MEG visit to the Världskultururmuseet, Gothenburg, Sweden, December 2013

Never question the commitment of MEG members to participation in MEG events! Back in early December, the attempt of two MEG committee members to get to the Världskultururmuseet in Gothenburg for a MEG event involved a flight to Gothenburg diverted to Stockholm due to high winds and heavy snow then a grueling 14-hour overnight coach journey, much of it spend static in snow. The beautiful Christmassy scenery and fascinating museum almost made up for it.

Ali Clark, MEG Secretary, having finally arrived at the Världskultururmuseet

Gothenburg's Världskultururmuseet opened in 2004 and is very much a product of its time. It chose to focus on 'issues' rather than objects and orientated itself towards a young adult audience, not only through its displays but also though a vibrant events programme which has included regular club nights. To the envy of other European museums the Världskultururmuseet has been phenomenally successful in attracting a younger audience and over 60% of its visitors are aged under 30. It also eschewed traditional, 'permanent' displays of objects for a changing series of often provocative exhibitions and displays, more than 40 of which have been on offer in the intervening period. Displays have dealt with sensitive 'global' issues including the spread and impact of HIV, the trafficking of people and -in the exhibition on at the time of MEG's visit Secret Love: Taboo Love in China - homosexuality in China.

Exhibits in the Museum 

But what MEG's recent visit revealed is that, nearly ten years on, the Världskultururmuseet is experiencing something of a 'material turn'. Following the closure of Secret Love work begins on creating a large area of visible storage on the ground floor. While this will be visibly rather than physically accessible to the casual museum visitor, the museum's curator of contemporary global issues, Klas Grinell, noted that it will be a clear signifier that the collections form the foundation of the institution. This is a clear step away from the more issues-based approach taken in the past, in which objects were used to illustrate narratives of social/global concern, towards a more object-centered approach. This object-centered approach will also be explored through a semi-permanent series of installations which, it is proposed, will make evident some of the key object stories contained in the collections. Some of the ideas around how audiences may be invited to engage in these are currently being tested in a highly interactive and experimental Provrum ('dressing room') display section. Klas also noted a change of emphasis in audience, from young adults to young children and their families, in line with shifting government policy. A whole floor of the museum will be dedicated to this audience, with displays organised under the theme of 'Experiencing together'.

The focus on attracting younger children also has an economic dimension, the theory being that children of this age invariably come with (paying) parents, grandparents or carers. Entry to the museum was free on opening but now incurs an admission fee although free admission remains in place for the under-19s. Clearly the economic landscape inhabited by the museum has changed significantly since 2004. In contrast to UK equivalents, the Världskultururmuseet is almost entirely state-funded, however the initial governmental enthusiasm for its programmes, which attracted a budget of £2.5 million when the museum opened, has had to be revised and the budget has fallen by 90%. It has been a period of extraordinary change for the museum, which has had seven directors in nine years, and it is evident that this period of turbulence has yet to run its course. However, as a museum using ethnographic collections to enable new audiences to engage with changing global realities in new and radical ways there is much that those of us working with similar collections can learn from the Gothenburg example, not least its willingness to change and reinvent itself to ensure relevancy. We await the outcomes of its current transformations with interest.

By Helen Mears

MEG Conference: Registration opens

Museum Ethnographers' Group Annual Conference

Collections, Collaboration and Communities

Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 April 2014

University of Aberdeen

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

Registration closes on 3 March

We hope that many of you can join us in Aberdeen for this year’s conference. We have many excellent speakers and are looking forward to a thought provoking and stimulating few days exploring and addressing the theme of collections, collaboration and communities.

Museums now embrace opportunities to work with a range of communities and to develop a variety of partnerships. Recent research has also re-conceptualised the relationships between objects and between objects and people. This conference will explore how museum collections can inspire and benefit from a range of collaborations, and the opportunities brought by different disciplinary perspectives.

As well as these formal elements, the conference is an excellent opportunity for networking, or as we like to think of it, making new friends and catching up with old ones. There will therefore be a conference dinner and as we are in Scotland a traditional ceilidh to enjoy. There will also be the opportunity to visit the exhibition ‘Fiji, Scotland and the making of Empire’ in King’s Museum.

The programme is in the stages of being finalised. For more information, to keep up-to-date and to register for the conference, please visit the University of Aberdeen conference page.

King's Museum, Aberdeen

Job Vacancy: Project Curator: Indigenous Australia Exhibition

Job Reference

1398138

Location

London

Closing Date

Monday 17th February 2014 12pm Noon

Additional Information

Salary: £22,907 per annum 
Contract: Fixed term - 18 months

The British Museum is currently recruiting for a Project Curator to support the Indigenous Australia exhibition project team, working closely with the Lead Curator, Project Manager and other members of the team in the development and delivery of the exhibition and publications.

The successful candidate will assist the Lead Curator as well as liaising with key internal and external stakeholders. The exhibition is being developed in tandem with the National Museum of Australia (NMA), and maintaining a good relationship with NMA staff is a key deliverable. You will obtain necessary information on loans (dimensions, special condition requirements, credit lines and copyright) through liaising with lenders and international and departmental loans officers. 

