BBC Civilisations Festival 'Museums and the materialisation of refusal'

Wayne Modest, Tropenmuseum, Museum Volkenkunde and Africa Museum, Netherlands, responds to issues related to exhibiting experiences of empires, with reference to what he refers to as the 'materialisation of refusal'.

Friday 9 March 2018,
18.30–19.30 BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum


To book a ticket visit the website

Place of Sacred Art Symposium - 9th May

The symposium will consider the ways in which people reinterpret sacred art when it is displayed in new contexts or alongside art from different faith traditions. It will also consider how displaying different types of art in sacred spaces also transforms our understanding of the sacred and artistic.

There will be a variety of presentations exploring different aspects on the theme of the conference:

• An academic, theological overview of the topic: Rev Dr David Cheetham
• Multi-faith Art in a Christian Space: Very Rev Catherine Ogle and Ortit Azaz 
• Faith in a Secular Space? A Museum’ s Perspective: Dr Rebecca Bridgeman
• Unexpected Encounters with Contemporary Art in a Sacred Space: Very Rev Peter Bradley

The day is delivered in collaboration with The Church of England and Birmingham Cathedral. It will be hosted by Canon Dr Andrew Smith who will also facilitate discussions enabling participants to explore the topic together.

There will also be a chance to visit the ground breaking and award winning Faith in Birmingham Gallery at the Museum and Art Gallery with curator Rebecca Bridgman.

For full details see here. 

Pioneering female fieldworkers: exploring intellectual history of archaeology and anthropology

 

10th May 2016. 1pm - 6.30 pm

Followed by wine reception

St Cross College, St Cross Room

 

Following from St Cross talks on the theme of early female fieldworkers in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, this workshop will bring together themes around women’s involvement in early travel-based scholarship. It will consider then educational, social and political background of early female explorers, travellers and fieldworkers along with their experiences in the field and their output and legacy in collections, publications, talks etc. The discussion will explore the need for such studies of women as well as what there is to be gained from studying their often neglected contributions and legacies.

 

Mrs Janet Howarth, The Research University in England: experiences of early

academic women, c.1890-1930

Dr. David Hopkin, English Women Folklorists in Italy: Cultural and Political Activism

after Unification

Dr. Alice Stevenson, The role of women in the establishment of Egyptian

archaeology 1880-1910

Dr. Sarah Evans, Mapping terra incognita: women on Royal Geographical Society supported expeditions 1913-1970

Dr. Alison Kahn, Collecting time and place: the ethnographic films of Beatrice

Blackwood (1889-1975) and Ursula Graham Bower (1917-1986)

Discussion lead by Dr. Frances Larson and Dr. David Mills.

 

The attendance at the workshop is free, but places for this session are limited, those

interested in attending should send an email to Jaanika.vider@stx.ox.ac.uk with a few words about their particular interest in the topic. There is also limited number of spaces for the dinner afterwards (at £14) – guests of the College interested in attending the dinner should mention their interest in the email.

 

 The workshop will be followed by wine reception in the St Cross room from 6.30pm.

Sponsored by St Cross College.

 

Curating Human Remains in the UK MEG seminar

When: Wednesday 20th January 2016 9.30 - 4.30
Where: University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL

Held jointly by the Natural Science Collections Association (NatSCA), the Society of Museum Archaeology (SMA) and the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) in association with the Human Remains SSN.

The Curating Human Remains in UK Museums workshop held in 2014 highlighted a need within the sector and professional interest in building confidence in curating human remains. In response to this need NatSCA, MEG and SMA are hosting a day of talks and case studies relating to working with human remains,

The aim of the seminar is to address current legislation of the Human Tissue Act in relation to institutions that care for, display, research and store human remains. The seminar will include examples of best practice and recent case studies.

Provisional Programme:

9.30 - 10.00 Coffee and registration

10.00 - 11.00 Case studies of good practice
Carina Phillips (Royal College of Surgeons) - how to approach the documentation/collections management, display and research use for the RCS human remains collections.

11.00 - 12.00 How to handle and store human remains
Heather Bonney (Natural History Museum) tbc

12.00 - 12.30 Lunch, not provided

13.30 - 14.30 Up to date legislation
Myra Geisen (University of Newcastle) - the ethics and legislation in caring for human remains
Caroline Browne (Human Tissue Act)

14.30 - 17.30 Case studies of osteological reviews
Rose Drew - Contextualised Remains: educational display versus public voyeurism: the crew of the Mary Rose
Subhadra Das  - A review of UCL's pathology collections
Lauren Leith (University of Exeter/RAMM) - Skulls in Discovering Worlds: how a designation-funded project has opened up a recent study of Melanesian modified crania at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
Sue Giles and Lisa Graves (Bristol Museum & Art Gallery) - Death and the Human Tissue Act (HTA): presenting their experience of using human remains in a temporary exhibition on death at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and how they found the process of applying for HTA license and its impact on the museum

