EXHIBITIONS FOR THE YEAR 2000
Josef Kandert
Over the last one-hundred years all "traditional" ways of exhibiting
collections have been used or attempted in all European and overseas museums.
At least six types established themselves in the "history" of museological
imagination.
1. Halls which were full of objects, expressing the idea "we exhibit
everything we have". This is probably the oldest way of exhibiting which
originated in lo"" and 17* century galleries and cabinets of curiosities. This "chaos"
strongly appeals to children and unsophisticated adults, to whom a museum is
essentially a chamber of wonders and a romantic place which any scientific
arrangement can only spoil. At present, we can still find such displays in small
local museums.
2. Comparative displays which also make use of a myriad of objects. Their
origin may go back to 19* century museums which were then magnificent
strongholds of science and of generally orientated research. The Homiman
Museum in London and some British university museums continue to be good
examples of this way of displaying.
3. Art exhibitions or displays in an "art gallery fashion". Such exhibitions
also became very popular in ethnographic museums during the 1960s.
4. Displays reconstructing specific cultural and historical situations using
cultural sets from a period which represented "typical" historical houses or rooms.
When reconstructing the cultural environment of a wider region the authors use
"mosaic" or "case study" techniques. The mosaic technique enables the display
of things from different regional locations which the author conceives as being
"very characteristic", in order to give a visitor an idea of some characteristic
features of regional culture, i.e. a reconstructed and fictional picture of regional
culture. The case study method means that a complete set of cultural items (a
cultural inventory) belonging to a single location in a single period is used to
represent and demonstrate the culture of a wider area (in the author's view the
set is highly characteristic).
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Josef Kandert
5. Open-air museums as a specific type of display in which the "old-
fashioned" life is reconstructed. Reconstructions enable the visitors to acquaint
themselves with the history of houses and their former inhabitants as well as
with the ways of everyday life, presented, that is acted, by the museum's
employees or by the amateur "friends" of the open-air musevmi. Such museum
spectacles are very successful and very popular with the public.
6. Exhibitions or museums which travel to the (possible) visitor - i.e. itinerant
exhibitions displayed in exhibition halls, museums and galleries, various museum
buses which travel across the coimtry to enable the inhabitants of "faraway places"
to see the exhibition.
Regardless of the variety of methods of exhibition the people which prepare
them have been engaging in discussions on specific display techniques for the
last century: the use of pictorial documentation (engravings, photos, maps,
diagrams), the use of accompanying texts, the replacement of "static" pictorial
documentation by fums, videos, etc. In the last two decades exhibitions using
computers have appeared in museums (technology museimns were usually the
first to use them). They enable the visitor to look up further, additional data
about the objects exhibited. Displays using computers allow visitors, first of all
children, to learn more about a culture or historical period by means of a game.
They also enable the visitor to participate in some way in the understanding of
a culture or historical period. As the fashion changes in museums, people either
support or reject the use of figures wearing period costumes. In the 1970s and
1980s figures exhibited in the USA and representing Native Americans had the
facial features of actual persons - primarily the features of the local Native
American people who supervised whether the museum's staffed acted correctly.
Live actors in open-air museums have been a topic in discussions for over half a
century.
At the turn of 20* century it is difficult to find something new. On the
other hand, museums have to face the strong competition of television films,
educational computer programs, computer games (some of them involve
"historical" or "exotic" stories from different cultures), etc. It appears to me that
museums and galleries are not capable of competing with television and software
companies as far as technological innovations are concerned. This means that it
would be necessary to compete with the "mass media" of the late 20* century
with very sophisticated exhibitions, enabling visitors to find answers (or to try
to find answers) to the principal problems of contemporary life and human
existence. Exhibitions will have to abandon their scientific way of communicating
with visitors and to turn to a more philosophical way of communicating with
them.
This involves among others a statement that exhibitions are not so much
an expression of actual reality but more a reflection of the author's knowledge
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Exhibitions for the year 2000
and opinions (just like a book, an article or painting) - i.e. a construction
arrangement expressing the author's views on a region, species, nation, tribe or
historical period. In preparing such "constructions of reality" and in expressing
their character through subjective imagination we can make use of a wealth of
means which were not possible in "traditional" and "objective" exhibitions. A
very important aspect of such exhibitions would also be their aesthetic content.
In fact, these forms of displaying and imagination are used by the authors of
gallery exhibitions. But the principal positive aspect consists of the possibility to
use three-dimensional objects to symbolise an issue, an idea etc. - i.e. to use them
for the construction of a "problematic world/universe". It is in this way that the
Naprstek Museum in Prague is preparing an exhibition for the year 2000. The
working name is "A walk through time" and the main idea is the unity of hxmaan
knowledge and experience.
