Fragile Institutions, Living Bodies: Bridging Human Bonds and Sensory Approaches.

Coordinated by Liliana Uccello (Capodimonte) and  Heidi Holder (The Met)

The workshop explores the dual nature of museum fragility: an institutional fragility, rooted in the crisis of community relations, and a material fragility, inherent in the vulnerability of cultural and historical heritage. Drawing on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s methodology, we will analyze institutions as “fragile bodies,” reimagining public programming as an act of relational repair. This inquiry translates into a sensory experience inspired by the collections and the Woods of Capodimonte, where tactile contact and the encounter between artifact and nature transcend the primacy of the gaze. The journey proves that physical and political fragility demand the same level of care: a practice of listening and slowness capable of mending the bonds between institution, body, and community.