Words from the President - ICOMnetwork.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/mini... · 20.01.17 Issue...
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20.01.17 Issue 80 The Anniversary Issue! Dear colleagues, dear friends, First, on behalf of the ICME Board (2016-19) let me wish you all a very healthy, successful and creative 2017. Three ICME friends in Hong Kong also send their very best wishes for the forthcoming year. You may recognize me in the middle of the group above. My wonderful colleagues Professor Richard Sandell and Dr Vivian Ting are sitting with me, around this time last year, in January 2016. Today I am writing from the peace of my home in Leicester. Here we are enjoying winter sunshine. The birds are swooping for the peanuts hanging in our garden trees, teasing my fat cat Tim, who is stalking nearby. I hear children, of all faiths and no faith, playing happily together in the local schools. In my local area, Stoneygate, we have good shelter; we are warm, well fed and clothed. I am fortunate to live in a comfortable and safe part of our globe. Safety, sadly, is not universal nor something that we can take for granted. One of the local schools that I pass on my way to work each day has a campaign to safeguard children who are endangered by cars parking illegally on the double yellow lines, in the rush to drop off and pick up the children at the school gates. In 2016 the school erected a series of ‘child bollards’ to prevent this selfish action. These concrete children are multiracial and seem to be creatively addressing the problem most effectively with good humor. I wonder how other countries tackle the problem of traffic and the danger to children from bad driving. Some of us may recall the dense traffic in Hanoi where whole families, and often a pig or two, are transported in one vehicle. Those of us at the 2015 conference will also remember the street vendors who transport incredible loads on bicycles, which the wonderful Women’s Museum and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology both represent so brilliantly, not simply showing the aesthetics of this culture and shying away from the danger, but observing, head on, the social hardship that underpins and endangers human lives. In October 2016 I was privileged to speak at the 5th Art Forum for Curators of Chinese Art, in China. This international group meets every two years and it presented an excellent opportunity for us to publicise ICME as well as an inclusive approach to cultural learning that a number of us are working within. The event was sponsored by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation and generously hosted by the extraordinary Palace Museum in Beijing. Inside Words from the President The Aging of the Age of Migration ICME Fellows Report The End of an Era Exhibition Review: "Macedonia-Thrace" A tribute to the Lyceum Club Royal Ontario Museum Apologises The new ICOM logo Words from the Editor 1 4 6 10 19 21 23 25 33 Words from the President In my panel, Art Meets the Public: Knowledge and Experience in Museum Education, speakers discussed questions of collaboration, digital heritage and learning more generally. My paper addressed ‘how museums can become inclusive sites for learning and understanding about self and others through museum collections’ with a focus on ethnographic collections. Despite weather warnings to stay indoors because of high pollution levels, the conference was a great success and I certainly learnt a lot in my panel. Dr Wang Fang introduced us to the tremendous educational programmes she is developing with her learning team at Guangdong Museum and Stephanie Norby outlined how the public are engaged and gain digital access to Museum Collections at the Smithsonian Institution. Page 1
Transcript of Words from the President - ICOMnetwork.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/mini... · 20.01.17 Issue...
20.01.17Issue 80
The Anniversary Issue!
Dear colleagues, dear friends,
First, on behalf of the ICMEBoard (2016-19) let me wishyou all a very healthy,successful and creative 2017.Three ICME friends in HongKong also send their very bestwishes for the forthcomingyear.
You may recognize me in themiddle of the group above. Mywonderful colleaguesProfessor Richard Sandell andDr Vivian Ting are sitting withme, around this time last year,in January 2016.
Today I am writing from thepeace of my home inLeicester. Here we areenjoying winter sunshine. Thebirds are swooping for thepeanuts hanging in our gardentrees, teasing my fat cat Tim,who is stalking nearby. I hearchildren, of all faiths and nofaith, playing happily togetherin the local schools. In my localarea, Stoneygate, we havegood shelter; we are warm,well fed and clothed. I amfortunate to live in acomfortable and safe part ofour globe.
Safety, sadly, is not universalnor something that we cantake for granted. One of thelocal schools that I pass on myway to work each day has acampaign to safeguardchildren who are endangeredby cars parking illegally on thedouble yellow lines, in the rushto drop off and pick up thechildren at the school gates. In2016 the school erected aseries of ‘child bollards’ to
prevent this selfish action.These concrete children aremultiracial and seem to becreatively addressing theproblem most effectively withgood humor.
I wonder how other countriestackle the problem of trafficand the danger to childrenfrom bad driving. Some of usmay recall the dense traffic inHanoi where whole families,and often a pig or two, aretransported in one vehicle.Those of us at the 2015conference will also rememberthe street vendors whotransport incredible loads onbicycles, which the wonderfulWomen’s Museum and theVietnam Museum of Ethnologyboth represent so brilliantly, notsimply showing the aestheticsof this culture and shying awayfrom the danger, but observing,head on, the social hardshipthat underpins and endangershuman lives.
In October 2016 I wasprivileged to speak at the 5thArt Forum for Curators ofChinese Art, in China. Thisinternational group meetsevery two years and itpresented an excellentopportunity for us to publiciseICME as well as an inclusiveapproach to cultural learningthat a number of us areworking within. The event wassponsored by the Bei ShanTang Foundation andgenerously hosted by theextraordinary Palace Museumin Beijing.
Inside
Words from thePresidentThe Aging of the Age ofMigrationICME Fellows ReportThe End of an EraExhibition Review:"Macedonia-Thrace"A tribute to the LyceumClubRoyal Ontario MuseumApologisesThe new ICOM logoWords from the Editor
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4610
19
21
232533
Words from the President
In my panel, Art Meets the Public:Knowledge and Experience inMuseum Education, speakersdiscussed questions of collaboration,digital heritage and learning moregenerally. My paper addressed ‘howmuseums can become inclusivesites for learning and understandingabout self and others throughmuseum collections’ with a focus onethnographic collections. Despiteweather warnings to stay indoorsbecause of high pollution levels, theconference was a great success andI certainly learnt a lot in my panel. DrWang Fang introduced us to thetremendous educationalprogrammes she is developing withher learning team at GuangdongMuseum and Stephanie Norbyoutlined how the public are engagedand gain digital access to MuseumCollections at the SmithsonianInstitution.
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Events such as the Art Forumpoint to the possibility of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Theyshow and fruitfulness of bordercrossings in the safe yet criticalspaces that ICME has so longcherished.
The end of 2016 saw globalsafety threatened. The toxicpress in my country, in part atleast, contributed to Brexit – theanti-immigration vote to leavethe European Union - and inAmerica, the election of amisogynist, racist, PresidentTrump. How can those of uswho hold liberal views and liverelatively affluent livesunderstand the economicallydisadvantaged who are swayedby populist governments? Whatactions can we take in ourworkplaces, ethnographicmuseums and heritage sites, touphold human rights andprogress social justice?
Our ethnographic collections,both historical and thosedeveloping throughcontemporary collecting, areentangled with histories ofinjustice that linger today. We donot work in isolated bubbles butare are all involved with widerregimes of oppression anddiscrimination that is increasingat local and global levels.Injustice is too oftenunacknowledged within ourmuseum walls.
Yet, as we heard at our 2016conference, ICME members areengaged in astoundingexamples of best practicearound the globe. Our membersare working tirelessly tounderstood and addresscontemporary concerns forhuman rights even though theirmuseums do not have a specificmandate to work in this field andwe applaud these efforts. Weare also working hard todisseminate in detail, throughconference and publication, thediverse social justice projectsthat concern ICME.
2016 saw two key ICMEpublications. In July theacademic journal Museum andSociety published a specialedition highlighting projects inQatar, Denmark and Canada,with an introduction to the workof ICME by Annette Fromm andmyself(http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/museumsociety/volumes/volume-14-2016).At the end of the year we sawthe publication of Museums andInnovations by CambridgeScholars Press. This volume,edited by Zvjezdana Antos,Annette Fromm and me, isdrawn from the 2014 ICMEconference that dear Zvjezdanaand her team organized withsuch imagination, grace, goodwill and efficiency.
Museums and Innovations isdedicated to the memory of ourdear ICME President (2004-2007) Daniel Paguga, whoselife was so tragically cut shortby pancreatic cancer in 2015.Daniel’s partner of 14 years, DrLidija Nikocevic, Director of theEthnographic Museum in Istria,has been working with us onthis lasting memorial to ourfriend Daniel. The volumepresents sixteen thoughtfulessays, which addressinnovative ways to presentcultural heritage primarily inethnographic and social historymuseums through recentpermanent, temporary, andmobile exhibitions. The essaysprompt critical debate aboutnew ways of thinking andworking in museums of differentsizes, with regard for how wemight work collaborativelytowards a more equitable future(http://www.cambridgescholars.com/museums-and-innovations).
Let me end these president’swords for January 2017 byechoing Museums andInnovations, in hope for anequitable future. Equality,human rights and social justicehave long been major concernsof ICME at conference and inpublication. The timely theme ofmigration and buildingconnection through diversity isone that spoke to thecontemporary work of ourmembers across the globe inMilan last year. This year ourannual meeting and conferencewill be in Washington DC andwe will continue theconversation on this topic under
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Events such as the Art Forumpoint to the possibility of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Theyshow and fruitfulness of bordercrossings in the safe yet criticalspaces that ICME has so longcherished.
The end of 2016 saw globalsafety threatened. The toxicpress in my country, in part atleast, contributed to Brexit – theanti-immigration vote to leavethe European Union - and inAmerica, the election of amisogynist, racist, PresidentTrump. How can those of uswho hold liberal views and liverelatively affluent livesunderstand the economicallydisadvantaged who are swayedby populist governments? Whatactions can we take in ourworkplaces, ethnographicmuseums and heritage sites, touphold human rights andprogress social justice?
Our ethnographic collections,both historical and thosedeveloping throughcontemporary collecting, areentangled with histories ofinjustice that linger today. We donot work in isolated bubbles butare are all involved with widerregimes of oppression anddiscrimination that is increasingat local and global levels.Injustice is too oftenunacknowledged within ourmuseum walls.
Yet, as we heard at our 2016conference, ICME members areengaged in astoundingexamples of best practicearound the globe. Our membersare working tirelessly tounderstood and addresscontemporary concerns forhuman rights even though theirmuseums do not have a specificmandate to work in this field andwe applaud these efforts. Weare also working hard todisseminate in detail, throughconference and publication, thediverse social justice projectsthat concern ICME.
2016 saw two key ICMEpublications. In July theacademic journal Museum andSociety published a specialedition highlighting projects inQatar, Denmark and Canada,with an introduction to the workof ICME by Annette Fromm andmyself(http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/museumsociety/volumes/volume-14-2016).At the end of the year we sawthe publication of Museums andInnovations by CambridgeScholars Press. This volume,edited by Zvjezdana Antos,Annette Fromm and me, isdrawn from the 2014 ICMEconference that dear Zvjezdanaand her team organized withsuch imagination, grace, goodwill and efficiency.
Museums and Innovations isdedicated to the memory of ourdear ICME President (2004-2007) Daniel Paguga, whoselife was so tragically cut shortby pancreatic cancer in 2015.Daniel’s partner of 14 years, DrLidija Nikocevic, Director of theEthnographic Museum in Istria,has been working with us onthis lasting memorial to ourfriend Daniel. The volumepresents sixteen thoughtfulessays, which addressinnovative ways to presentcultural heritage primarily inethnographic and social historymuseums through recentpermanent, temporary, andmobile exhibitions. The essaysprompt critical debate aboutnew ways of thinking andworking in museums of differentsizes, with regard for how wemight work collaborativelytowards a more equitable future(http://www.cambridgescholars.com/museums-and-innovations).
Let me end these president’swords for January 2017 byechoing Museums andInnovations, in hope for anequitable future. Equality,human rights and social justicehave long been major concernsof ICME at conference and inpublication. The timely theme ofmigration and buildingconnection through diversity isone that spoke to thecontemporary work of ourmembers across the globe inMilan last year. This year ourannual meeting and conferencewill be in Washington DC andwe will continue theconversation on this topic under
the theme Migration, Home,Belonging (17-19 October2017). You will remember thatboard member Martin Earring isleading the 2017 ICME meetingand conference, which isgenerously being hosted by TheSmithsonian’s National Museumof the American Indian (NMAI).Martin will update us in duecourse about the call for papers
and the post-conference tour toNew York (20-22 October 2017).So, keep an eye on forthcomingICME News and our ICMEFacebook site, where the callfor papers and fellowships willbe announced. Meanwhile Ishare with you an image frommy last visit to NMAI in 2010.
I attended ICME this summer intransition mode. As I wasintroduced to an inimitabletroupe of marionettes andmarionettists in Milan (TheCompagnia Marionette CarloColla Milano)...
...to Hopi material culture tuckedinto yet another pocket of theEuropean world in Genova(Castello D’Albertis Museum ofWorld Cultures in Genova)...
and to the still-marginalizedethnographic collection behindthe headliner exhibits atMUDEC, I was dual-channeling.I was ‘ending’ a chapter ofmuseum work spenteffectuating repatriation at anatural history museum, and‘beginning’ a PhD inGeography—but in reality, I wasdoing neither in absolute terms.
The impact and legacy of past,accumulated areal knowledgeand categorization is robust,interdisciplinary, and spreadover time, and is certainly found
both within and beyondmuseum spaces. The ‘Age ofMigration’ we sought to explorevia our paper presentations andconversations this summer inItaly located us nowhere somuch as within the complexityof the unsettled present. Asmembers of the museum sectorwe continue to grapple with thehistorical dimensions of powerand movement, removal andaccumulation. How can webuild a world that understandsand embraces the complexity ofmigration, past and present,rather than one that feelsthreatened by its implications?
