As part of the British artist Damien Hirst's exhibition ''New Religion'', which is organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska in collaboration with the British Council and the Paul Stolper Gallery, an educational course for museum professionals will be organised on 14 and 15 March.
This professional workshop will be led by prominent professionals from Great Britain (Poppy Szaybo, David Garnett, Gemma Latty, Tony Trehy). It is organised as a set of lectures for museum and gallery professionals which are included directly in the set up of Damien Hirst's ''New Religion'' exhibition, which will start on March 11, and it covers practical and theoretical knowledge. New skills and technical settings that are in accordance with contemporary British and international practices will be introduced to workshop participants. The lecture will include interactive and group discussions, as well as a series of practical assignments. The goal of the workshop is exchanging of knowledge between museums and galleries in the region, as well as providing the opportunity to broaden the cultural network on an international level.
''Besides encouraging the audience to play with modern trends and contemporary customs, this exhibition gives us the possibility of development of curator and technical manager skills when it comes to galleries and cultural institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. In this way we want to ensure that the skills and the knowledge that are required for preparation and setting up exhibitions such as this one stay as an integral part of the capacity of institutions with which we collaborate with. That way we can be assured that the innovative international capacities and current trends in the culture scene of the world will, from now on, have strong partners in Bosnia and the region.'' Larisa Halilović, Director of British Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Educaton will be led by Tony Trehy, Director of the Bury Art Museum, who has, with the grandiose collection of works by J.W. Turner, for the past 20 years intensively been working on the modernisation of museum practices which are in accordance with the challenges of globalisation. With Trehy in charge, the Bury Art Museum has come a long way from modest transboundary exchanges of ideas, all the way to the role of the host of globally connected cultural economy, with open cultural markets in China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Poppy Szaybo, lecturer and curator, who has been working as a consultant for the British Council in Great Britain for sixteen years, currently holds the position of Programme Director for InsertNameHereLondon.com and is also in charge of London Programmes for Diversity Heritage Group- a network of museums and institutions that specialise in cultural heritage.
Besides Szaybo and Trehy, lectures will also be given by David Garnett and Gemma Latty from the British Council. Garnett and Latty are managers and coordinators of the Banjaluka exhibition. David Garnett works as a deputy manager in the Visual Arts Department of the British Council in London and is in charge of the organisation of international projects. Gemma Latty works as a British Council/London coordinator for international exhibitions, which include the organisation of the British Pavillion at the Venice Biennale (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015).
Workshop participants are curators who come from seven countries of the region: Montenegro(National Museum/Cetinje), Macedonia (Museum of Contemporary Art/Skopje), Serbia (Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina/Novi Sad), Kosovo (Oral History Museum/Prishtina), Albania (Art Center/Tirana), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska in Banjaluka, Art Gallery in Sarajevo).
