In an article by Mirjam Shatanawi a curator at the Tropenmuseum (link below), she writes about the history of ethnographic museums' portrayal of non-Western cultures as “silent cultures”, there to be observed but not speak.
The narrator of culture was the museum, and it was a narration of power.
I was finally able to revisit the Tropenmuseum my last weekend in the Netherlands this summer. I had wanted to go back to visit their permanent exhibitions, as well as their exhibitions Things that Matter, and Afterlives of Slavery, exhibitions that engaged with the museum’s role of representing culture.
With Things that Matter,the show seemed designed to not just show objects of people who migrate, but to familiarize the Dutch population about the common grounds between cultures.
Great interactive video screen where an artist led you through writing in Arabic. I did great at level 1, but level 2 did me in.
The idea that a culture needs to do work to consider what it means to be a new-comer, a refugee, a migrant fleeing violence and coming to a new culture is one that was brought up during our school field trip to visit Boost (https://www.boostamsterdam.nl). A representative from Boost told us about their mission of creating one-on-one relationships between long-term Amsterdammers and the new-comers, and the importance of finding common ground.
Things That Matter works toward finding common ground by speaking to a number of themes: religion, clothing, written text, music and art, and the environments they leave among others. Examples of objects related to these themes are shown together, showing both the commonalities, and ways to relate to the differences. For example, I may not be familiar with the vocal style of a young Egyptian girl singing traditional music, but I am familiar with the awe-struck faces of the judges and her family in the format of the Egypt’s Got Talent video.
One topic they took on it the topic of appropriation, one we have been discussing in the CSW art department. It’s a difficult topic to be sure, but one that must be struggled through. The exhibition gave some clear context, but also examples to be interacted with. As a viewer, you could take a magnet with text on it, and attach it to various examples of appropriation from Elvis to Beyonce, and even Dutch design.
The magnets had the words (in Dutch and English):
Profiteering
Inspiration
Imitation
Entitlement
These motives involved in cultural appropriation showed the elements that make it so complex. We have a human need to look for clarity, right or wrong, a simple do or don’t-do check list, but it is rarely that simple. As an educator I want to teach students the why and how of appropriation, to help them develop a deeper understanding of power dynamics within visual culture, and how it reflects the wider culture. I want them to have a historical, visual, and textual language to learn and work from.
The second exhibition Afterlives of Slavery, examined the Dutch place in the trading of enslaved people, its history, and legacy. A main part of the exhibition was to give voice to the people once enslaved and their ancestors.
At CSW we have talked about the importance of hearing different stories, and in previous posts I have talked about the importance of self-representation (see Yinka Shonibare image below for a powerful example of this). A “silent culture” is one robbed of its voice, and this omission prevents us from knowing our culture and ultimately ourselves.
L: a list of Dutch sounding family names given to the enslaved. I first learned of this history from Arjan Braaksma of Burobraak. R: Wall text explaining the naming
Included in this exhibition were examples of confronting and subverting the slave trade and racism. When power writes a narrative of history, those who successfully subvert or defy this power are left out to discourage confrontations to power. To acknowledge these confrontations in a museum context was new to me, but encouraging to see. It tells a truer story.
written viewer responses to the show
There are many ways this exhibition worked to include voice. The show included various voices from a powerful (current) spoken word video, to often-untold stories those who were enslaved, those who escaped and challenged slavery, to a place where viewers could answer and post their responses to various prompts, and even online formats to convey your concerns with the exhibition.
It also included objects related to the experience of the enslaved and their legacies from the chains used to enprison the enslaved, to t-shirts worn by those protesting Zwart Piet (see the Burobraak entry to learn more about this controversy and the history of protests).
One focal point was the romanticization of the “other”, something I have noticed often in Dutch culture. I know it exists in American culture as well, and have seen it, but being in an unfamiliar culture where I wasn’t raised in the same myths makes it easier to notice. Hopefully this will make it easier to notice at home as well.
My initial question “are museums a result of racism?” came from their permanent exhibitions Eastward Bound, examining the Netherlands history of trade and colonization through the Dutch East Indies Company (the V.O.C.).
The idea of wunderkamers or kunstkamers is attractive to many artists, myself included. At home I have a cabinet of objects I call my tchotchke cabinet, full of objects that have meaning to me: the school bus tag I wore my first day of kindergarten, small artworks of students and friends, souvenirs from various places, and more. Objects tell stories, and as an artist I want to know those stories.
Wunderkamers and kunstkamers were object collections of the wealthy which showed where they had been, or where they had sponsored expeditions to in order to seek out the unicorn horn, the holy grail, or more likely spices and the money they brought. One room featured botanical specimens from the collection of Georg Rumphius, a German botanist who worked for the VOC* in (what is currently) Indonesia.
The wall text read:
“Strange Things”
“Besides merchandise, the VOC also brought back unusual and exotic items which wealthy Europeans displayed in 'cabinets of curiosities'. The cabinets can be regarded as the forerunners of today’s museums. Georg Rumphius (1627-1702) worked for the VOC in Ambon. He collected and studied the local natural specimens and wrote about them in two famous publications.
“Rumphius was able to do so because the VOC had established its power in the Moluccas using a great deal of violence. For more than thirty years Rumphius lived there and got information about the nature of the local people.”
While I knew that historically...
rich collectors = expeditions = wunderkamers = museums
...the inclusion of the words “Rumphius was able to do so because the VOC had established its power in the Moluccas using a great deal of violence” made the use of force often kept separate, undeniable. This is key.
The relationship between power and acquiring (the words traded given stolen speaking to how museum objects were attained was used again and again in this exhibition) in creating museums was laid bare, and it showed the use of racism to justify these acquisitions.
Difficult truths: relics of scientific racism as used in Papau New Guinea
So how does all this relate to social design?
It relates to me as a teacher and artist
Everyone should be able to speak to their own experience, and to be heard
Students (and citizens) should know the histories of institutions purported to represent our culture, and know how to read these institutions
As a white privileged person/artist/teacher, it is my work to seek out and listen to the stories of other
This seeking out and listening also benefits me, it is not charity
It relates to the work I have been doing in social design
How do images convey information? (nothing is neutral)
What we make and put out there has a life beyond us (objects tell stories)
The importance of authentic, deep, and often slow, collaboration in creating a truer exhibition, design solution, building, etc., and in creating a smarter and better result
Above: An example of how appropriation can manifest in design.
Above: (Un-silent culture) Trust No One, a work by Yinka Shonibare (UK-Nigerian artist) speaking to Western erasure of cultures and truth, sitting in the head of a African child; the text carved in the desk says "trust no one". A partial story is not a true story.
* VOC = "Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie" = East India Trading Company
Links:
Call to address colonisation in museums in US (specifically Brooklyn MOA), super interesting after seeing the Tropenmuseum's dealing with colonisation:
https://nowthisnews.com/videos/news/why-we-need-to-decolonize-the-brooklyn-museum
Afterlives of Slavery
Things that Matter
Tropenmuseum’s Research Center for Material Culture
Article about ethnographic museum by Mirjam Shatanawi referring to “culture as silent”
Explanation of Keti Koti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keti_Koti
Yinka Shonibare
http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com
David Byrne blog post "Museums for All of Us"
http://davidbyrne.com/journal/museums-for-all-of-us
David Byrne's Observations of Dutch Colonial History at the Rijks
http://davidbyrne.com/journal/an-unexpected-history-lesson-at-the-rijksmuseum
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