You will maintain a digital database with object list and images and track and monitor the movement of BM objects for the exhibition between departments. You will assist the Lead Curator with background research, drafting text, picture research and picture acquisition for the exhibition and related publications, and coordinate new photography and manage photographic orders. You will assist with obtaining copyright and rights of reproduction for images to be used in the exhibition, website and all related printed materials. 

You will assist the Lead Curator with the planning of a related programme of events, including: public lectures, providing gallery tours and other related public programming activities.

The Museum is looking for an individual who has a degree or equivalent in anthropology or related discipline who has Museum or research experience. You will be highly proficient at using MS Office software and will have experience of using museum databases. You will be adaptable and resourceful with the ability to assess priorities in order to meet deadlines and have strong communication skills.

If you have any queries regarding this role, please email us at bm@penna.com or call 0845 601 1124. Please quote the job reference number in the subject line of any email and at the beginning of a call.

Call for Papers: (Mis-)Representing Cultures and Objects: Critical Approaches to Museological Collections

A workshop at the University of Stirling, 16 May 2014

The issue of how we represent global cultures and associated material collections has been at the core of museological and postcolonial theory in recent years, with different formulations wrestling with the questions of how museums can address their histories and ensure the relevance of their collections. Key to this debate, are the terms employed for the objects themselves and the categories that museums deploy for the conventional purposes of interpretation and display. For example, the uncritical use of terms such as ‘religion,’ ‘art’ or ‘ethnography’ have a profound effect on how material culture is presented in museums and studied in universities.

There are a number of key factors in this debate. One is the provenance of the objects. Another is the ideological and – often – colonial context within which the objects were acquired. A third is the stated and inferred purposes of museums, which have their own ideological history. A fourth is the biographical positionality and status of the collector. There would also be the methods at different stages of acquisition for providing a description and valuation of the objects. And finally, there are the terms employed for the objects themselves and the categories that museums deploy for the conventional purposes of interpretation and display. For example, the uncritical use of terms such as ‘religion,’ ‘art’ or ‘ethnography’ have a profound effect on how material culture is presented in museums and studied in universities.

The University of Stirling, through the pioneering approaches to the study of categories under the descriptor Critical Religion, has been instrumental in deconstructing the term ‘religion,’ with a significant impact on the study of global cultures. Through a collaborative project between the University of Stirling and National Museums Scotland, this work has been applied to the context of Tibetan material culture and the western construction of Tibetan Buddhism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, in particular by missionary and military collectors. This has resulted in the completion of a PhD by Inbal Livne with the title Tibetan Collections in Scottish Museums 1890-1930: A Critical Historiography of Missionary and Military Intent.

Following on from this project, this workshop will explore the way in which academics within museums and universities are challenging historically assumptive terms in the identification, interpretation and use of material culture evidence. We will also examine how collaborations between museums and universities can encourage and develop new ways of examining museum collections.

The workshop will include a brief description of the collaborative Tibet project, and papers from museum professionals working directly on the practical application of these theoretical issues in relation to the display of Tibetan material culture.

We invite other scholars working on Tibet – or comparable contexts with history and identity represented in museum collections – to present papers that address one or more of the following, particularly as these different aspects relate to one another:

1. Missionary involvement in collecting for museums in the UK, and issues that arise in that context.

1. The construction of problematised terms such as ‘religion,’ ‘art,’ ‘ethnography,’ etc. in the context of the study of global material culture.

1. The examination of new and creative collaborations between museums and universities in developing the deconstruction of historically specific classifications of global cultural practices.

1. Historical processes of engagement and revision with regard to museum and archival collections.

1. The impact of postcolonial and postmodern thinking on museological and archival practice.

Please note that we are looking to publish a selection of papers from the workshop in an edited volume; acceptance of an abstract does not, at this stage, imply acceptance for publication, but all papers will be considered.  Further information on this will be forthcoming at the workshop.

Deadline for Call for Papers:

Please email abstracts of approximately 300 words to Rajalakshmi Nadadur Kannan at rajalakshmi.nadadurkannan@stir.ac.uk by 7 February 2014, to whom all queries should be addressed in the first instance.

UEA Sainsbury Research Unit 25th Anniversary Symposium

Fiji, Scotland and the Making of Empire

King's Museum, University of Aberdeen

27 January - 23 May 2014

An exploration of the surprising connections between Northern Scotland and the South Pacific, from the nineteenth century to the present day.

This exhibition in King’s Museum displays some of the items in the University of Aberdeen’s internationally important Pacific collections for the first time in decades, and reveals new research conducted by the Fijian Arts Project of the University of East Anglia and University of Cambridge.  A reminder of the complexities of the North-East of Scotland’s contribution to the British Empire and continuing international politics, Fiji, Scotland and the Making of Empire also shows the complexity and beauty of Fijian culture as it has developed over the past few hundred years as part of the network that links the Pacific Islands and the wider world.