As we surveyed the results of afamiliar collection history at theCastello D’Albertis Museum ofWorld Cultures, the streets justbeyond it bore graffiti reading Lapolizia tortura imigranti aVentimiglia (The police tortureimmigrants in Ventimiglia), atown a handful of kilometersfrom Genova on the train line.Sara Chiesa of MUDEC spokeof the fight to bring aconversation about theunrecognized ethnographic pastinto a corporatized museumspace consumed with anotherfocus, and up against moregeneral critical disengagementwith historical responsibility inItaly. Ralf Mencin presentedimportant advocacy work doneby those at the SloveneEthnographic Museum withasylum seekers during theirtemporary residence inSlovenia, in a museum that also
examines historicalrelationships Slovenes havehad with their neighbors.Annette Rein spoke ofscrapping her original papertopic and instead issued astrong critique of museumsholding on to their ‘vanishingother,’ calling for unapologeticand overt political action—acritique increasingly apt giventhe narratives that surroundasylum and securitization inGermany.
In the paper I presented inMilan, I firstly critiqued the ideathat we can use the museum asa graveyard for any thought orthing. This is especiallyimportant to (re)consider as weembrace museums as placeswhere information and objectsdo not flow unidirectionally, andas places where importantworking relationships cannot betold to unfold on a particularschedule. We can no moreretire ‘historical’ objects to amuseum space than we candisengage from ‘contemporary’societal problems like the 21stcentury versions of the fear ofor fascination with the other.Our thoughts on both relateintimately to the materials andnarratives enclosed in andemanating from museums. Wecan, however, do work that isunderpinned by a willingness tobelieve that there can besubstantive engagement withpast practice while alsoaddressing forward-lookingwork.
The Aging of the Age of MigrationBrittany Wheeler
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I attended ICME this summer intransition mode. As I wasintroduced to an inimitabletroupe of marionettes andmarionettists in Milan (TheCompagnia Marionette CarloColla Milano)...
...to Hopi material culture tuckedinto yet another pocket of theEuropean world in Genova(Castello D’Albertis Museum ofWorld Cultures in Genova)...
and to the still-marginalizedethnographic collection behindthe headliner exhibits atMUDEC, I was dual-channeling.I was ‘ending’ a chapter ofmuseum work spenteffectuating repatriation at anatural history museum, and‘beginning’ a PhD inGeography—but in reality, I wasdoing neither in absolute terms.
The impact and legacy of past,accumulated areal knowledgeand categorization is robust,interdisciplinary, and spreadover time, and is certainly found
both within and beyondmuseum spaces. The ‘Age ofMigration’ we sought to explorevia our paper presentations andconversations this summer inItaly located us nowhere somuch as within the complexityof the unsettled present. Asmembers of the museum sectorwe continue to grapple with thehistorical dimensions of powerand movement, removal andaccumulation. How can webuild a world that understandsand embraces the complexity ofmigration, past and present,rather than one that feelsthreatened by its implications?
As we surveyed the results of afamiliar collection history at theCastello D’Albertis Museum ofWorld Cultures, the streets justbeyond it bore graffiti reading Lapolizia tortura imigranti aVentimiglia (The police tortureimmigrants in Ventimiglia), atown a handful of kilometersfrom Genova on the train line.Sara Chiesa of MUDEC spokeof the fight to bring aconversation about theunrecognized ethnographic pastinto a corporatized museumspace consumed with anotherfocus, and up against moregeneral critical disengagementwith historical responsibility inItaly. Ralf Mencin presentedimportant advocacy work doneby those at the SloveneEthnographic Museum withasylum seekers during theirtemporary residence inSlovenia, in a museum that also
examines historicalrelationships Slovenes havehad with their neighbors.Annette Rein spoke ofscrapping her original papertopic and instead issued astrong critique of museumsholding on to their ‘vanishingother,’ calling for unapologeticand overt political action—acritique increasingly apt giventhe narratives that surroundasylum and securitization inGermany.
In the paper I presented inMilan, I firstly critiqued the ideathat we can use the museum asa graveyard for any thought orthing. This is especiallyimportant to (re)consider as weembrace museums as placeswhere information and objectsdo not flow unidirectionally, andas places where importantworking relationships cannot betold to unfold on a particularschedule. We can no moreretire ‘historical’ objects to amuseum space than we candisengage from ‘contemporary’societal problems like the 21stcentury versions of the fear ofor fascination with the other.Our thoughts on both relateintimately to the materials andnarratives enclosed in andemanating from museums. Wecan, however, do work that isunderpinned by a willingness tobelieve that there can besubstantive engagement withpast practice while alsoaddressing forward-lookingwork.
The Aging of the Age of MigrationBrittany Wheeler
I am fascinated by the futuresthe museum may contribute toenacting, so long as they do notreplicate tired conclusions aboutthe possibilities of tangible andintangible heritage, or fail to
embrace the difficultiesalongside the successesinherent in migration processes,or assume a linear improvementof evolved thinking by thoseemployed in museums. There isstill much work to be done andmuch to unlearn. How can webest avoid “modernequivalent[s] of a cabinet ofcuriosities” (Merritt), “outreachprogramme[s] disguised ascontemporary collecting,” (Rhys)and “relationships created by
seriality” (Pearce)? What mightwe create instead? The ICMEfellowship generously allowedme to explore my ‘museumorientation’ not only at my firstgeneral ICOM meeting, but inEurope more widely. This haslent an array of initial answersand blockades to the question Iface now as a geographer:Where is justice?
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ICME Fellows ReportSarah Gamaire
First of all, I would like to thankICME for trusting me andoffering me this greatopportunity.
Thanks also to ICOM fororganizing such an event.
Rather than detailing all I havedone during the Conference, Iprefer to present you myexperience in two parts:
First of all, I sum up theschedule of all my activitiesduring the General conference.
Then, through a short diary, Ifocus on some ideas presentedduring the Conference whichmarked me. I will retain themand would like to share themwith my colleagues.
And finally, I propose a visualoverview of the different placesdiscovered by images (allimages by the author).
May this humble report help usto not forget that Milano,Genova, Brescia and Italy ingeneral are amazing heritageplaces.; where both Ancienthistory and contemporary/urban
art can be discovered in eachstreet.
One Picture a Day - A Timetable
Monday 4th
Inscription, opening ceremony,ICME + Costume Opening Party
Tuesday 5th
Keynote speeches to Genova
Wednesday 6th
My presentation, Elections,Puppet Theatre, DuomoConcert, Museums downtown
Thursday 7th
MUDEC Visit and Conferences
EarthQuake, Italy, 24th August 2016 : In memory of the victims and their famillies, for the heritagedestroyed.
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ICME Fellows ReportSarah Gamaire
Friday 8th
Brescia and Garda LakeExcursion
Saturday 9th
Pallazio di Brera, visits, LastSupper, Closing Ceremony atTriennale
Ideas to retain
4th July
Arrival to the Icom Conference
What an immensity: a hugebuilding, the long queue for aninscription, full up with people afull room for the openingceremony.
More than the number, thediversity: colleagues from allover the world with theirlanguages, religions, clothes.Really stimulating to feelconnected to the world.
4th July, 7th July
With and about people
Orhan Pamuk, talking about hisMuseum of Innocence (key notespeech):He prefers "stories rather thanhistory"and asks "smallmuseums" to not be afraid/ tobe close to people. He advicesus to focus "more onindividualities"A colleague talking about aboutan exhibition on child abuse(ICTOP) :
She tried as much as possibleto talk to people, to let them telltheir storyRalph about exhibition onrefugees (ICME):He follows the concept:"Nothing about us without us"
4th July
Keep on discussing
Some colleagues from theCostume Committee have quitea rigid view about societies. Itwas really useful to debatetogether to about the concept ofcultural dynamism.
Tuesday 5
Be sensible
Michaella de Lucchi (Key Notespeech) :
She remarks that we do notteach young architects to besensible, however, it is mostimportant for her.
6th July
Keep alive
Puppet theater :
There is a wish to keep alive allthis (intangible) heritage, eventhe oldest parts of thecollection, to bring them on thestage in order for the audience
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to discover them being"active"
8th July
To open
Brescia Capitolium
The curators choose to notclose the space. No physicalbarrier, as shown on thepicture, to create a strongerlink between visitors and theirheritage
4th July, 5th July
Future
Different speakers (Key notespeeches): encourage us tothink about the nextgeneration
Nkulanda Luo (Key notespeech) :
She wished that Africa’sheritage would be moreconsidered by the world andthat a great development ofmuseums would occur therein the future, and why not:perhaps a GeneralConference in Africa soon?
Visual Overview
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For almost 150 years nowvisitors to the National Museumof Indonesia, at least those whoare interested in history andculture, have been enthralled bythe vast collection of stonesculptures on display in andaround the main courtyard, inthe antechambers, andespecially in the front rotundaand the back vestibule. Thecourtyard collection is nowclosed for renovations. It willapparently not be re-opened tothe public until September 2018to coincide with the openingceremonies for the AsianGames and the 150thAnniversary of the Museum.(For the first publishedarchitectural plan and rationalefor the expansion, see ”ANational Museum for the 21stCentury” in Treasures of theNational Museum, ed. SuwatiKartiwa, Jakarta: Buku AntarBangsa, 1997, pp. 10-11. Alsosee therein the following essayby Wardiman Djodjonegoro,“The History of the NationalMuseum,” pp. 12-28).
Future such photo-essays willillustrate and describe thecourtyard and this and otherIndonesian museums in greaterdepth. But briefly, to begin, Ihave spent much of the last
decade studying selectIndonesian museums throughusing museum photography asa central research tool. In thisfirst photo-essay in this largerproject, I will focus only on therotunda through which one usedto access the courtyard, unlessone entered it through the backatrium via the ethnographicwing.
My goal for this audience on this80th issue of InternationalCommittee for MuseumEthnography is to project asense of the old aesthetic of thecourtyard collection throughconsidering one key part of it,the rotunda as it was. Inaddition, I briefly comment uponthe larger context of themodernization of this museumin the text through reference toa few specific sculptures,though I do not provide therelevant photographs for thosesculptures for reasons of spaceand considering they are wellenough known for thoseinterested in Indonesian arthistory, particularly the famednational treasurePrajnaparamita (Goddess ofWisdom) from Singosari. (Forthe most well known, recent andbest illustrated texts concerningthis collection in English, seeJan Fontein with R. Soekmonoand Edi Sedyawati, TheSculpture of Indonesia,Washington: National Gallery ofArt, 1990 as well as Marijke J.Klokke and Pauline LunsinghScheurleer eds., AncientIndonesian Sculpture, Leiden:
KITLV Press, 1994. Also see,Haryati Soebiado ed., Pusaka:Art of Indonesia, Singapore:Archipelago Press, 1992, trans.John Miksic. As regards,subsequent research on theSumatran specimens and theircontext, see FrancineBrinkgreve and RetnoSulistianingsih eds, Sumatra:Crossroads of Cultures, Leiden:KITLV Press, 2009. For EastJava, see Ann R. Kinney withMarijke J. Klokke and LydiaKleven, Worshiping Siva andBuddha: The Temple Art of EastJava, Honolulu: University ofHawai’I Press, 2003. Also see,Robert Wessing ed., The DivineFemale in Indonesia, in AsianFolklore Studies LVI, 1997).
Some of the sculptures in therotunda and the courtyardcollection were smaller and oflesser quality and if one did notknow why they were importantthey might have seemedinsignificant, even unworthy.Many are large and evenmonumental and the mostexceptional are of exceptionalquality and immense arthistorical importance. Consider,for instance, the fast degradingreplicas of the so called“demonic Buddhist” sculpturesfrom Singosari at the back ofthe courtyard in the vestibule,the originals being in Leiden.(For the most current discussionand illustration of thesesculptures, see NatashaReichle, Violence and Serenity:Late Buddhist Sculpture fromIndonesia, Honolulu: University
The Courtyard Collection in the National Museum ofIndonesia: End of an Era (18682016)Jonathan Zilberg
of Hawai’i Press, 2007. For amore general over-view ofrelevant developments inIndonesian art history, also seeNatasha Reichle, “Continuitiesand Change: ShiftingBoundaries in Indonesian ArtHistory,” in ProducingIndonesia: The State of theField of Indonesian Studies, ed.Eric Tagliacozzo, Ithaca:Southest Asia ProgramPublications, Cornell University,2014, pp. 69-79). Above allconsider again the most famousstone sculpture of all, thenational treasure also fromSingosari - the Prajnamparamitamentioned above which used tobe in the Treasure Room justabove the rotunda and which isnow in the new wing on the 4thFloor, as I will comment uponfurther below.
Throughout the collection,interspersed between thefigurative sculptures of mainlyHindu Gods, linga, makharas(elaborate protective monstersguarding the entrances totemples) and nandi (Shiva’s bullmount), the many varied waterspouts and other stonesculptures and architecturalfeatures, there were asubstantial collection ofenormously important inscribedstele. The stele were mainlykept in the wide drains on eitherside of the front rotunda belyingtheir extraordinary epigraphicinterest if one actually knew whythey mattered so much.Remarkable sculptures lined allthe walls around the courtyard.Along the wall on the right handside at the lower end were anumber of baked claysculptures and doorway lintels,
parts of temple friezes, Kalaheads and elaborate scenesfrom the Ramayana and such.An exceptional open laboratoryand classroom, for those fewwho have considered it as such,the courtyard has for a long timenow provided the public accessto a sensational and wideranging collection of Hindu andBuddhist material collected fromacross the archipelago anddating from the 6th through 14thcenturies. (I thank JannekeKoster for sharing herobservations on the symmetriesto be found in the rotundacollection. For an exceptionalrecord of the courtyardcollection as it was, see StoneStatues, Rotunda:Archaeological Collection of theMuseum Nasional, Jakarta:Indonesian Heritage Society,Museum Studies Group, 2016and Stone Statues, CourtyardSouth: Archaeological Collectionof the Museum Nasional,Jakarta: Indonesian HeritageSociety, Museum Projects,2016).
