Cosmologies of Care and Conviviality - New Narratives in Curatorial Practice

forthcoming

Cosmologies of Care and Conviviality - COCACO - is a transnational cooperation project between oca: migrations, minorities, arts (MEZEKƎRƎ Space, Vienna), Metro54 (Amsterdam), and Villa Romana (Florence). Together, the three partners aim to initiate a new European network of progressive art institutions grounded in care-centered and convivial curatorial practices. This alliance brings together institutions rooted in local communities and global perspectives, united by a shared commitment to dismantling exclusionary cultural structures and reimagining how art institutions function—politically, structurally, and curatorially. At the core of the project lies the co-creation of a shared curatorial framework: a process of collective research, experimentation, and exchange that moves beyond symbolic inclusion toward embedded collaboration. This framework becomes both a conceptual backbone and a practical toolkit—supporting locally embedded artistic programmes, transnational meetings, and training events. Through local iterations, a collaboratively authored publication, and a podcast series, the project amplifies knowledge produced by diasporic, migrant, queer, and Global Majority perspectives. COCACO is a response to a cultural sector often disconnected from the social and political urgencies of our time. It proposes an alternative: curating as care, institutions as spaces of shared world-making, and participation as a transformative relationship—not a symbolic gesture. Instead of asking communities to adapt to existing formats, the project reimagines formats themselves, centering collective authorship, accessibility, and accountability.