Are museums necessary? Is the museum still a relevant cultural institution? Do museums support or weaken contemporary artistic practices? May they be altered, replaced, reinvented? How might a museum behave as it transits from one context to the next, to mutate in relation to a distinct situation? How might the very idea of transience affect the process of collecting? Or is the actuality of an itinerant museum inherently problematic, a contradiction in terms, a paradox waiting to happen?

Re-Shuffle: Notions of an Itinerant Museum, a survey about the possibilities of museums of today and the future, is presented by first-year graduate students at the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS) at Bard College, and takes the form of a publication-as-exhibition to be held at Art in General’s Gallery 4 at 79 Walker Street, New York City. The program is on view from Friday, February 24, through Saturday, March 18. The opening reception is Friday, February 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Saturday, from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. All programs are free and open to the public without charge.

The 12 first-year graduate students—Markús Thór Andrésson, Kirin Buckley, Max Hernández Calvo, Özkan Cangüven, Ruba Katrib, Florencia Malbrán, Kate McNamara, Laura Mott, Rebeca Noriega-Costas, Amy Owen, Chen Tamir, and Emily Zimmerman—posed questions to internationally renowned artists, critics, designers, and other cultural producers in a desire to see if there is a possibility to have a museum that is mobile rather than stationary, flexible, spontaneous, and responsive, as opposed to didactic. The graduate students developed the publication-as-exhibition with CCS faculty member Joshua Decter.