I think it fair to say from manyyears of close observation thatthe vast majority of visitorscame away with very littleknowledge of the importance ofthese works, the esotericknowledge they invoked, thearchaeological sites from whichthey were taken, or anythingelse - though my work has beenstrictly observational. What wasreally needed to improve thesituation in this and othermuseums was anunderstanding of what were theunique qualities and successesand failures of each museum.What was needed above all was
the provision of information thatthe viewer needed to appreciatethe historical, religious andpolitical value of these de-contextualized objects.
Naturally, this excludes the veryfew exceptional museums suchas the new UNESCO assistedmuseum of human evolution atSangiran near Solo, the oldWayang museum in Kota Tua inFatahila Square (Old Town,Jakarta) before it was ruined,and the leading museum in thecountry in my estimation, theGeology Museum in Bandung.But that is for another time andplace. In the following fewpages I would merely like tomemorialize things as they werein the case of the beautifulrotunda in the National Museumwith its extraordinary collectionof some of the highlights of theremains of the IndonesianHindu-Buddhist period.
For reasons of brevity andfocus, the photographs thatfollow were taken exclusively inthe rotunda collection. As notedearlier, though, I will also furthercomment upon the entirety ofthe courtyard including the rearatrium, and something of theimportance of the old context ofthe old Treasure Room justabove the Rotunda and theBronze Room at the rear end ofthe courtyard. By doing so, withan overwhelming sense ofnostalgia, I provide this criticalcommentary and minor recordfor the members of ICME of theway things were.
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of Hawai’i Press, 2007. For amore general over-view ofrelevant developments inIndonesian art history, also seeNatasha Reichle, “Continuitiesand Change: ShiftingBoundaries in Indonesian ArtHistory,” in ProducingIndonesia: The State of theField of Indonesian Studies, ed.Eric Tagliacozzo, Ithaca:Southest Asia ProgramPublications, Cornell University,2014, pp. 69-79). Above allconsider again the most famousstone sculpture of all, thenational treasure also fromSingosari - the Prajnamparamitamentioned above which used tobe in the Treasure Room justabove the rotunda and which isnow in the new wing on the 4thFloor, as I will comment uponfurther below.
Throughout the collection,interspersed between thefigurative sculptures of mainlyHindu Gods, linga, makharas(elaborate protective monstersguarding the entrances totemples) and nandi (Shiva’s bullmount), the many varied waterspouts and other stonesculptures and architecturalfeatures, there were asubstantial collection ofenormously important inscribedstele. The stele were mainlykept in the wide drains on eitherside of the front rotunda belyingtheir extraordinary epigraphicinterest if one actually knew whythey mattered so much.Remarkable sculptures lined allthe walls around the courtyard.Along the wall on the right handside at the lower end were anumber of baked claysculptures and doorway lintels,
parts of temple friezes, Kalaheads and elaborate scenesfrom the Ramayana and such.An exceptional open laboratoryand classroom, for those fewwho have considered it as such,the courtyard has for a long timenow provided the public accessto a sensational and wideranging collection of Hindu andBuddhist material collected fromacross the archipelago anddating from the 6th through 14thcenturies. (I thank JannekeKoster for sharing herobservations on the symmetriesto be found in the rotundacollection. For an exceptionalrecord of the courtyardcollection as it was, see StoneStatues, Rotunda:Archaeological Collection of theMuseum Nasional, Jakarta:Indonesian Heritage Society,Museum Studies Group, 2016and Stone Statues, CourtyardSouth: Archaeological Collectionof the Museum Nasional,Jakarta: Indonesian HeritageSociety, Museum Projects,2016).
I think it fair to say from manyyears of close observation thatthe vast majority of visitorscame away with very littleknowledge of the importance ofthese works, the esotericknowledge they invoked, thearchaeological sites from whichthey were taken, or anythingelse - though my work has beenstrictly observational. What wasreally needed to improve thesituation in this and othermuseums was anunderstanding of what were theunique qualities and successesand failures of each museum.What was needed above all was
the provision of information thatthe viewer needed to appreciatethe historical, religious andpolitical value of these de-contextualized objects.
Naturally, this excludes the veryfew exceptional museums suchas the new UNESCO assistedmuseum of human evolution atSangiran near Solo, the oldWayang museum in Kota Tua inFatahila Square (Old Town,Jakarta) before it was ruined,and the leading museum in thecountry in my estimation, theGeology Museum in Bandung.But that is for another time andplace. In the following fewpages I would merely like tomemorialize things as they werein the case of the beautifulrotunda in the National Museumwith its extraordinary collectionof some of the highlights of theremains of the IndonesianHindu-Buddhist period.
For reasons of brevity andfocus, the photographs thatfollow were taken exclusively inthe rotunda collection. As notedearlier, though, I will also furthercomment upon the entirety ofthe courtyard including the rearatrium, and something of theimportance of the old context ofthe old Treasure Room justabove the Rotunda and theBronze Room at the rear end ofthe courtyard. By doing so, withan overwhelming sense ofnostalgia, I provide this criticalcommentary and minor recordfor the members of ICME of theway things were.
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With the upcoming completionof the massive additional wingof the National Museum and therenovation of the courtyard, it issaid that half of the courtyardsculptures will be moved. Theremainder will be left in thecourtyard area and re-arrangedin new configurations to providea less cluttered and morefocused viewing experiencearranged along a “story line.” Itis possible, one imagines, thatsome specimens deemed ofinsufficient interest might beplaced in storage. Whatever theoutcome, it is the end of an era.For the historical record in thiscontext,
Figure 2 shows things as theywere as one entered therotunda if one stepped to theright. The large sculpture in thecenter front is the Ganesha (Inv.No. 186b/4845) from the BanonTemple near Magelang which isclose to Borobudur. It is dated tothe 7thth-10th Century. The twolarge standing sculptures to the
Ganesha’s left and right in thebackground are both from CandiBanon (of which no traceremains). To the left is Shiva asMahadewa (Inv. No. 23a/4341)and to the right is Vishnu (Inv.No. 18e/4847) both being datedas from the 8th-9th Century.
Figure 3 is taken on the otherside of the Ganesha providing aview of the central left section ofthe rotunda. To the right of theShiva sculpture is the CaneInscription (Inv. No.D 25) whichwas King Airlangga’s first edictdated 27th October 1021 andprobably from Surabaya. To theright of the Vishnu sculpture isthe Biri inscription (Inv. No. D 1)probably from South Kediri andperhaps from the late 12thcentury.
Though I have never seen anyattention paid to theseinscription stele duringclassroom or other visits, theyare of extraordinary importanceconsidering their historicalcontents as are those on theother side of the rotunda andoutside the rotunda also on bothsides. I take it as a given that ineffective museum educationprograms the knowledge thatdoes exist about thesesculptures and the inscriptionsincluding the information thatdoes exist about thearchaeological sites andregional historical contexts theycome from should be used in
tandem. (See Ninie Susanti,Titik Pudjiastuti and Trigangga,eds, Inscribing Identity: TheDevelopment of IndonesianWriting Systems, Jakarta:National Museum of Indonesia,2015. Also see, Ann Kumar andJohn H. McGlynn et. al., NewYork: Weatherhill, Inc. inassociation with The LontarFoundation, 1996).
Ideally, Indonesian students andadults should have beendeveloping a sense of their pre-Islamic Hindu-Buddhist historythrough the knowledge thatcould have been impartedthrough more effectiveeducational programs and useof relevant existing publications.To some extent this situationhas improved, especially withthe high school guide programand a few highly qualifiedschool teachers who use thecollection to teach Indonesianhistory. One can only hope thatin the future the educationalfunction of the museum and thedissemination and use ofresearch on the collection willbe more effective than it hasapparently been in the past.And as I emphasize below, themuseum’s web site, though atfirst glance useful, is contentpoor. Content rich on-line dataand applications will be criticalfor any future positivetransformation of the museumno matter the nature of themodification of the displays.
The photographs which followbelow (Figures 4 through 6)provide three views of the righthand side of the rotunda as itwas. In Figure 4, taken of theright front corner, the figure to
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the left of the Ganeshasculpture is Agastya, theteacher of the South andmanifestation of Shiva (Inv. No.63b/4846), also found at CandiBanon in Central Java anddated to the 7th to 10th Century.The stele to the right is theKawambang Kulwan stele (Inv.No. D 37) which is fromSendang Kamal, Masopati inMadura, East Java. It wasinscribed during the reign ofKing Dharmawangsa Teguh anddated to 991 C.E.
Figure 5 presents a view of thecenter right section with thethree large standing sculpturesfrom right to left being theAgastya from Banon, asculpture said to be that ofQueen Suhita of the MajapahitKingdom (Inv. No. 6058). FromPadi Jebuk in Punjul,Kelangbut, this sculpture isdated to the 14th to 15thCentury. It is especially wellknown because of the typicallycareful Majapahit perioddepiction of jewelry and textiles,hairstyles and otheraccoutrements - and in thiscase especially for the highrelief botanically accuratecarving of lotus plants on the
back side of the sculpture. Onthe far left, the third largestanding sculpture is arepresentation of Brahma (Inv.No. 15). It is also from thetemple at Banon and dated tothe 13th to 14th Centuries.
Figure 6 (below) provides theformer view of the center rightsection taken from just behindand to the side of the Vishnusculpture from Banon. To the farleft of Brahma in the center isthe Avalokitesvara sculpture(Inv. No. 247/D 216) from MusiUlu, Palembang, South Sumatrawhich is dated to the 14th-15thCentury. The large inscriptionstone between the two, only thetop of which can be seen, is thePatakan Inscription (Inv. No. D22) from Surabaya, East Java.
As these photographs hope toconvey, there was a classicalgrace and sensitive symmetricalorganization to the collection. Asa time capsule it had a historicalvalue in and of itself for it was asplendid example of how suchcollections were displayed inmuseums in the 19th century. Itis not as chaotic and jumbled asthe casual observer might firstthink. Indeed, if one observedthe lay out closely, there weresymmetries and rhythms, inessence, a careful and eruditecuratorial logic at work. (Again,for an excellent discussion ofthis, see Janneke Koster’sanalysis in Stone Statues,Rotunda: Archaeological
Collection of the MuseumNasional, Jakarta: IndonesianHeritage Society, MuseumProjects, 2016, p. 7). Hopefullythe reader might be able to gainsome sense of this from theabove photographs and in thosethat follow, though analyzing thelogic of the lay-out is beyondthe scope of this brief accountof things as they were.
In the high modernist era, theviewer’s gaze has becomeincreasingly controlled so as tofocus on singular objectspresented as unique art workssparsely placed in glass boxeswith minimal information. Forcritics, this approach, vergingon a new aesthetic religion, hasbecome so highly stylized andcodified that it affects a cold andclinical mode of disembodiedsecular worship. Severe,polished and controlled, austereand hushed, oppressivelyguarded spaces, some of ushave come to abhor the newglobal hegemony of the whitewall and the glass box. For that,at least for myself, the courtyardwas a very much loved place. Idoubt very much that I am alonein this overwhelming sense ofhaving come to an end of anera – to les temps perdu.
Perhaps I am old fashioned.Yet regardless of that let mevoice my concern here to thosewho might be of a similar frameof mind and deeply appreciatedthings as they were for whatthey were. Take, for instance,the previous display of thePrajnaparamita at the entranceto the main Treasure Roomupstairs. Placed at the front ofthe exhibit on the courtyard-side
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room at the top of the stairsabove the rotunda, it invited oneinto a warm and intimatesetting. It was an exhibit richwith context and the density ofhistory. Those two treasurerooms were relatively masterfulexhibits. They were beautifuland informative.
People tended to linger there isa state of awe not only becauseof the quality of the collectionbut because of the way it waspresented in an informed, andto again emphasize what hasbeen lost – an intimate andwarm information-rich space. Instark contrast, the newdispersed displays of the goldcollection and above all thedisplay of the Prajnaparamita inthe cavernous mall-like fourthfloor of the new wing on theother side of the museum is aperfect instance of what is, inmy view, an unnecessary andminimalist modernisttransformation. Be that as itmay, returning to the rotunda, Ihave chosen the followingfigures to give one a sense ofthe former joys of what onecould discover and experiencein such a lovely and diversecollection – and which might yetstill be the case when therotunda is opened again.
Figure 7 (below) shows thealcove behind the Biri stele,again perhaps from South Kediriand perhaps from the 12thCentury.
Next, Figure 8 shows the viewfrom the Biri stele towards theback left corner alcove of therotunda. And it is in that contextthat Figures 9 and 10 provideclose ups of two unusualsculptures though I could havechosen any number of others.The point here is to bear in mindthat it is precisely such lesserworks that tend to get passedover in publications andresearch though they are ofexceptional interest in manyways in their own rights, eventhose of the roughest orunaccomplished sort.
Figure 8 provides a view of theleft back section of the rotundajust right of Figure 7.
