15 - 17 MARCH 2000
THE BRITISH MUSEUM DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOGRAPHY, UNITED KINGDOM
Interpreting Asian Cultures in Museums
The Workshop was above all thought-provoking and facilitated lively exchanges among delegates. We have since received many positive comments from those who attended. Presentations by an international panel of speakers were of a high standard and engaged the attention of the audience, while the range of delegates provided the basis for stimulating discussions which will be developed further over the coming months. The administration of the Workshop proceeded smoothly.
By BRIAN DURRANS, SARA PIMPANEAU & SARAH POSEY
We are especially grateful to the ESF Asia Committee for supporting this initiative. In accordance with the funding requirements, the income was spent essentially on the speakers' visit to London and on publicity materials1. The overall quality of the papers was outstanding and much commented upon both during and after the event2; delegates also praised the coverage of the Workshop. We are grateful to the speakers for their valuable contributions and for their willingness to challenge their own assumptions, and to the discussants who successfully steered the discussions.The themes outlined in the proposal were taken up in a variety of ways, but one delegate felt that there were not enough Asian curators presenting papers; yet, as planned and thanks to our sponsors, half the speakers were from Asian countries. This criticism highlights one of the most important themes which not only emerged from the content of the papers and discussions but was also illustrated in the speakers' approaches: the constraining influence of the history of museums as Western institutions.
The historical and social context of museum collections of Asian material was an overarching theme, focusing on its crucial impact on the content of the collections, on displays, and on the work of curators. This was particularly the case in presentations on collections in the US (Watson, Kendall, Bronson, Taylor), Russia (Taksami), and Japan (Inaga) and on the creation of new galleries on Asia (Kendall, Durrans, Taylor). It was also addressed by all in relation to wider implications for definitions of 'art' and 'ethnographic' collections and had parallels in discussions on tradition as a shifting concept (Jain, Pruess, Hout, Cate).
Discrepancy
The political and curatorial choices involved in creating successful displays in multicultural contexts were discussed in the context of Singapore (Tan, Lee) and the UK (Durrans). These themes were in turn related to the role of Asian curators presenting collections to Asian and non-Asian audiences (Barbosa, Bronson, Hemmet, Zhou, Tagieva, Babanazarova, Alimbay, Roon). There are more and more Asian curators in and outside Asia and that the Workshop included so many Asian speakers was critically important. Consultation was perceived by all to be a positive background to the creation of displays. However, this topic also provoked one of the most vigorous debates. On the one hand, were those who perceived input by members of the culture concerned as one way to move away from the Western concept of a museum; on the other, were those who emphasized the discrepancy between the age of the collections (the bulk of which was often collected at the end of the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries) and current knowledge about these objects in the relevant culture, highlighting by contrast the importance and authority of curatorial research.
Interest in the Workshop and the issues it raised was reflected in the variety and number of delegates: professionals and students in the field of museums, but also artists, representatives from community organizations, designers and others3. Breaks between presentations allowed lively informal discussions and active networking, and feedback has been unanimous in expressing the delegates' appreciation of these opportunities.
Relatively few delegates from outside the museum field participated in the discussions; this was explained by some in terms of the overwhelming museum perspective in the presentations and the large number of delegates. Although many of their comments were voiced in informal discussions, we hope this constituency will be better represented in an e-mail discussion group which has been set up (http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/asia-in-museums/), in order that these views can also be represented in the contents of the publication. This e-mail discussion will not only encourage authors to tackle some of the specific themes of the Workshop in more detail, but also elaborate upon and extend the discussions into the future.
Despite the problems raised by a few late cancellations, we are very pleased with the way in which the Workshop proceeded over the three days: presentations were well received; the discussions were dynamic; and the atmosphere during the breaks friendly and lively. However, in anticipation of the conclusions of independent reports, we also felt that a number of issues which had been set out in the proposal were not addressed adequately (in particular the role of performing art in complementing conventional displays). These aspects will be developed in the e-mail discussion and will critically inform the outcome of the publication. From a proposal for a three-day event, the Workshop has become a first step: it has sparked off timely discussions which will be pursued over the coming months; some participant institutions have already included several of the ideas discussed in their programme; and, in response to popular demand, plans for future sessions are already in progress.
1 Financial support for the Workshop was provided by the European Science Foundation Asia Committee (see attached), the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (speakers from Third World countries only; drinks for closing reception; hospitality for speakers), and the Asian Marketing Group (food for closing reception).
2 These comments were made by delegates over the three days of the Workshop, in the letters of thanks many have sent since then, and in the fourteen per cent level of response to the questionnaire handed out at the Workshop.
3 A total of 124 (including speakers) participants attended the workshop with between seventy and eighty people on each day. Forty per cent of delegates who attended were from museums, seventeen per cent from universities.
Nine-and-a-half per cent were Asians from Asia, 23,5 per cent were UK-based Asians, 47 per cent UK in general (excluding UK-based Asians), 14,5 per cent from Europe, and 5,5 per cent from the US. *
Dr Brian Durrans, Deputy Keeper / Asian Collections, Ms Sara Pimpaneau, Curator / Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, and Ms Sarah Posey, Asia Research of The British Museum Department of Ethnography were the co-organizers of this workshop.
E-mail: b.durrans@british-museum.ac.uk
E-mail discussion group: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/asia-in-museums/