Tickets can be purchased until 19.01.2016.
Ticket prices are as follows:
£30 NatSCA/MEG/SMA members (organisation members should use the promotional code 'R3main5' for discount)
£20 students
£45 non members

Please book online 

 

 

Arms and Armour at the Horniman Museum

In March 2015 the Horniman’s Collection People Stories project came to an end. The project had seen three years of intense work on the collection. Focused curatorial research, documentation review and object photography had transformed our understanding of the Museum’s 80,000 odd anthropology objects. The project had also brought our collections to new audiences and pioneered specially devised engagement techniques.

To conclude Collection People Stories my colleague Sarah Byrne and I wanted to host an event which would build on the project’s achievements and hopefully also break new ground. Our teams in the stores had just gone through the Museum’s extensive collection of arms and armour and it struck Sarah and I that these under represented objects, so typical of the collections of ethnography museums, but so unwieldy in the context of contemporary curatorial practice, would make a very good topic for a conference.

We tentatively issued a call for papers, raising the problems inherent in the representation of violence in other cultures, highlighting the necessity of unpacking the multiple meanings often imbedded in weapons and ultimately asking how to display objects that are all too often absent from the galleries of today’s  ethnography museums. Perhaps, we thought, our subjects is too niche, a micro-specialism in the tiny world of museum ethnography? The positive response we received, therefore came as a delightful surprise. Submissions arrived from scholars, curators and conservators based at institutions across the world. It turns out that many felt strongly about our questions and were keen to contribute to the discussion.

The morning of the first day of the conference gave Sarah and I the satisfaction of seeing people who share an enthusiasm meet for the first time. We ordered the papers so that those speakers who planned to raise more universal rather than specific questions and arguments came first. The appropriately named Bob Savage, Curator of Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries opened with a discussion of the bodily trauma which most weapons are designed to deliver, illustrating his presentation with shocking images of machete wounds. Many a half-eaten croissant was returned to its plate, but Bob had made an important point: that although we may display weapons – we are very unwilling to confront what they designed to do.

Andy Mills of Norfolk Museum Services was next with an ambitious and convincing synthesis concerning the pan-cultural agency expressed by weaponry. Papers on particular weapon types, museum case studies and indigenous perspectives followed, which sadly I cannot elaborate on here as my 500 word limit is fast approaching, so I will take the opportunity instead to put in a plug for Weapons, Violence and the Anthropology Museum, a forthcoming book, published by Cambridge Scholars and edited by Andy Mills and myself which features thirteen chapters worked up from papers given at the conference as well as a few new contributions. A must read for anyone who has got to the end of this blog post!

 

The Horniman has produced the video above which covers some of the conference and is certainly worth watching if this blog has piqued your interest.  Especially compelling is an interview with Naga artist Temsuyanger Longkumer and footage of the intervention he made in the Museum’s conservation lab on the second day of the conference. I am very grateful to him for his contribution.

Tom Crowley
Curator in the Anthropology
Horniman Museum and Gardens.

Frank Davis Memorial Lecture: A Critique of the Natural Artefact: Anthropology, Art and Museology

by Professor Nicholas Thomas: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Tuesday 13 October 2015 - 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre,
The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN, UK, WC2R 0RN

Open to all, free admission

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, studies of ‘primitive’ and ‘tribal’ arts were closely identified with museums and collecting; when the field re-emerged in the early 1970s it was inspired by ethnography and new theorisations of symbolic systems but relatively unconnected with the vast collections of Oceania, African and native American art in the galleries and stores of ethnography museums in Europe and elsewhere. The lecture reflects on the constitution of collections, and in particular on the artefact, proposing that the museum, in dialogue with contemporary art, again has the capacity to constitute a ‘method’, to empower interpretations of art objects and cross-cultural art histories.

Nicholas Thomas has written extensively on art, empire, and Pacific history, and curated exhibitions in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, many in collaboration with contemporary artists. His early book, Entangled Objects (1991) influentially contributed to a revival of material culture studies; with Peter Brunt and other colleagues, he co-authored Art in Oceania: a new history (2012), which was awarded the Art Book Prize. Since 2006, he has been Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, which was shortlisted for the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year Prize in 2013.

See full details here.