Figures 9 and 10 (below)provide close-ups of Shiva asKhala and a Ganesha sculpturefrom Ambarawa. In Figure 9 wesee what to my eyes is awonderfully whimsical Shiva asKala or Mahakala (Inv. No. 77)dated to the 7th to 8th Century.In Figure 10 I have chosen tohighlight an undated remarkablyunusual Ganesha sculpturefrom Ambarawa, Ungaran,south of Semarang (Inv No.199f/4373) which is one of apair as can be seen above inFigure 8.
Figures 9 and 10 are, I think,classic examples of the value ofhaving so many sculptures ondisplay in close proximity. Thesmall Kala sculpture is
interesting to me for itsexpressive qualities, while theGanesha presents a case ofextraordinary plasticity setting itand its partner apart from themany other Ganesha sculpturesin the courtyard collection. It isprecisely the enormous rangeand the nature of the settingthat allows for this kind ofconstant and growingappreciation.
As it was in times past, the widescope of this amazing collectiondisplayed in such a hospitableand classical setting with its finenatural lighting, careful lay outand varied spaces has allowedgenerations of interested peoplea remarkable opportunity. Forexample, I have been studyingthis collection for a decade forhours at a time. There is nooccasion on which I have notseen many new details that Ihave not previously noteddespite my continuous surprisethat it should be so.The point I want to make here isthat if and when very fineexhibits such as these areclosed and re-conceptualizedthe results can beheartbreaking. In Europe, forinstance, despite the positivechanges, many of us still regretwhat was lost when thecollections of the Musee del’Homme were completely re-conceptualized and re-situated.As for the example of Jakarta’spuppet museum, the damage isdone. There is no way torecuperate what has been lostthere. There is no way to re-create what made it such acompelling and successfulmuseum or to rebuild the richconnection that people had withthat remarkably interesting andsuccessful museum so rich withhistory and character. It is now avery fine mortuary-likemodernist space. The muchbeloved performance areas aretransformed, closed-off, andnow functionless multi-mediaspaces. The gamelan, insteadof being used as it had forgenerations of performanceswhich gave the museum itsspiritual and emotional
connection to society, has beenturned into a lifeless exhibitwitnessed in silence as onegrandly exits the new museumdown a splendidly expensiveramp.
And as for Jakarta’s mostimportant museum in thecountry, we have already longsince bid farewell to the twoTreasure Rooms which wereintimate and highly refinedexhibits created at considerabledonor expense - as were thebronze rooms at the rear of thecourtyard. They were all wellconceptualized andprofessionally executed andprovided a wonderful setting forsome of the finest objects in themuseum.
I have an overpowering senseof nostalgia - and I know I amnot alone in this. Over the lastseveral weeks there has beenan unusual amount of traffic inthe courtyard. People haveheard about the impendingclosure and transformation andhave been coming to sayfarewell and take photographsof the way things were andmight never be again.
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Conclusion
Natural Lighting and HistoricalSettings: The Antithesis of theModernist Transformation
Figures 11, 12 and 13 (above)are relatively close upphotographs of sculptures forwhich the details have alreadybeen provided earlier in the text.From left to right they are asfollows - the Majapahitkingdom’s Queen Suhita whoruled from 1429 through 1447,and the Vishnu and Brahmasculptures both from the templeof Banon which are dated veryroughly between the 7th and10th centuries.
Thanks to the natural lighting,the beautiful architecturalsetting and the sheer magnitudeof the collection, carefulobservers at the NationalMuseum will have spent manyhours studying the expressionsand the attributes, the jewelryand clothing depicted on theseextraordinary sculptures. In timethey would have developed anever increasing appreciation forthe remarkable skill of the artistswho carved these devotionalworks and of the diversity ofmaterials in the collection. Whathas been lacking is informationand significant educationalconsequence.
The most important point in mymind for museum educators isthat in this day and age,especially in Asia, high qualityinformation about suchcollections should be availableas digital data. For instance, inmy ideal view there would beapplications for visitors to
access and study the collection.Through QR codes for all thesesculptures one would be able toinstantly access the necessaryinformation. And, ideally, thatinformation would provide farmore than simple descriptionsas would have been found onsome of the labels in the past.
For instance, there should bephotographs of thearchaeological site at whichsuch specimens were originallyfound. There should be sitemaps and architecturaldrawings indicating exactlywhere each sculpture was foundin which temple where suchinformation is known. Moreover,one should be able to easily andimmediately determine whichother sculptures in the courtyardand other objects in thecollection originate from thesame sites or related sites. Inaddition, it would be useful ifbibliographies and PDFs ofrelevant publications wereavailable as an open access on-line research library. Havingorganized and easier access tosuch information, particularly tothe published materials, wouldrevolutionize the visitors’experience to this museum andits educational function. Aboveall, the database should besearchable and for those whoare not digitally inclined thelibrary should be far more easilyaccessible for the public andarranged and integrated into theschool tours and a pluralnational history curriculum in amanner which facilitates studyof the collection.
Figures 14, 15 and 16 below areextremely powerful works of art
of enormous historical value forIndonesian history though theyare, by and large, yet mute tothe observers.
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Conclusion
Natural Lighting and HistoricalSettings: The Antithesis of theModernist Transformation
Figures 11, 12 and 13 (above)are relatively close upphotographs of sculptures forwhich the details have alreadybeen provided earlier in the text.From left to right they are asfollows - the Majapahitkingdom’s Queen Suhita whoruled from 1429 through 1447,and the Vishnu and Brahmasculptures both from the templeof Banon which are dated veryroughly between the 7th and10th centuries.
Thanks to the natural lighting,the beautiful architecturalsetting and the sheer magnitudeof the collection, carefulobservers at the NationalMuseum will have spent manyhours studying the expressionsand the attributes, the jewelryand clothing depicted on theseextraordinary sculptures. In timethey would have developed anever increasing appreciation forthe remarkable skill of the artistswho carved these devotionalworks and of the diversity ofmaterials in the collection. Whathas been lacking is informationand significant educationalconsequence.
The most important point in mymind for museum educators isthat in this day and age,especially in Asia, high qualityinformation about suchcollections should be availableas digital data. For instance, inmy ideal view there would beapplications for visitors to
access and study the collection.Through QR codes for all thesesculptures one would be able toinstantly access the necessaryinformation. And, ideally, thatinformation would provide farmore than simple descriptionsas would have been found onsome of the labels in the past.
For instance, there should bephotographs of thearchaeological site at whichsuch specimens were originallyfound. There should be sitemaps and architecturaldrawings indicating exactlywhere each sculpture was foundin which temple where suchinformation is known. Moreover,one should be able to easily andimmediately determine whichother sculptures in the courtyardand other objects in thecollection originate from thesame sites or related sites. Inaddition, it would be useful ifbibliographies and PDFs ofrelevant publications wereavailable as an open access on-line research library. Havingorganized and easier access tosuch information, particularly tothe published materials, wouldrevolutionize the visitors’experience to this museum andits educational function. Aboveall, the database should besearchable and for those whoare not digitally inclined thelibrary should be far more easilyaccessible for the public andarranged and integrated into theschool tours and a pluralnational history curriculum in amanner which facilitates studyof the collection.
Figures 14, 15 and 16 below areextremely powerful works of art
of enormous historical value forIndonesian history though theyare, by and large, yet mute tothe observers.
Visitors to the museum shouldnot be walking by without thefaintest clue as to theirsignificance if they have evennoticed them while focusing onthe enormous sculpture withwhich I conclude this photo-essay further below.Figure 14, dated to the 14th-15th Century, is assumed to bea sculpture of Avalokitesvarafrom Musi Ulu, Palembang inSouth Sumatra. Identified assuch by the Amitabha in theniche in the hair-dress itrepresents the creator of ourpresent cosmos. Figure 15 (Inv.No. 6123), dated to the 13ththrough 14th centuries, depictsa tantric dancer with a bull’shead from the site of CandiPulo, Padang Lawas in NorthSumatra. (See FifiaWardani, Hartanti Maya Krishnaand Nandan Chutiwongs,“Hindu Buddhist sculptures fromSumatra I: Collection of theNational Museum (Jakarta)” inSumatra: Crossroads of Culture,eds. Francine Brinkgreve andRetno Sulistianingsih, Leiden:
KITLV Press, 2009, pp. 53-70).Lastly, Figure 16, theremarkable head from anunknown sculpture from Diengas seen in Figure 1 at theopening of this photo-essaymust probably remain an eternalenigma, forever mute but noless powerful for that.
Yet sadly, as I have observed it,most of these sculptures areroutinely passed by and in anyevent, for most of the collection,even specialist knowledge is yetrelatively scant in depth despitethe many publications that doexist. That being said, thecollection provides a multitudeof examples of the very greatrange in quality of sculpturefrom that period. They providean invaluable base forcomparative research on suchthings as aesthetics, mastercarvers and their workshops,and variable levels of expertisein the production of ritualsculpture and in the carving ofinscription stele. In many casesthey provide instances of localtraditions as of yet relativelyunexamined and in cases evenof deities so far little consideredin the literature on Indonesianart history. The collectionprovides vast research potentialfor training young museumprofessionals, art historians,anthropologists andarchaeologists, especiallyepigraphers. In all this, and asregards public education ingeneral, as far as I have beenable to ascertain it has beenunder-used; to put it mildly.
My point then is simply this. Byhaving so many interestingspecimens on display, at least
as they were, the curious visitorwas enticed to explore, to askquestions, to make connections,to ponder relations andsignificances that might nothave come to anyone’s mindotherwise. At this watershedtime in Indonesian art history,epigraphy and archaeology inwhich we are suddenlyachieving critical mass in thestudy of esoteric TantricBuddhism, it is precisely thiskind of complexity that we needas we move into a new era.(See Andrea Acri, ed., EsotericBuddhism in MediaevalMaritime Asia: Networks ofMasters, Texts, Icons,Singapore: ISEAS, 2016. Andfor an excellent up to dateoverview of the larger historicalcontext for the courtyardcollection, see Paul MichelMunoz, Early Kingdoms:Indonesian Archipelago and theMalay Peninsula, Singapore:Editions Didier Millet, 2006,reprinted in 2016. For the mostrecent overview and criticalreconsideration of SoutheastAsian history, see John Miksicand Goh Geok Yian, AncientSoutheast Asia, London:Routledge, 2016).
Hopefully sufficient complexitieswill remain and moreinformation will be provided.One hopes for the best. Whilethere have been someimprovements in some aspectsof the new exhibition halls,particularly as regards the frontpart of the epigraphic collection,all in all the success so far hasbeen very mixed. Neverthelessthere is a pregnant air ofhopeful expectation for the newmuseum amongst some
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members of the Indonesiananthropological community. ButI for one await the opening withan intense sense of trepidation.At the end of the day, whateverthe outcome, it will be amuseum for Indonesia ofIndonesia by Indonesians.Perhaps that is all that matters.
By way of farewell then, I offerto ICME readers the finalphotograph below of themonumental standing figure ona base of skulls from SungaiLangsat, Padan Roco. Thesculpture which overlooks thecourtyard is understood bysome to be a portrait sculptureof King Adityawarman as aBhairawa or “demonic” form ofSiva, but as of yet theinterpretations given to thevarious iconographic elementsof this sculpture remainessentially hypothetical andlargely inconclusive. (See StoneStatues, Rotunda:Archaeological Collection of theMuseum Nasional, Jakarta:Indonesian Heritage Society,Museum Projects, 2016, pp. 52-53. Natasha Reichle morecautiously describes it as bestcharacterized simply as aBuddhist Bhairava” in Violenceand Serenity, op. cit., p. 189.There Reichle significantlyextended prior analysis of thissculpture through bringing it intoiconographic relation to otherimportant sculptures from thatimmediate period and largercontext, see pp. 191-209). Soto conclude, just as the ritualknife held by this figure couldrepresent the cutting of thebonds of ignorance, my hope isthat in the future the NationalMuseum will make the fullest
educational use of suchremarkable sculptures andstele. There, such museumspecimens could be veryeffectively used to advance thenational mandate of pluralismafter a decade of largelyunchecked and rising religiousintolerance. In that context it willbe fascinating to see how thecompletely transformedmuseum rebrands itself and towhat long term effect. (I canthink of few essays morepertinent to the futurecomparative analysis of thistransformation than Annie E.Coombes reprinted article“Museums and the Formation ofNational and Cultural Identities,”in Museum Studies: AnAnthology of Contexts, ed.Bettina Messias Carbonell,Oxford: Blackwell, 2014, pp.231-246).
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members of the Indonesiananthropological community. ButI for one await the opening withan intense sense of trepidation.At the end of the day, whateverthe outcome, it will be amuseum for Indonesia ofIndonesia by Indonesians.Perhaps that is all that matters.
By way of farewell then, I offerto ICME readers the finalphotograph below of themonumental standing figure ona base of skulls from SungaiLangsat, Padan Roco. Thesculpture which overlooks thecourtyard is understood bysome to be a portrait sculptureof King Adityawarman as aBhairawa or “demonic” form ofSiva, but as of yet theinterpretations given to thevarious iconographic elementsof this sculpture remainessentially hypothetical andlargely inconclusive. (See StoneStatues, Rotunda:Archaeological Collection of theMuseum Nasional, Jakarta:Indonesian Heritage Society,Museum Projects, 2016, pp. 52-53. Natasha Reichle morecautiously describes it as bestcharacterized simply as aBuddhist Bhairava” in Violenceand Serenity, op. cit., p. 189.There Reichle significantlyextended prior analysis of thissculpture through bringing it intoiconographic relation to otherimportant sculptures from thatimmediate period and largercontext, see pp. 191-209). Soto conclude, just as the ritualknife held by this figure couldrepresent the cutting of thebonds of ignorance, my hope isthat in the future the NationalMuseum will make the fullest
educational use of suchremarkable sculptures andstele. There, such museumspecimens could be veryeffectively used to advance thenational mandate of pluralismafter a decade of largelyunchecked and rising religiousintolerance. In that context it willbe fascinating to see how thecompletely transformedmuseum rebrands itself and towhat long term effect. (I canthink of few essays morepertinent to the futurecomparative analysis of thistransformation than Annie E.Coombes reprinted article“Museums and the Formation ofNational and Cultural Identities,”in Museum Studies: AnAnthology of Contexts, ed.Bettina Messias Carbonell,Oxford: Blackwell, 2014, pp.231-246).
