Dancing Museums is an action-research project designed to foster and sustain long-term collaborations between dance organisations, museums, universities and local communities in order to develop inspiring and long-lasting arts and cultural programmes that people in those communities want to get involved in.

The Democracy of Beings is the second of two programmes, following an initial research phase (Dancing Museums - Old Masters, New traces. DM1) that ran from June 2015 to March 2017.

In this period of accelerated change, there is an urgent need for professionalism, shared vocabulary and a coherent conceptual framework that makes sense of the many different approaches to audience engagement.

In Dancing Museums - The Democracy of Beings, individuals and arts organisations share, improve, develop and transfer skills and knowledge needed to broaden and deepen connections and relationships with audiences. The practice-led research group, composed of artists, dance organisations, museums and universities from seven countries, looks at how the presence of dance can offer new ways of experiencing art and heritage and help audiences and visitors engage both intellectually and viscerally with artworks. The knowledge and experience generated throughout the project will empower the organisations and artists involved with the skills needed to implement meaningful audience development projects beyond the duration of the project. These practices will be shared and documented in each location to build evidence and ensure consistency of data and anecdotal information. 

Mercat de les Flors is the Fundació Joan Miró’s partner for the Dancing Museums Project and the selected artist is Quim Bigas, a dancer and choreographer.

Quim Bigas’s residency at the Fundació Joan Miró from 17 to 20 December

The weeklong residency of Quim Bigas at the foundation will be inspired by Joan Miró’s triptych Painting on White Background for the Cell of a Recluse (I, II, III). Observation of the lines in the work makes it possible to perceive the connected strokes made by the artist’s hand.

Quim Bigas will work on a continuous line extending from one end of the building to the other, all the while listening to the rhythm of his own beating heart, as well as those of visitors or the people who want to join in.

This action explores constant movement and the limits of the building. It also puts into practice and brings into the light a dynamic present in Miró’s painting.