Date: 29th April 2015, from 6.45 pm Venue: Free World Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA This event is ticketed. Full price £5.00, concessions available Chim↑Pom, the six-strong artist collective known as the enfant terrible of Japan's art  scene, create distinctive works that challenge contemporary social problems, and the  realities that we choose not to see. Formed in Tokyo in 2005, the group's approach is  underscored by the use of found objects, mass media, and chance. Chim↑Pom work mainly  in video but their many mixed medium creations look beyond traditional aesthetic  standards to construct coded narratives that drive compelling messages about limitations  and boundaries, both literally and figuratively. Through critical thinking and creativity  they tackle themes including urbanisation, celebrity, and more recently, the tsunami and  nuclear incidents of 3/11. Fresh off their success at this year's Prudential Eye Awards, where they won not only "Best Emerging Artist Using Digital/Video" but were also named "Best Emerging Artist of  the Year", two members of this provocative collective, Ryuta Ushiro and Ellie, have been  invited to map Chim↑Pom's diverse career. Preluding their first group exhibition in London,  by the mountain path held at the White Rainbow Gallery, they will explore how they came  to be and why their work pushes the limits of contemporary Japanese art and the Japanese  art scene. After their presentation, Ushiro and Ellie will be joined in conversation by  Dr Sook-Kyung Lee, Research Curator of Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific. This event is organised in association with Free Word, White Rainbow Gallery and  Mujin-to Production. The exhibition by the mountain path will be held at White Rainbow Gallery from 29 April to 20 June 2015.

NatSCA Conference: Museums unleashed: using traditional and social media to communicate collections

Museums Unleashed intends to provide a way for collections-focussed staff to become more comfortable and better informed about dealing with digital and traditional media
Engaging wider audiences with collections is a key objective for many museums and
digital and traditional media provide powerful tools for doing this, but the ways in which new technologies can be used to make collections more accessible in a meaningful way can be difficult to appreciate for the uninitiated. 

Even for those who are familiar with using digital media, there are discussions to be had about using them more effectively and avoiding some of their pitfalls.






The conference is organised by NatSCA and draws on the experience of media professionals from the BBC, journalists, digital media specialists and collections staff from a variety of disciplines who will share their experiences and some helpful hints. 


The content of many of the talks is in reference to natural science collections, however the theme of getting collections out there to wider audiences may also be of interest to curators from across different subject specialisms.

To find out more information including how to book and a full programme, visit the NatSCA website. 

British Museum Conference on Museums and Communities in Australia and Eastern Africa

Challenging Colonial Legacies Today: 
Museums and Communities in Australia and eastern Africa

Organised by The British Museum in association with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Kings College London

Time and Date: Saturday 2nd May 2015 10am – 5pm
Location: British Museum

Price: £10 or £5 Concession

Timed to coincide with the BP exhibition Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation, this one-day conference will bring together an international panel of speakers to consider how museums in both the metropole and the periphery of what was ‘empire’ are challenging colonial legacies through contemporary museum practice. Through a comparative focus on Australia and East Africa, the conference will consider the contribution which museums and their collections can make in building new and strong local communities.

Speakers:

Conference Chair: Professor Howard Morphy (Australian National University)  

Australia

Jilda Andrews (Australian National University/National Museum of Australia).  Off-country: the cultural life of collected material
Dr Louise Hamby (Australian National University).  Makarra­ta: Bringing About Understanding
Dr Ian Coates (Head Curator, National Museums of Australia).  Old Objects Made New
Dr John Carty (Australian National University).  Collecting Country: some conceptual challenges from Australia in museums, heritage and history  

Eastern Africa

Professor Annie Coombes (Birbeck, University of London). Photography Against the Grain: Rethinking the Colonial Archive in Kenyan Museums
Nelson Abiti (University of East Anglia/Uganda Museum). Title: TBC
Dr John Giblin (Head of Africa Section: British Museum). Post-Conflict Community Heritage and the Uganda Museum  

Information and booking here.
For all enquiries not related to booking please email Rachael Murphy.

The Herrenhausen Symposium "Museum of Cultures, Wereldmuseum, Världskulturmuseet,... What Else? Positioning Ethnological Museums in the 21st Century"

The Herrenhausen Symposium "Museum of Cultures, Wereldmuseum, Världskulturmuseet,... What Else? Positioning Ethnological Museums in the 21st Century" by the Volkswagen Foundation in cooperation with Deutscher Museumsbund discusses the need for a critical appraisal of the past, present, and future of ethnological museums.

The symposium which will take place from June 21-23, 2015 in Hanover, Germany is looking early career researchers to participate. 

Rooted in the curiosity cabinets of the Enlightenment, ethnological museums experienced an enormous boom during the colonial period. The collections assembled in those past times continue to characterize the exhibits of ethnological museums today, causing the need for a critical appraisal of the past, present, and future of this particular genre of museum. The symposium will address topics like the history of museum collections, provenance research, the special case of "restitution", different forms of cooperation as well as how these aspects can become part of ethnographic exhibitions.

