Mirjam Shatanawi
is participant at
Where is Art Contemporary? The Global Challenge of Art Museums II
Abstract
Curating for a change – contemporary art at the Tropenmuseum today
Much has been written about the current crisis of the ethnographic museum. Globalisation has put considerable strains on these museums that once relied on their reputation of showing a contemporary world that was –on different levels- out of reach to their audiences. Simultaneously, mainstream museums that used to focus on Western art only now have discovered the rest of the world as a place of interest. As a result of these developments, ethnographic museums are no longer at the heart of the debate on non-Western cultures, but are pushed to the fringe. This new position prompts the ethnographic museum to re-evaluate its basic premises and the underlying structures.
In this paper I explore the use of contemporary art in processes of change in ethnographic museums using recent acquisitions and exhibitions of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam as an example. Like various other ethnographic museums, the Tropenmuseum is trying the revert the current crisis by transforming into a internationally oriented cultural history museum, which is arguably part of a larger trend in which art museums are becoming more like ethnographic museums and vice versa. During its entire postcolonial history the Tropenmuseum has exhibited contemporary art, yet until recently as a rule the exhibited works did not become part of the collections. The formulation of a new collecting policy, which will be in effect from 2008 onwards, is part of an internal debate on the future course of the museum.
In my paper I will argue that the inclusion of contemporary art in a former ethnographic museum challenges its very existence. Collecting contemporary art enables the Tropenmuseum to sustain its connection to the contemporary. Yet at the same time, the universalistic claims of contemporary art run counter to the conventional lines of reasoning of the ethnographic museum and the models of organisation on which it is built. The pres-ent-day structure of the Tropenmuseum as of result of which the museum is divided into distinct regions – each with its own curator, exhibition space, and collection – aggravates the risk of essentialising its subject. The collecting of contemporary art can be either a tool for change or a re-affirmation of fixed boundaries. Therefore the question remains whether the ethnographic museum as an institution can challenge the processes of canonization that are currently taking place in the art world.
15/09/07
