it. Made in Mirrors is a communication and exchange model developed to realise cooperation between culturally different (culturally diverse) partners, in a structural, sustainable way. The basis for this is the exchange of people and their ideas, express in presentations (exhibitions, lectures, publications, films, etc). This exchange is approached structurally, and covers a three-year period; it commences with an induction phase before spreading like ripples in a pond, to expand into a social forum with a broad support base.

To put the plan into practice, Made in Mirrors is looking for locations in the world that reflect the situation in Sittard. The first two years will focus on intensive collaboration with Vitamin Creative Space in Guangzhou (China) and with the Museum for Modern Art in Recife (Brazil). In the third year, a similar liaison will be entered into with an art institution in Africa or the Arab world, which will be shaped in joint consultation with the Chinese and Brazilian colleagues based on initial experiences. The intention is to forge a link with a different location each year, while continuing the previous alliance which will also flow over into the subsequent one.

The interaction between Dutch and international artists, curators, urban planners, writers, etc, will take the form of reciprocal presentations, research and the provision of guest studios. The criteria, themes and dimensions formulated in brainstorming workshops will comprise the anchorage points for further developments and extrapolations. The entire project will evolve according to a ‘follow the leader’ principle which, by degrees, will generate a natural, intercultural DNA structure and the Made in Mirrors ‘plan’ will be absorbed and internalised by the institutions that have embraced it.