Displacements in the Architecture of Museum. Three Responses to Cultural Changes in Contemporary Society

Abstract

The relevance of the museum as an agent of social, cultural and urban change in the European city has only increased since the last decades. In contrast to the traditional museum, some of the new centres have faced up to the demands promoted by artists, architects, curators or the public manifesting the changes in the processes of creation, dissemination and reception of art. The aim of the article is to address these changes by analysing three paradigmatic cases in the last decade in Europe: Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Fondazione Prada in Milan, and more recently KANAL-Centre Pompidou in Brussels. In three cases, the reconversion of a previous industrial heritage into emerging centres for contemporary culture exemplifies an interest in updating the age-old infrastructure of modernity. As well as the importance of the cultural institution as a booster of the urban project in the European city and as an investment of the public in the context of globalisation.