I entered the exhibition hall witha twinge of anticipation, feelingboth curious and reassured as ifsomeone had got me by thehand. The permanent exhibition“Macedonia-Thrace: TraditionalCostumes 1860-1960” in theFolklife and EthnologicalMuseum of Macedonia-Thracein Thessaloniki (Greece) wasmounted eleven years ago, andI re-visited it after I donated mygreat-grandmother’s authentictraditional costume to theLyceum Club of Greek Womenof Thessaloniki (see last issue’stribute by the same author). Thepersonal connection to thecontent admittedly influencedmy interpretation effortsbecause of memory excitationand imagination activation.
The collection houses fifty-fiveGreek traditional costumes fromMacedonia, Thrace, EasternRumelia, the Black Sea andAsia Minor littoral areas, and isa masterfully woven mix ofgarments, jewellery andaccessories as well as cloth-making and cloth-finishingmachines and photographs. Theexhibition presents themorphology and function of the
late 19th and early 20th centurydressing modes and the ways ofcloth-making, explaining thesymbolism they carried. Thecloth-making and the dressingmodes of the people ofMacedonia and Thrace in pre-industrial Greece were as muchdictated by oral history andtradition as by the trade-and-weather affordances of the time.Both were essential parts of thecultural identity of thecommunities and helped peopletell the age, gender, occupation,ethnicity, religion and familystatus of one another, just bylooking at one’s garments.
The semiology was well-known and respected by thepeople, who appreciated it asa carrier of local social andcultural values. People gotdressed –for work or specialoccasions e.g. weddings- inmany layers of cotton, wooland/or silk clothing withembroidered motifs, not onlyto protect themselves fromcold, heat and/or injuries, butalso from whimsical evilspirits which bring bad luck.Eye-captivating accessoriessuch as shiny metallic
threads, sequins, coins andjewellery were worn not onlyfor decorative purposes butalso to ward off evil.
The exhibition touches upon thetransitions traditional garmentsunderwent and the influences ofthe past –mostly ancient Greekand Byzantine influences- in theuse of material, design andcutting techniques. Thediscussion about trade and itsrole in the financial growth ofthe communities is alsoprevalent. Cloth-makingtechnological equipment andsewing machines arrived inGreek households in the late19th century, and graduallyreplaced the work of the tailors,embroiderers, colour dyers,goldsmiths and silversmiths,resulting in changes in style andsocial norms.
From a curatorial perspective,the museum builds on theevidential nature and aestheticvalue of the collection to portraythe richness of folklife cultureand ethnographic heritage in adelicate patchwork-like mannerrespectful to the diversity ofstyles of each region. Theexhibition design is inchronological order,comprehensive and thoughtfulon the part of the visitor whowalks around the hall to explorethe particularities of eachregion’s dressing style includingthe backdrop stories of the
A review of the exhibition “MacedoniaThrace:Traditional Costumes 18601960” in the Folklife andEthnological Museum of MacedoniaThrace inThessaloniki (Greece)Zoi Tsiviltidou
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people’s everyday life andcustoms through personalletters and photographs.Nonetheless, since the majorityof the authentic traditionalcostumes preserved were theones worn for specialoccasions, the visitor does nothave the opportunity to seewhich clothes people used towear every day to performmundane tasks. The exhibitsare visible from all sides –frontand back- even though lightingcould play a more supportiverole. It would be very interestingto have on display extra piecesof cloth or uncut fabric for thevisitor to touch and feel theweight, and somehow get adeeper sense of what storieseach garment tells.
Even though there was no callto adventure or apparentconfrontation, the storyline gaveme an insight into theendogamous communities ofMacedonia and Thrace at thetime. It was a reiteration of thedressing mode’s role as vehicleof the shared Greek identity anda sense of belonging. I wonderif the transitions in the fashionindustry led to the socio-culturaland ideological shifts in latergenerations, or the other wayaround?
The author would like to thankMs. Eleni Bountoureli, curatorand art historian, for herfeedback.
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people’s everyday life andcustoms through personalletters and photographs.Nonetheless, since the majorityof the authentic traditionalcostumes preserved were theones worn for specialoccasions, the visitor does nothave the opportunity to seewhich clothes people used towear every day to performmundane tasks. The exhibitsare visible from all sides –frontand back- even though lightingcould play a more supportiverole. It would be very interestingto have on display extra piecesof cloth or uncut fabric for thevisitor to touch and feel theweight, and somehow get adeeper sense of what storieseach garment tells.
Even though there was no callto adventure or apparentconfrontation, the storyline gaveme an insight into theendogamous communities ofMacedonia and Thrace at thetime. It was a reiteration of thedressing mode’s role as vehicleof the shared Greek identity anda sense of belonging. I wonderif the transitions in the fashionindustry led to the socio-culturaland ideological shifts in latergenerations, or the other wayaround?
The author would like to thankMs. Eleni Bountoureli, curatorand art historian, for herfeedback.
The Lyceum Club of GreekWomen of Thessaloniki(Greece) was established inMay 1939 as the first non-profitorganization of womeninterested in preserving andpromoting the folklife cultureand ethnographic heritage ofThessaloniki and northernGreece. To meet the mission,the LCGW runs the followingdepartments: Folklore,Literature, Wardrobe, Library,Celebrations and Receptions,Press, Community Service,Traditional Instruments, NationalTraditions and Dances. I metthe President, Mrs. Kaiti Tsiotra,when I approached the LCGWto donate to their collection anauthentic traditional costumewhich belonged to my great-grandmother’s family for overeight decades. My initiative waswelcomed and our collaborationsparked an interest in theirwork. My interview with MrsTsiotra is below.
ZT: Tell me a few words aboutthe history of the LCGW.
KT: The LCGW first came to lifein 1915, but the Balkan Warsdid not allow the members tocontinue their work. Then, in1922, the idea was revived, butthe Fall of Smyrni and theunstable political situation madeits operation once again difficult.The official body wasestablished in 1939 and sincethen, for 76 consecutive years,the LCGW has helped the local
community in every waypossible. For example, duringWorld War II, the LCGW trainedvolunteer nurses. We havepreserved very nice letters fromsoldiers who thank the nursesfor their help and notableservice.
ZT: Could you elaborate on themission and activities of theLCGW?
KT: The LCGW has helpedthose affected by earthquakes,floods and fires as well ascontributed with clothes andmedicine to welfare forrefugees. The activities we runextend from teaching traditionaldances and music to organizingscientific lectures aboutanthropology and ethnography,and artistic events to promotethe folklife culture. It is importantto note, at this point, that wehost dance classes for thewomen who are fighting cancer.And we should not forget theblood drive initiative we run. Ithas always been our mission topreserve and promote ourethnographic heritage and towork with people againstwomen’s illiteracy. The LCGWused to offer courses in sewingand cloth-making alongside itswork of collecting traditionalcostumes and mountingexhibitions. Our collectionhouses 1,000 authentic andoriginal copies of garments,accessories and jewelry fromMacedonia and northern
Greece. We are lucky becausewe are in Thessaloniki, and wecollected beautiful garmentsfrom towns nearby too.
ZT: How do you engage theaudience and people unfamiliarwith your work?
KT: Our dance classes forchildren are very popular andevery year with our activities forreligious and national holidays,like the “Gaitani” and“Lazarines” dance events, wetry to promote and share ourwork. We regularly organizeperformances and weparticipate in festivals aboutfolklife culture too. The varietyof the dances as well as that ofthe traditional costumes, theperfection achieved in theperformances of musicians andsingers create the uniquelywelcoming ambiance. By nomeans should we overlook thewell-elaborated stagepresentations which make theshows unforgettable and theaudience fervent followers ofthe performances in Greeceand abroad. The LCGW is amember of the CIOFF -theinternational council oforganizations of folklorefestivals- too. And we are well-represented. Our team hasbeen awarded many prizes.
ZT: What is your vision for thefuture?
A tribute to the Lyceum Club of Greek Women ofThessaloniki (Greece) and an interview with thePresident, Mrs. Kaiti TsiotraZoi Tsiviltidou
Page 21
KT: We want to have a choirsinging traditional music toaccompany our dancers. Aboveall we want to continue the long-lasting work our foundersstarted. Currently, we have 24members in our Board, loyaland devoted, and we all work toelevate and support the womanand the children, to enliven ourtraditional customs and topromote the richness of ourethnographic heritage. Everyinitiative, every partnership withlocal as well as internationalorganizations and authorities, isserving our mission to shareand communicate our incessantpassion for the folklife culture ofThessaloniki, Macedonia andnorthern Greece. I believe wewill continue with the samestrong will to register ourcontribution. – END of interview.
Despite the hardships of warsand natural disasters, theLCGW has been and remains tothis day a body of women with astrong sense of philanthropyand a service-oriented attitudetowards society. On December30th 1991, the LCGW receivedthe prestigious Academy ofAthens Award for its service tothe preservation of the Greekhistory, folklife culture andethnographic heritage ofThessaloniki.
In place of a conclusion:A few words about the Museumof the History of the GreekCostume in Athens (Greece)
The Museum of the History ofthe Greek Costume (a memberof the ICOM since 1997)opened in March 1988 andhouses approximately 25,000
pieces of clothing –mainlyauthentic regional traditionalcostumes, accessories, jewelryand objects of cloth-making andcloth-finishing craftsmanship.The idea for having such amuseum belonged to Mrs.Callirrhoe Parren, founder of theLCGW in Athens, who back in1911 wished to protect andpreserve traditional Greekcostumes and started acollection which was laterenriched by donations andpurchases. Since then, themuseum has expanded its rolebeyond the collection,preservation and delivery ofthematic exhibitions to includethe study and promotion of thehistory of Greek costume witheducational programs forschools and guided tours. Themuseum’s mission remains thesame: to present the rich varietyand diversity of Greek regionaldressing manners, anddemonstrate how materials anddesigns, including decorativemotifs, were representative of ashared cultural and socialidentity.
The author would like to thankMrs. Kaiti Tsiotra for agreeing tothe interview.
Page 22
KT: We want to have a choirsinging traditional music toaccompany our dancers. Aboveall we want to continue the long-lasting work our foundersstarted. Currently, we have 24members in our Board, loyaland devoted, and we all work toelevate and support the womanand the children, to enliven ourtraditional customs and topromote the richness of ourethnographic heritage. Everyinitiative, every partnership withlocal as well as internationalorganizations and authorities, isserving our mission to shareand communicate our incessantpassion for the folklife culture ofThessaloniki, Macedonia andnorthern Greece. I believe wewill continue with the samestrong will to register ourcontribution. – END of interview.
Despite the hardships of warsand natural disasters, theLCGW has been and remains tothis day a body of women with astrong sense of philanthropyand a service-oriented attitudetowards society. On December30th 1991, the LCGW receivedthe prestigious Academy ofAthens Award for its service tothe preservation of the Greekhistory, folklife culture andethnographic heritage ofThessaloniki.
In place of a conclusion:A few words about the Museumof the History of the GreekCostume in Athens (Greece)
The Museum of the History ofthe Greek Costume (a memberof the ICOM since 1997)opened in March 1988 andhouses approximately 25,000
pieces of clothing –mainlyauthentic regional traditionalcostumes, accessories, jewelryand objects of cloth-making andcloth-finishing craftsmanship.The idea for having such amuseum belonged to Mrs.Callirrhoe Parren, founder of theLCGW in Athens, who back in1911 wished to protect andpreserve traditional Greekcostumes and started acollection which was laterenriched by donations andpurchases. Since then, themuseum has expanded its rolebeyond the collection,preservation and delivery ofthematic exhibitions to includethe study and promotion of thehistory of Greek costume witheducational programs forschools and guided tours. Themuseum’s mission remains thesame: to present the rich varietyand diversity of Greek regionaldressing manners, anddemonstrate how materials anddesigns, including decorativemotifs, were representative of ashared cultural and socialidentity.
The author would like to thankMrs. Kaiti Tsiotra for agreeing tothe interview.
They waited 27 years for anapology.
And on Wednesday night, theAfrican-Canadians who haddecried the Royal OntarioMuseum’s 1989-1990 exhibit,Into the Heart of Africa, as racistand demeaning finally got one.
The show featured artifactstaken from the continent byCanadian missionaries andsoldiers.
“. . . Into the Heart of Africaperpetuated an atmosphere ofracism,” ROM deputy director ofcollections and research MarkEngstrom said to a crowd ofdozens who attended thereconciliation between themuseum and the Coalition Forthe Truth About Africa, who hadprotested the exhibit in 1989and 1990.
“The ROM expresses its deepregret for having contributed toanti-African racism. The ROMalso officially apologies for thesuffering incurred by themembers of the African-Canadian community.”
CFTA chief spokespersonRostant Rico John accepted theapology.
