The international conference The Museum Reader, organised by the Art History Institute of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the National Museum of Contemporary Art – Museu do Chiado, aims to propose thematic lines and noteworthy points to stimulate thought, reflection and debate of new realities, practices and working conditions identified in museums in the 21st century. Its purpose is to analyse and systematise new methods and paradigms, trends and different practices and ways of imagining the role of art institutions in the context of the present-day art scene.