The universal museum, which stages artefacts from across the times and spaces of history, is the subject of much current debate. Revisionist histories today see universal museums as relics of colonialism, leaving them open to attack from two fronts. One the one hand, former colonies which are now sovereign nation-states, demand the ‚return‘ of artefacts that were taken away from them. On the other hand, the museum’s own communities (including those who run these museums) struggle to find a new relevance for these institutions, and resort to arguments about multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism and the building of mutual understanding through culture.
While examining these discussions, the presentation will shift perspective and look at the universal museum from a worm‘s eye view, looking at the institution as it appears to those who live outside the metropolitan centres where these grand museums are currently located. Starting with the controversies that clouded the Musee Guimet‘s Arts of Bangladesh exhibition, the presentation will offer a re-examination of the universalism vs nationalism debate, and will examine the impulses and discourses around museums that have attempted to collect and show ‚other‘ cultures outside of the West.
Veranstaltet vom Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
und dem Kunsthistorische Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut
in Kooperation mit der interdisziplinären Arbeitsgruppe „Bildkulturen“ der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Information on participating / attending:
Date:
04/14/2011 19:00 - 04/14/2011 22:00
Event venue:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dorotheenstr. 26
Hörsaal 208
10117 Berlin
Berlin
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, all interested persons
Relevance:
local
Subject areas:
Art / design, Cultural sciences, Media and communication sciences
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture
Entry:
04/01/2011
Sender/author:
Torsten Werner
Department:
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Event is free:
no
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event34774
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