“We want our community toknow: the ROM did not slip orslide, nor hide. They cameforward and showed themselvesand worked with us,” John said,
explaining that the reconciliationprocess began back in 2014.
“. . . I would like to formallyaccept, on behalf of the Africancommunity in Canada here, theapology of the ROM,” he said toapplause and cheers.
The event, which opened with aGhanian priest in traditionalrobes performing a groupprayer, also saw speeches fromCFTA members Afua Cooperand Yaw Akyeaw, who flew infrom Ghana, where theyrecalled protesting Into theHeart of Africa outside themuseum and the hardshipsdemonstrators faced when theyspoke out about the exhibit,including arrests and racism.
Both accepted the ROM’sapology and commended themuseum’s effort in righting awrong.
The event also gave a peek intowhat was to come; ROMdirector and CEO JoshBasseches said that over thenext five years, the museumwas committing to severalinitiatives to improve itsrelationship with the African-Canadian community, includingintroducing two internships forblack youth interested inmuseums and creating moreprograms that focus on Africanor diaspora themes.
The ROM will also mount a
“major exhibition,” planned for2018, that “addresses theexclusion of blackness frommainstream Canadian historicnarrative” through the work ofseven contemporary blackartists, Basseches added.
Into the Heart of Africa, whichfeatured 375 cultural artifactstaken during the turn of thecentury, was met with backlashfrom African-Canadians after itopened in November 1989.
Among the criticisms was thatthe exhibit glorified colonialismand those partaking in it whilenot fully exploring the damage itinflicted on Africa and Africans;that it reinforced harmfulstereotypes about Africans byusing descriptors such as“barbarous people” and “savagecustoms” in text accompanyingdisplays, and that illustrations,including a British soldier onhorseback stabbing a Zuluwarrior in the chest with a swordand a group of African womenon their knees doing laundrywhile a white woman looks onapprovingly, were demeaningand “devastating.”
“(The exhibition) makes Africanslook small or like inferiorpeople,” Coalition for the TruthAbout Africa spokesperson RasRico said at the time. Thecoalition began holding weeklydemonstrations outside themuseum in mid-March of 1990,demanding the museum close
Royal Ontario Museum apologizes for racist 1989African exhibit(Originally posted by Annette Fromm on the ICMEYahoo Group)
Page 23
the exhibit and apologize.
During one protest, aconfrontation between 35 policeofficers and 50 demonstratorsresulted in two demonstratorsbeing charged with assaulting apolice officer and assault withintent to resist arrest; at another,nine people were arrested on atotal of 20 criminal charges aftera crowd of about 45 peoplecame to the aid of a manarrested following an assault ona police officer at an earlierdemonstration.
At the time, museum staffincluding director Cuyler Youngand his replacement JohnMcNeill, associate directorRobert Howard and guestcurator Jeanne Cannizzodefended the exhibit.
“If we thought (the exhibit) wasracist, we never would havemounted it,” Howard said in May1990.
“(Into the Heart of Africa) offersa critical examination of the roleplayed by Canadians in theEuropean colonization of Africain the 19th century, whilehighlighting the rich diversity ofAfrican cultural practices andartistic traditions,” Cannizzowrote in a piece that appearedin the Star in June 1990.
“The exhibition does not, as hasbeen alleged, promote whitesupremacy or glorifyimperialism.”
The ROM also successfullysought an injunction from theSupreme Court of Ontario toprevent protestors from
picketing within 15 meters of themuseum’s entrance.
Following the controversy, fourother museums — twoCanadian, two American —went on to cancel theirshowings of the exhibition.
The museum stayed mostlysilent about the fallout until2013, when it launched its OfAfrica project. A “multiplatformand multiyear project aimed atrethinking historical andcontemporary representationsof Africa,” Of Africa was themost public acknowledgment ofthe damage caused by Into theHeart of Africa to date.
“It really stems from the desireto show the public that we havetransformed and want to dothings differently,” Silvia Forn(ICME participant) in 2014.
“We want to start a differentconversation about Africa that ismindful of the past. We cannotforget what has happened here,and that, yes, we are thatmuseum, but we also want tolook at the present and thefuture while we recognize thatthere were serious mistakesmade here.”
Page 24
the exhibit and apologize.
During one protest, aconfrontation between 35 policeofficers and 50 demonstratorsresulted in two demonstratorsbeing charged with assaulting apolice officer and assault withintent to resist arrest; at another,nine people were arrested on atotal of 20 criminal charges aftera crowd of about 45 peoplecame to the aid of a manarrested following an assault ona police officer at an earlierdemonstration.
At the time, museum staffincluding director Cuyler Youngand his replacement JohnMcNeill, associate directorRobert Howard and guestcurator Jeanne Cannizzodefended the exhibit.
“If we thought (the exhibit) wasracist, we never would havemounted it,” Howard said in May1990.
“(Into the Heart of Africa) offersa critical examination of the roleplayed by Canadians in theEuropean colonization of Africain the 19th century, whilehighlighting the rich diversity ofAfrican cultural practices andartistic traditions,” Cannizzowrote in a piece that appearedin the Star in June 1990.
“The exhibition does not, as hasbeen alleged, promote whitesupremacy or glorifyimperialism.”
The ROM also successfullysought an injunction from theSupreme Court of Ontario toprevent protestors from
picketing within 15 meters of themuseum’s entrance.
Following the controversy, fourother museums — twoCanadian, two American —went on to cancel theirshowings of the exhibition.
The museum stayed mostlysilent about the fallout until2013, when it launched its OfAfrica project. A “multiplatformand multiyear project aimed atrethinking historical andcontemporary representationsof Africa,” Of Africa was themost public acknowledgment ofthe damage caused by Into theHeart of Africa to date.
“It really stems from the desireto show the public that we havetransformed and want to dothings differently,” Silvia Forn(ICME participant) in 2014.
“We want to start a differentconversation about Africa that ismindful of the past. We cannotforget what has happened here,and that, yes, we are thatmuseum, but we also want tolook at the present and thefuture while we recognize thatthere were serious mistakesmade here.”
The new ICOM logo. Its history and its hiddenmessages1Anette ReinThe history of the ICOM logo
The founding of ICOM − Theinternational Council ofMuseums − in Paris inNovember 1946, has to be seenin the context of the founding oftwo other institutions one yearbefore: The United Nations2and UNESCO. After the twoWorld Wars, it was their sharedwill to establish peaceworldwide.
The newly founded ICOMneeded a convincing visualicon, to be easily recognized atfirst sight and to be printed onletter paper, press kits andname cards. The use of a digitalversion of the logo, as indicationof international partnerships onwebsites, came about 50 yearslater.4
The history of the differentICOM logos seems to be closelyconnected with the specificpolitical and culturaldevelopment and socialtransformations of the world, inwhich ICOM is active. Sharingthe same values, the first visualidentity of ICOM was stronglyinfluenced by the UN’s model“the circular logo featured theimage of a map of the world inpolar projection”.5 There wasnot one Nation shown as apolitical or cultural centre on themap − but the area of concernto the United Nations. The olivebranches symbolized peace.Thus the main purpose: peaceand security were representedin this UN logo. 6
The constituent assembly ofrepresentatives of 14 nationschose for the first ICOM logothe colours black and white.7 Acircle surrounded the acronymICOM, written in fat lengthenedletters and positionedunderneath the outline of aworld map. The two largerletters “CO” of ICOM allowedthe annotation of community inthe centre. Thus, the originalrole of uniting museumprofessionals from across theglobe around the sharedobjectives of preservation,conservation, exhibition andcommunication of culturalobjects was understood by themuseum community.
In 1966, ICOM was celebratingits 20th anniversary and it wasdecided to develop a new logo.The black and white circlebecame a blue square and theacronym ICOM was printed inlight blue letters. Above it, theworld map was changed to anabstract circle, but stillrepresenting a world map, nowalso featuring as a pupil of aneye. With this design, ICOMreflected the geopolitical contextof the Cold War − still promotingthe cause of a global museumcommunity under the roof of astrong neutral and universalinstitution.8 It is not further
explained how the ICOMcommunity could recognize inthis logo through ”The precisionand minimalism of the design[which] clearly reflected thegeopolitical context of the ColdWar”.9
In 1972, the acronym, again inblack and white, was isolatedand surrounded by two halfcircles for two years, whichreminded of the former eye.10The world map haddisappeared. In 1974 anothernew logo was created.Elements of the second designfrom 1966, the eye and theworld as its pupil, were pickedup again. Now, lightly changed,they were incorporated in theacronym as the ICOM-O. Forthe next 21 years, this forth logoin black and white representedthe International Council ofMuseums.
In 1992, ICOM started torevamp its identity again andpublished a new key visual in1995. The reasons given werethe calmer geopolitical contextmarked by the end of the ColdWar and a substantial growth inits membership.11 The colourblue was back (together with acontrasting white), associatedwith international workinginstitutions. For the first time,the acronym was additionallyexplained as “InternationalCouncil of Museums” under it(first in English andFrench12; since 2001 also inSpanish). There were severalassociations combined with
Page 25
the different letters. The “I”,with its parallel lines shouldsymbolize the array of ICOMcommittees. The big “O”,again a central element in thelogo as in 1974, wasaccentuated by a semi-circular comma, somehow aquotation of the former eyeand globe. Now, it shouldemphasize the universality ofa network whose activitiesspan the globe.13
Since April 2016, each of thethree ICOM e-newsletter untilJune was announcing thepresentation of a new visualidentity on July 6, 2016 duringthe 24th General Conference inMilan. This new logo wouldagain emphasize ICOM’sfundamental values ofcommunity and universality. Thee-newsletter community waskept in suspense – themembers, however, were notinvited to participate in thisproject.
The process of developing andpublishing of the new logo
The actual redesign initiativebegan already back in 2014 aspart of the celebration ofICOM’s 70th anniversary whena new strategic plan for the2016-2019 period waslaunched. The rebrandingproject was driven by the ICOMExecutive board, the Secretary,in collaboration with colleagues
from the ICOM network.14 Asmentioned above, the info-campaign for the new visualidentity for ICOM started to beannounced in the e-newsletterfrom April 2016. In the June e-newsletter, the first two teaserswere announcing the greatevent for Milan.15 The lastsentence of the newsletterpromised “A number ofsurprises await to go hand inhand with the change. GetReady!” No individual invitationsto journalists were distributed,no special press conference forthe presentation on the logohappened and no specialannouncement in the first presskit could be found.16 A realmind-blowing surprise seemedto be planned.
In the printed programme of theGeneral Conference on p. 194,the presentation of the logo wasannounced for July 6, 2016,10.40 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thisspecial event was advertisedwith a simple couplet withoutany special accentuationthrough design, letters or adifferent colour. On July 6, 2016,according to project managerBastien Noël, the conferenceschedule was so delayed andmany of the colleagues had toleave for their own committees,that the EC decided to repeatthe presentation as a shortreminder three days later onSaturday (!) at the end of themeeting of the Advisory Board.However, here again theschedule was so delayed, thatthe presentation concentratedmainly on showing the logovideo clip without any time leftfor further discussions.17
After the official presentation onWednesday, several photosessions took place and thenew logo was distributed beingprinted in blue on white fabricbags. These bags contained aUSB drive.
At 3pm on July 6, ICOMpublished on Facebook apicture collage together with thecomplete film as a visualdocumentation of the new logo.19
This collage was carefullyprepared. One month before theconference, 19 members fromvarious backgrounds and activeon social networks, were pickedby ICOM and asked to take apicture together with the newlogo combined with the requestto maintain silence over theproject.20
Page 26
the different letters. The “I”,with its parallel lines shouldsymbolize the array of ICOMcommittees. The big “O”,again a central element in thelogo as in 1974, wasaccentuated by a semi-circular comma, somehow aquotation of the former eyeand globe. Now, it shouldemphasize the universality ofa network whose activitiesspan the globe.13
Since April 2016, each of thethree ICOM e-newsletter untilJune was announcing thepresentation of a new visualidentity on July 6, 2016 duringthe 24th General Conference inMilan. This new logo wouldagain emphasize ICOM’sfundamental values ofcommunity and universality. Thee-newsletter community waskept in suspense – themembers, however, were notinvited to participate in thisproject.
The process of developing andpublishing of the new logo
The actual redesign initiativebegan already back in 2014 aspart of the celebration ofICOM’s 70th anniversary whena new strategic plan for the2016-2019 period waslaunched. The rebrandingproject was driven by the ICOMExecutive board, the Secretary,in collaboration with colleagues
from the ICOM network.14 Asmentioned above, the info-campaign for the new visualidentity for ICOM started to beannounced in the e-newsletterfrom April 2016. In the June e-newsletter, the first two teaserswere announcing the greatevent for Milan.15 The lastsentence of the newsletterpromised “A number ofsurprises await to go hand inhand with the change. GetReady!” No individual invitationsto journalists were distributed,no special press conference forthe presentation on the logohappened and no specialannouncement in the first presskit could be found.16 A realmind-blowing surprise seemedto be planned.
In the printed programme of theGeneral Conference on p. 194,the presentation of the logo wasannounced for July 6, 2016,10.40 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thisspecial event was advertisedwith a simple couplet withoutany special accentuationthrough design, letters or adifferent colour. On July 6, 2016,according to project managerBastien Noël, the conferenceschedule was so delayed andmany of the colleagues had toleave for their own committees,that the EC decided to repeatthe presentation as a shortreminder three days later onSaturday (!) at the end of themeeting of the Advisory Board.However, here again theschedule was so delayed, thatthe presentation concentratedmainly on showing the logovideo clip without any time leftfor further discussions.17
After the official presentation onWednesday, several photosessions took place and thenew logo was distributed beingprinted in blue on white fabricbags. These bags contained aUSB drive.
