Summary:
The article discusses the results of the “Les apprentis collectionneurs 2025” program in Monaco, where high school students selected contemporary artworks to be acquired by the National Museum.
Full Story:
Monaco’s New National Museum initiated “Les apprentis collectionneurs” in 2017, a educational program supported by the Society for the Management of Authors’ Rights. The program aims to familiarize teenagers with contemporary art and the role of museums in collecting. In its ninth edition, the program involved high school students from Albert-Ier in a year-long series of meetings, exchanges, visits, and workshops. This year, 24 students attended ARCOmadrid, one of Europe’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs. They conducted research and selected one or more works by the same artist with an acquisition budget of €20,000. The students then presented and defended their choices before a jury, including the Princess of Hanover, who is the President of the Acquisition Committee and Board of Directors of the National Museum, and artists and museum officials. The students chose works that reflected their thoughts on contemporary issues such as climate change, post-colonialism, identity, and migration. This year, three works by Peter Fend were added to the museum’s collection. Peter Fend, an American artist, merges art and science in his work and has been known since the late 1970s for mobilizing consciousness to address environmental and geopolitical problems. One of Fend’s works, “Global Warming (2025),” now on display, is a lightbox that uses the colors and logos of Exxon Mobile gas stations to draw attention to climate change. The program has previously resulted in the acquisition of works by other notable artists.
Source:
Gouvernement Monaco
