Museum

A French school class from the provinces sets out on an excursion to the Centre Pompidou in Paris in a thought-provoking film that, with simple means and a twinkle of humor, explores what art and culture mean, and for whom.

Museum unfolds over the course of a single day. A group of ninth-grade students travel with their teacher to the Centre Pompidou. For some, it is their first visit to a museum; for others, their first trip to Paris. What does an abstract painting by Mark Rothko mean if you’ve never encountered anything like it before? And can a urinal really become art simply by being exhibited? Seriously?

With an understated style and gentle humor, Museum follows the students on their journey while examining the visible and invisible barriers that shape our relationship to art and culture. How does one’s background influence the way art is perceived, and access to it? Does culture truly belong to everyone? In a society where traditional cultural education remains closely tied to social origins, Museum offers a refreshing, open-minded perspective on questions that might otherwise seem as abstract as the artworks themselves.