At 3pm on July 6, ICOMpublished on Facebook apicture collage together with thecomplete film as a visualdocumentation of the new logo.19
This collage was carefullyprepared. One month before theconference, 19 members fromvarious backgrounds and activeon social networks, were pickedby ICOM and asked to take apicture together with the newlogo combined with the requestto maintain silence over theproject.20
A few weeks after theconference, the new Graphicchart together with the conceptbook and the colour system freeto chose were sent by e-mail tothe international committees tomake their choice of colour forthe new key visual.21
Comments on a matter of nomajor concern
During these two presentationsat Milan, there was noopportunity to have a longerdiscussion on the new designand to explain the underlyingconcept. At the end of theadvisory board meeting itbecame clear by questions fromthe press that the internationalcommittees would not receiveany financial help to implementthe new logo in their printed anddigital media, and that therewould not be a strict time tableof implementation. Bastien Noëlexplained later, “theimplementation period alreadystarted and will last up to theend of 2016. We invitedcommittees to use their logodigital media, and to implementit as stationary material isgradually replaced. We knowthat some of them alreadyordered documents,publications or business cardsusing the old logo. This is not amajor concern. During thetransitional period, both the oldand the new logo of ICOM canbe used. We worked a lotupstream in order to ease thework of committees. Weprepared all the logos, both inEnglish and in the locallanguages of committees, invarious formats (both jpg andvector) ... My major concern all
along this project was to makethings as simple as possible forcommittees... We will not send new cards toICOM members. However, it isplanned that annual stickers willsoon be replaced by annualmembership cards for ICOMmembers. We will use the newlogo on these new cards.”22
The deeper meaning behind the2016 logo
In the introduction of theconcept book of the new visualkey the following sentencesexplain the idea behind thelogo: “Our approach was to lookfor a graphic element that wouldbe a synthesis of ICOM’svalues, as enhanced in the newICOM’s strategic plan:independence, integrity andprofessionalism. This symbolmust be global, largelyunderstandable and fit allcultures and beliefs. We like toimagine this symbol as arallying cry. It has to gather astrong community, whichcommit to improve and stand formuseums, rather than adisparate sum of individuals.Going straight to what isessential, the new ICOM’sidentity gathers the strengthsand expresses the role of theorganisation. The monogramstands solidly. It is stable andtrustworthy, a little monumental;but also modern enough to befuture driven. It also embodiesintelligence and creation.”23After this declaration the bookcontinues with an interestingoverview of the word "museum"around the world and showsexamples from 84 languages, inwhich the translation of the word
museum “highlights thelinguistic root [MUS]”.24 Howmuseums may be called in theother 54 countries, which aremembers of ICOM too, is notmentioned in this book.
The chosen languages resp. thetranslations for “museum” weregrouped in six columns with 14languages each. 29 languagesshow no similarity with the word“museum”, whereas the rest ofthe languages start with a big“M” or they have as the firstthree letters “MUS” in theirwords naming the institution. Asthe next step for finding a newkey visual, all the translationswere superposed with the resultthat the letter “M” appears asthe most common root whichcan embody the full term.25
Under the headline: “The body,the serif and the vertical line”,associations between pillars, aserif in the reale style and theLouvre, both created in the 17thcent., shall signal a strong base,elegance and modernity.28 Inthe chapter “The calligraphicgesture. A human link“, the loopis explained as strengtheningthe links between people. “Itexpresses a weave, anetwork.”29
Interestingly, variations of a loophave been used since centuriesas key visuals for differentcontents. Just to mention a fewexamples: beginning with theChristian Ichthys in the firstcentury AD until the sign ofAirbnb founded in 2008.Referring to these associations,the loop in a key visual shallexpress the dedication to anideology, a network and a
Page 27
community like the Red Ribbon,created in 1991 as a symbol ofawareness and support forthose living with HIV. 30
This possible shared conceptualtradition of loops was notmentioned in the concept bookof ICOM. Here, the authorsstarted from the art perspectiveand interpreted the loop as “thecalligraphic [Islamic] gesture”,created by an artist as amanuscript gesture “why itembodies culture, humanity andcivilisation”.36
For the new key visual thecolour blue was chosen, as a
sign for internationality, likeother global players. Blue, asthe colour of our planet,symbolizes “peace, serenity,continuity”.37 Under theheadline: “The typography. Amulti-cultural system” the fonts"Georgia" for the logotype and"Arial" for common compositionswere chosen because of theiravailability on mostcomputers.38
On the last pages themonogram and the logo withdifferent try outs together withthe last, official key visuals werepresented.39
Like the loop, the "M" as asingle monogram has a longtradition. It is used inChristianity as the symbol forthe Virgin Mary − as the two arthistorians Dr. Adelheid Stratenand Dr. Christian Müller-Stratenindependently from each otherobserved, when they saw thenew ICOM logo for the firsttime.43 It is used in severalsymbolical contexts, oftencombined with an “A”, with aloop or cross, or as a countersymbol to IHS: “This symbolconsisting of the intertwinedletters A and M is called AuspiceMaria, a monogram of the VirginMary. Auspice Maria is Latin for‘Under the protection of Mary’and is commonly found inCatholic religious art, onchurches, and inscribed onjewelry. It is sometimes(incorrectly) referred to or usedas a stand-in for the salutation
‘Ave Maria’”.44
Without discussing if the newICOM “M” has to be seen as“plagiarism” of existingcommercial or religious logos/monograms or not, one maysay that the new ICOM keyvisual (the looped "M") hasindeed very strong connotationswith one of the main traditionalChristian symbols, which sincecenturies shall mediate thecontemplator the confidence tobe a member of a globalnetwork, which successfullyshares and stands for itsworldviews, interests andduties.45
The introduction in the conceptbook announces a graphicelement, which “We like toimagine this symbol as arallying cry” being “the synthesisof ICOM’s values, as enhancedin the new ICOM’s strategicplan”.46 The purposes of thisstrategic plan have beenencapsulated in three followingkey words: INDEPENDENCE /INTEGRITY /PROFESSIONALISM asexplained in the WorkingPapers of the 31st OrdinaryGeneral Assembly. 47 There, onone and a half pages the threekeywords are furtherexemplified. If one comparessome of the used words in thisexplanation with the text in theConcept Book, one discoversonly a few corresponding wordslike: museum and international,
Page 28
community like the Red Ribbon,created in 1991 as a symbol ofawareness and support forthose living with HIV. 30
This possible shared conceptualtradition of loops was notmentioned in the concept bookof ICOM. Here, the authorsstarted from the art perspectiveand interpreted the loop as “thecalligraphic [Islamic] gesture”,created by an artist as amanuscript gesture “why itembodies culture, humanity andcivilisation”.36
For the new key visual thecolour blue was chosen, as a
sign for internationality, likeother global players. Blue, asthe colour of our planet,symbolizes “peace, serenity,continuity”.37 Under theheadline: “The typography. Amulti-cultural system” the fonts"Georgia" for the logotype and"Arial" for common compositionswere chosen because of theiravailability on mostcomputers.38
On the last pages themonogram and the logo withdifferent try outs together withthe last, official key visuals werepresented.39
Like the loop, the "M" as asingle monogram has a longtradition. It is used inChristianity as the symbol forthe Virgin Mary − as the two arthistorians Dr. Adelheid Stratenand Dr. Christian Müller-Stratenindependently from each otherobserved, when they saw thenew ICOM logo for the firsttime.43 It is used in severalsymbolical contexts, oftencombined with an “A”, with aloop or cross, or as a countersymbol to IHS: “This symbolconsisting of the intertwinedletters A and M is called AuspiceMaria, a monogram of the VirginMary. Auspice Maria is Latin for‘Under the protection of Mary’and is commonly found inCatholic religious art, onchurches, and inscribed onjewelry. It is sometimes(incorrectly) referred to or usedas a stand-in for the salutation
‘Ave Maria’”.44
Without discussing if the newICOM “M” has to be seen as“plagiarism” of existingcommercial or religious logos/monograms or not, one maysay that the new ICOM keyvisual (the looped "M") hasindeed very strong connotationswith one of the main traditionalChristian symbols, which sincecenturies shall mediate thecontemplator the confidence tobe a member of a globalnetwork, which successfullyshares and stands for itsworldviews, interests andduties.45
The introduction in the conceptbook announces a graphicelement, which “We like toimagine this symbol as arallying cry” being “the synthesisof ICOM’s values, as enhancedin the new ICOM’s strategicplan”.46 The purposes of thisstrategic plan have beenencapsulated in three followingkey words: INDEPENDENCE /INTEGRITY /PROFESSIONALISM asexplained in the WorkingPapers of the 31st OrdinaryGeneral Assembly. 47 There, onone and a half pages the threekeywords are furtherexemplified. If one comparessome of the used words in thisexplanation with the text in theConcept Book, one discoversonly a few corresponding wordslike: museum and international,
which are mentioned severaltimes in different contexts. Thethree key words of the strategicplan: independence, integrity,professionalism together withheritage and members arementioned on p. 3 only. Wordslike cultural, ethic, illicit trade,tangible and intangible asfurther basic words in thestrategic plan of ICOM, are notmentioned in the explanationsof the Concept Book at all. Itremains open, how far the newkey visual in its aesthetic andsymbolic appearance mirrorschosen ICOM values inaccordance with the strategicplan 2016-2022 at all.48
Why? The perspectives
To develop a new key visual foran association like theInternational Museum Councilwith over 36,000 members in138 countries is a veryambitious and challengingproject, while the former logo(*1995) is internationallydistributed and well known. It isa time-consuming project for allparticipants. But why at all anew logo was needed and whywas it to be published in thisvery moment?
1) An “inexpensive” birthdaypresent?
One reason for the new keyvisual was the idea to celebrate70 years of ICOM together withthe 24th General Conference inMilan with a new logo as anappropriate (not exactly cheap)birthday present. As the formerPresident Prof. Dr. Hans-MartinHinz together with the ICOMDirector General, Prof. Dr.
Anne-Catherine Robert-Hauglustaine expressed in theirforeword in the Annual Report2015: “In 2016, we celebrate thededication, integrity andprofessionalism of ourmembers, who have allowedICOM to come this far and beas active, ambitious andextensive as it is today”.49
2) An urgently needed sign ofIndependence?
However, this was not the onlyofficial reason to create a newlogo. According to the Chair ofthe Advisory Board, Prof. Dr.Regine Schulz: “With the newkey visual the InternationalCouncil of Museums willstrengthen its identity as an owninstitution, independently fromthe UNESCO with which ICOMwas closely connected since itsfoundation in 1946. In themeantime, ICOM has developedmany international programs formuseums independently fromthe UNESCO. We choose the‘M’ as a single monogram toexpress our strength for ourmuseum community whichmeans more than 36,000members in 138 countries andterritories”.50 As the DirectorGeneral of ICOM at the end ofthe advisory committee meetingexemplified: the new key visualwas created as an expression ofthe new strategic plan (2016-2022). Actually, it seems to beunclear in how far the new keyvisual may represent andemphasize ICOM’s fundamentalvalues of “community anduniversality” as announced atthe end of the ICOM e-newsletter from April 2016. Inthe Concept Book, “universality”
is not mentioned once and“community” several times onp.3 only.
3) A stronger emphasis on"Museum"?
According to the DirectorGeneral, during the next threeyears there will be anotherintensive work for creating theICOM-story behind the newlogo as a visualisation of thenew strategic plan – besides thecontent MUSEUM.51
Notes:
1 Thanks to Bastien Noel(ICOM Hq.) who answeredmany ques- tions concerningthe conference and the historyof the six logos (email August 4,2016). The different storiesbehind the first five logos canbe found underhttp://icom.museum/news/news/arti-cle/new-visual-identity-for-icom-the-saga-of-icoms-logos/(accessed August 4, 2016). But,on the website of ICOM thedifferent logos are not publishedtogether with the text.2 The constitutional meetinghappened in Lake Success,New York,on October 24, 1945.3 UNESCO was founded inLondon on November 16, 1945.4 The first website was online in1990.5 ICOM e-newsletter of April2016. The information about thehistory of the ICOM logos arereferring to the three ICOM e-newsletters (April-June 2016)which were meant to serve asattunement of the members tothe presentation of the newvisual identity in Milan.