Travel Grants

The Volkswagen Foundation offers 15 Travel Grants for young researchers who wish to attend the symposium. The deadline for application is March 15, 2015. For more information on the application process, please visit the website. 

Call for papers: Weapons and the Anthropology Museum

The Horniman Museum and Gardens, like many other anthropology museums, holds vast weaponry collections from across the globe.

In reviewing these collections as part of the Collections, People, Stories project (2012-2015) and planning for a potential re-display, we have been confronted with many of the complex intellectual and ethical questions regarding their interpretation and display.

This two-day conference, to be held on the 26th - 27th February 2015 seeks to address and debate a number of questions including:

How can / should anthropology museums in the 21st century display 

their weapons?

How can the specific historical contexts in which weapons were made,

used and collected be translated to contemporary audiences?

Should and can we engage with the portrayal and debate of warfare,

brutality, violence and loss in today’s world?

How do these objects reinforce ideas of the ‘primitive’ and ‘otherness’ in

their representation/misrepresentation of cultures as violent?

How can weapon collections be used within public engagement

activities?

How can we unpack the multiple meanings and uses of weapons

recognising their importance as status makers, artistic expressions and

performance and initiation objects etc. without ignoring their potential 

to kill/harm.

What are the different socio-political considerations and implication

regarding the display of European, African, Asian and Pacific

weaponry?

We strongly encourage papers from museum colleagues who work with similar collections from both curatorial and public engagement perspectives, anthropologists working in areas covered by the Horniman collections and archaeologists keen to engage with anthropology collections and debate.

Please send a 200 word abstract and a hundred word speaker biography to Tom Crowley by  

November 1st 2014.

Museums at the Crossroads: Local Knowledge, Global Encounters: Call for Applications

Call for Applications (Deadline Nov. 15)

Museums at the Crossroads: Local Knowledge, Global Encounters

A Summer Institute of the Mathers Museum of World Cultures and the School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana, USA

May 14-21, 2015

The Indiana University Mathers Museum of World Cultures and School of Global and International Studies invite applications for up to eight Museum Partners who will take part in an innovative international workshop on the future of museums of culture and history.

Museums at the Crossroads, scheduled for May 14-21, 2015, in the beautiful college town of Bloomington, Indiana, combines keynote addresses, tours, charrettes, and social interactions. We seek applications from museum practitioners and theorists who wish to partner in conversation and creative practice with a group of invited keynote speakers and international museum fellows in a small, informal workshop setting.  Successful applicants will receive eight nights of on-campus lodging and per diem support of $45 for eight days.

About Museums at the Crossroads

Museums at the Crossroads connects theory and practice, bridging institutional, regional, and national museum contexts in order to advance the global conversation around museums and generate a range of practical outcomes for its participants.

Workshop participants will include:

·      4 international fellows from innovative museums around the globe

·      8 museum partners drawn from museums and other institutions in the United States and abroad

·      12 Indiana University faculty, staff, and graduate students

·      4 keynote speakers, each addressing a broader social and cultural theme that we wish to explore in depth in museum contexts.

     

     keynote speakers are:

·      Steven Lubar, Brown University (keynote on Today’s Museum:  Innovation, Change, and Challenge)

·      Michael Brown, School for Advanced Research (keynote on Cultural Crossroads:  World Cultures in Transition)

·      Stephan Fuchs, University of Virginia (keynote on Disciplinary Crossroads:  The Evolving Sociology of Knowledge)

·      Haidy Geismar, University College London (keynote on Artifactual Crossroads:  Real Meets Virtual)

 Museum Partners will be responsible for their own travel arrangements to and from Bloomington, Indiana, and are expected to participate actively in the full workshop and in associated follow-on activities. Prior to attending, each shall develop an institutional profile that includes an account of challenges your museum faces relative to the three “crossroads” (Cultural, Disciplinary, Artifactual) being explored in the workshop. Partners without a museum affiliation will be asked to prepare a comparable position paper on the themes.

How to Apply

To apply for a position as Museum Partner, please send a resume or curriculum vitae, as well as a cover letter expressing your interest, as a PDF email attachment to:

Sarah Hatcher, c/o mxrd@indiana.edu.

Review of applications will begin November 15, 2014, with applicants receiving notifications by December 15, 2014. 

Further Information

For additional detail on the scope and nature of Museums at the Crossroads, see the workshop précis, which is accessible online at: http://www.mathers.indiana.edu/crossroads.html.

Additional information about Indiana University Bloomington can be found at: http://iub.edu/.

Information on the Mathers Museum of World Cultures is available at: http://mathers.indiana.edu/.   

Questions about the workshop can be addressed to the organizers at: mxrd@indiana.edu.