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The design of the UN logo is “amap of the world representingan azimuthal equidistantprojection centred on the NorthPole, inscribed in a wreathconsisting of crossedconventionalized branches ofthe olive tree, in gold on a fieldof smoke-blue with all waterareas in white. The projection ofthe map extends to 60 degreessouth latitude, and includes fiveconcentric circles”.http://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/un- logo-and-flag/index.html (accessedAugust 6, 2016).6http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maplib/flag.htm (accessed August6, 2016)7 These 14 nations were:Australia, Belgium, Brazil,Canada, Czechoslovakia,Denmark, France, theNetherlands, New Zealand,Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,the UK and US. (E-newsletterApril 2016)8 E-newsletter Mai 20169 ICOM e-newsletter April 201610 In the e-newsletter from May2016, this third ICOM logo wasnot mentioned. Thanks toBastien Noël, who sent me allthe logos as pictogramstogether with the years of theircreation.11 ICOM E-newsletter June201612 The videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTgKLs4EFU (accessAugust 4, 2016) shows aspectsof the development of the logoin 1995.13 E-newsletter June 201614 Noël explained the processof a selected participation ofICOM members as follows:
First, I worked with ICOMInternational Committee forMarketing and Public Relations.Then I adressed an email toNational Comittees and askedthem to suggest names in orderto gather a kind of informalrebranding working group. Allalong, I was working withMichael Ryan, President of theWorking Group Committee onICOM Strategic Plan". (eMailAugust 19, 2016).Noel willpublish an article about “Howand Why we rebranded ICOM”on the website of ICOM (e-mailof Au- gust 4, 2016)15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsafjX13yI&feature=you-tu.be (accessed August 4, 2016)published on June 14, 2016.The second teaser can be foundhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id8D3AUS2vM&feature=youtu.be (accessed August4,2016).16 I received the first press kitfor the conference per e-mail onJune 27, 2016 from the ICOMMilano 2016 RegistrationDepartment, c/o K.I.T. GroupGmbH. In the printed press kit,which I picked up in the pressoffice during the conference, theinfo about the presentation ofthe new ICOM identity wasadded as the last lines underthe heading “Content andHighlights”. Whereas, in thepress release for journalists the“launch of ICOM’s new visualidentity” was only mentionedwithout any date or time.17 The Story of ICOM’s newlogo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdTpPREtics(accessed August 9, 2016),published July
6, 2016 (1:30 min.).18https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7294/27537873613_6945631904_b.jpg (accessed August 4,2016)https://www.flickr.com/photos/143526034@N06/28153126295(accessed August 4, 2016)19https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdTpPREtics&feature=you-tu.be (accessed August 4,2016)20 Thanks to Soeren La CourJensen, who participated in thispre-photo shooting. (Noël, e-mail of August 4, 2016)21 The mentioned designagency on these twodocuments is c-al- bum,Graphic design studio, www.c-album.fr, which, however, untilAugust 4, 2016 did not mentionthis project on its own website.“Each committee can chose aparticular colour except the bluerange.” ICOM’s new identity.International Committees 2016,p. 222 Noël, e-mail of August 4,201623 Concept book 2016, p. 324 ibid., p. 625 ibid., p. 826 ibid., p. 927 ibid., p. 1028 It was the Louvre housingthe constituent assembly ofICOM in 1946. Concept book2016, p. 1029 Concept book 2016, p. 10-11. According to Noël, thedesigners “created the loopbasing their work on the oriental[!] calligraphic gesture” (e-mailof August 4, 2016).30 “The red ribbon is theuniversal symbol of awarenessand sup- port for those living
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The design of the UN logo is “amap of the world representingan azimuthal equidistantprojection centred on the NorthPole, inscribed in a wreathconsisting of crossedconventionalized branches ofthe olive tree, in gold on a fieldof smoke-blue with all waterareas in white. The projection ofthe map extends to 60 degreessouth latitude, and includes fiveconcentric circles”.http://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/un- logo-and-flag/index.html (accessedAugust 6, 2016).6http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maplib/flag.htm (accessed August6, 2016)7 These 14 nations were:Australia, Belgium, Brazil,Canada, Czechoslovakia,Denmark, France, theNetherlands, New Zealand,Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,the UK and US. (E-newsletterApril 2016)8 E-newsletter Mai 20169 ICOM e-newsletter April 201610 In the e-newsletter from May2016, this third ICOM logo wasnot mentioned. Thanks toBastien Noël, who sent me allthe logos as pictogramstogether with the years of theircreation.11 ICOM E-newsletter June201612 The videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTgKLs4EFU (accessAugust 4, 2016) shows aspectsof the development of the logoin 1995.13 E-newsletter June 201614 Noël explained the processof a selected participation ofICOM members as follows:
First, I worked with ICOMInternational Committee forMarketing and Public Relations.Then I adressed an email toNational Comittees and askedthem to suggest names in orderto gather a kind of informalrebranding working group. Allalong, I was working withMichael Ryan, President of theWorking Group Committee onICOM Strategic Plan". (eMailAugust 19, 2016).Noel willpublish an article about “Howand Why we rebranded ICOM”on the website of ICOM (e-mailof Au- gust 4, 2016)15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsafjX13yI&feature=you-tu.be (accessed August 4, 2016)published on June 14, 2016.The second teaser can be foundhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id8D3AUS2vM&feature=youtu.be (accessed August4,2016).16 I received the first press kitfor the conference per e-mail onJune 27, 2016 from the ICOMMilano 2016 RegistrationDepartment, c/o K.I.T. GroupGmbH. In the printed press kit,which I picked up in the pressoffice during the conference, theinfo about the presentation ofthe new ICOM identity wasadded as the last lines underthe heading “Content andHighlights”. Whereas, in thepress release for journalists the“launch of ICOM’s new visualidentity” was only mentionedwithout any date or time.17 The Story of ICOM’s newlogo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdTpPREtics(accessed August 9, 2016),published July
6, 2016 (1:30 min.).18https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7294/27537873613_6945631904_b.jpg (accessed August 4,2016)https://www.flickr.com/photos/143526034@N06/28153126295(accessed August 4, 2016)19https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdTpPREtics&feature=you-tu.be (accessed August 4,2016)20 Thanks to Soeren La CourJensen, who participated in thispre-photo shooting. (Noël, e-mail of August 4, 2016)21 The mentioned designagency on these twodocuments is c-al- bum,Graphic design studio, www.c-album.fr, which, however, untilAugust 4, 2016 did not mentionthis project on its own website.“Each committee can chose aparticular colour except the bluerange.” ICOM’s new identity.International Committees 2016,p. 222 Noël, e-mail of August 4,201623 Concept book 2016, p. 324 ibid., p. 625 ibid., p. 826 ibid., p. 927 ibid., p. 1028 It was the Louvre housingthe constituent assembly ofICOM in 1946. Concept book2016, p. 1029 Concept book 2016, p. 10-11. According to Noël, thedesigners “created the loopbasing their work on the oriental[!] calligraphic gesture” (e-mailof August 4, 2016).30 “The red ribbon is theuniversal symbol of awarenessand sup- port for those living
with HIV. The red ribbon hasinspired other charities to utilisethe symbol, for example breastcancer aware- ness hasadopted a pink version”.https://www.worldaidsday.org/the-red-ribbon (accessedAugust 8, 2016)31https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_Schleife (accessed August 8,2016). This loop exists also indifferent colours for differentopportunities.32 This Christian symbol wasused primarily amongstChristians in early history (1stand 2nd century A.D,)https://upload.wikime-dia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Ichthys_symbol.svg/2000px-Ichthys_symbol.svg.png(accessed August 8, 2016).33 Airbnb is a private onlinemarketplace that enablespeople to list, find, then rentvacation homes. Airbnb.de(accessed August 8, 2016)34 Noël reads the loop as "anampersand" (e-mail of August 8,2016).35 Concept book 2016, p 1336 Concept book 2016, p. 1237 Concept Book 2016, p. 1638 Concept Book 2016, p. 14-1539 Concept Book 2016 pp.20-3140 Thanks to the K.I.T. Group inBerlin, who sent me the singlelogos. K.I.T. was the organizingsecretariat besides theorganisers ICOM and ICOMITALY, responsible for theorganisation of the conference.41 Concept Book 2016, p. 2742https://www.etsy.com/market/ave_maria (accessed August 9,
2016)43 “The new ICOM-M, whichwas invented to raise theattention more to ‘M-words likeMuseum’ is not a newcompelling symbol, it's aplagiarism. It is — except for anegligable detail — the looped'M' standing for the Virgin Mary,which is commonly known in theCatholic world... By a simpleonline picture research any- onecan find today lots of examples;but there are even moreundigitized in emblematicreligious art.” [“Das neueICOM-M, das angeblich denBestandteil „Museum“ stärkerhervorheben soll.., ist einPlagiat. Es ist (bis auf einunerhebliches Detail) das seitdem 19. Jahrhundert imkatholischen Raum bekannte,im Mittelteil verschlungeneMariensymbol M... Durcheinfaches Bildgockeln kommtman jederzeit auf genügendBeispiele... ” Christian Müller-Straten by e-mail to the GermanMuseum discussion list[museums-themen] and to thenew ICOM President SuayAksoy (July 21, 2016).Graphical artists have shown inan additional discussion on thenew ICOM "M" on Twitter that itcop- ies the looped M of severalproducts and firms(http://www.un-derconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_icom_by_c-album.php#disqus_thread):Monocle, MARTIN + OSA, andLa Società del Marketing(accessed August 16, 2016)44http://symboldictionary.net/?p=2255 (accessed August 9, 2016)45 To speak with Bastien Noël
words, the ICOM design of themono- gram “can be readaccording to your ownsensibility”. (Noël, eMail ofAugust 8, 2016)46 Concept Book 2016, p. 347 “Working Documents”, p. 62,online p. 8. http://icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Strategic_Plan/ICOM_STRATEGIC_PLAN_2016-2022_ENG.pdf(accessed August 11, 2016)48 Of course, the blue colour isof the key visual is mentionedas signalising internationality −one value of ICOM. ConceptBook 2016, p. 1649 ICOM Report 2015, p. 3.http://icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Activity_report/ICOM_activity_report2015_eng.pdf (accessed August 12, 2016)50 Schulz, eMail August 16,2016. "There was also a needfor clarification in the ICOMnetwork. Year after year,ICOM's committees andprogrammes started to developtheir own identity and it resultedto a visual chaos. We needed anew system (more than a logo,the logo is less important thanthe system). Also, ICOM pastlogo fit badly with partners’visual tags, especially those ofmuseums which rebrandedthemselves these past years.This en- tire framework leads todissonant brand architecture".Noël, eMail of August 19, 201651 Many thanks to mycolleagues and friends Marie-Paule Jungblut and Ralf Ceplakfor their helpful comments.
Literature:
ICOM: “E-newsletter”, April2016.http://archives.icom.museum/e-
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newsletter/e-newsletter2016-4_eng.html (access August 8,2016)ICOM: “E-newslettwer”, May2016.http://archives.icom.museum/e-newsletter/e-newsletter2016-5_eng.html (access August 8,2016)ICOM: “E-newsletter”, June2016.http://archives.icom.museum/e-newsletter/e-newsletter2016-6_eng.html (access August 8,2016)ICOM: “A new visual identity forthe International Council ofMuseums. Concept Book“, Paris2016.http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/icom-colombia/pdf/ICOM_IdentityConceptbook.pdf (access August 8,2016)ICOM: “ICOM’s new identity.International Council ofMuseums. Internationalcommittees” Paris 2016ICOM: “ICOM’s new identityInternational Council ofMuseums. Graphic chart”, Paris2016.http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/icom-colombia/pdf/ICOM_GraphicChart.pdf (access August 8, 2016)ICOM: “Press Kit”, Paris 2016ICOM: “Strategic plan 2016-2022”.http://icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Strategic_Plan/ICOM_STRATEGIC_PLAN_2016-2022_ENG.pdf (access August11, 2016)ICOM: “Annual Report 2015”,Paris 2016,http://icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Activity_report/IC
OM_activity_report2015_eng.pdf (access August 12, 2016)
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Words from the EditorJen WalklateI think it's safe to say that this isa pretty hefty edition of theNews.
But that's OK! Happy 80thIssue, ICME News! I'll havesome wine later, to celebrate.
I think I'm still slightly in thatpost-Holiday fugue. Leicester isbeautiful, from about October toearly January, with Eid, Diwaliand Christmas all crammed intogether, all the lights andexcitement. When I wasunemployed, one of my favoritecheap activities was to sit on thebus going along the Golden Milefrom the City Centre during thattime of year - the shops forwhich the road is named wereonly enhanced by thedecorations which navigated thestreet lamps high above. Goldand frost glinted together in thedarkness.
Fortunately, we have ChineseNew Year to look forward to -more lights and fireworks. Whata wonderful gift it is to live in acity such as Leicester, with itsmanifold of cultures, jostling andbustling together and makingsomething especially uniqueand wonderful.
It's a new start for me this yeartoo. I'll be taking up a positionas a Teaching Fellow at theSchool of Museum Studies, soexpect to hear a lot more newsfrom that corner of the disciplinevery soon.
In any case, what of this issue?We've had Fellows Reports,explorations and interviews,expressions of curatorialnostalgia - even grief, perhaps -an apology, and an explaination.A whole swathe of experienceswhich can be felt in museums,particularly ethnographic ones.It seems only aposite for such aspecial issue.
And you'll have noticed that I'vedebuted our new logo as theheader in this issue. I hope youlike it - I do. And with Anette'sdiscussion, it's only becomeeven more interesting.
I wonder what webs we willweave this year, what loops andconnections we will make. Ithink its safe to say that theactions each and every oneof us takes, in our personaland professional lives, haverammifications far beyondwhat we can imagine. We are
all entangled with each other,and in this time of fear andignorance and cruelty, I thinkit's important that we makethose actions kind, generous,tolerant and meaningful.
You, out there, and me, inhere - we all have the powerto make change. Even in thelittle things.
Eve: Tell me now aboutentanglement. Einstein'sspooky action at a distance.Is it related to quantumtheory?Adam: Hm. No I mean, it'snot a Theory it's proven.Eve: How does it go again?Adam: When you separatean entwined particle and youmove both parts away fromthe other, even at oppositeends of the universe, if youalter or affect one, the otherwill be identically altered oraffected.Eve: Spooky. Even atopposite ends of theuniverse?Adam: Yeah.
Only Lovers Left Alive, JimJarmusch, 2013
This Newsletter is published every three months. You cancontact the News with anything you think the wider
ICME/Museum Ethnography Community would like to hear!Please email [email protected] with anything you'd
like to include.
The website is: http://network.icom.museum/icme/
See you next time!
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