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RAZSTAVE ZA LETO 2000
Josef Kandert
V preteklem stoletju so v vseh evropskih in neevropskih muzejih uporabili
ali preizkusili vse "tradicionalne" načine razstavljanja zbirk. V zgodovini
muzeološke domišljije se je tako uveljavilo šest vrst razstav.
1. Dvorane polne predmetov, ki obiskovalcem sporočajo: "Razstavljamo
vse, kar imamo". To je verjetno najstarejši tip razstave, ki izvira iz galerij in
kabinetov čudes 16. in 17. stoletja. Tovrstni "kaos" močno privlači otroke in
nezahtevne odrasle, ki jim je muzej predvsem romantični prostor čudežnih stvari,
ki bi ga znanstvena ureditev gradiva samo pokvarila. Danes take postavitve
najdemo še v manjših krajevnih muzejih.
2. Primerjalne razstave, ki prav tako uporabljajo naštete predmete. Njihov
izvor je morda v muzejih 19. stoletja, ki so bili takrat sijajne utrdbe znanosti in
splošno usmerjenega raziskovanja. Muzej Homiman v Londonu in nekateri
britanski imiverzitetni muzeji so še vedno odličiu primeri tega načina postavitve.
3. Umetnostne razstave ali postavitve na način "umetnostne galerije". Take
razstave so v šestdesetih letih tega stoletja postale zelo priljubljene tudi v
etnografskih muzejih.
4. Postavitve, ki rekonstruirajo določena specifična kulturna in zgodovinska
stanja z uporabo vrste kulturnih predmetov, ki predstavljajo tipično zgodovinsko
hišo ali sobo. Pri rekonstrukciji kulturnega okolja širšega območja avtorji uporabijo
metode "mozaika" ali "študije primera". Mozaična metoda omogoča razstavljanja
predmetov iz različnih regionalnih krajev, ki jih avtor ima za "zelo značune" in
ki naj bi obiskovalcu posredovali podobo nekaterih značilnih lastnosti regionalne
kulture, tj. posredujejo rekonstruirano in. izmišljeno podobo regionalne kulture.
Metoda "študija primera" pomeni, da se celota kulturnih predmetov (kulturni
inventar), ki pripadajo posamezni lokaciji in določenemu obdobju uporablja za
predstavitev in ponazoritev kulture širšega območja (avtor razstave meni, da je
taka postavitev zelo značilna).
5. Muzej na prostem je posebna vrsta razstave; v njem se rekonstruira "stari"
način življenja. Rekonstrukcije omogočajo obiskovalcem, da se seznanijo z
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Razstave za leto 2000
Zgodovino neke hiše in njenih prebivalcev in z načini vsakdanjega življenja, ki
jih predstavljajo, tj. igrajo, uslužbenci muzeja ali "ljubitelji" muzejev na prostem.
Taki muzejski "spektakli" so zelo uspešni in priljubljeni pri občinstvu.
6. Razstave ali muzeji, ki gredo k obiskovalcem, tj. potujoče razstave, ki
gostujejo v razstavnih dvoranah, muzejih in galerijah in razni muzejski avtobusi,
ki potujejo po deželi in tako omogočajo ljudem v oddaljenih krajih, da si ogledajo
razstave.
Ne glede na raznolikost metod razstavljanja tisti, ki jih pripravljajo, že
stoletje razpravljajo o posebnih tehnikah razstavljanja: o uporabi slikovnega
gradiva (grafike, fotografije, zemljevidi, diagrami), o uporabi sprerrmih besedil,
o zamenjavi "statičnega" slikovnega dokumentarnega gradiva s filmi,
videoposnetki itd. V zadnjih dveh desetletjih so se v muzejih pojavile tudi
razstave, ki uporabljajo računalnike (muzeji tehnologije so jih običajno prvi
uvedli). Obiskovalcem omogočajo, da poiščejo širše dodatne podatke o
razstavljenih predmetih. Postavitve z računalniki omogočajo obiskovalcem,
predvsem otrokom, da se skozi igro naučijo več o neki kulturi ali zgodovinskem
obdobju. Hkrati omogočajo obiskovalcem, da na nek način sodelujejo v
razumevanju neke kulture ali zgodovinskega obdobja. Tako kot se spreminja
moda v muzejih, ljudje bodisi podpirajo ali zavračajo uporabo lutk, ki nosijo
zgodovinska oblačila. V sedemdesetih in osemdesetih letih tega stoletja so v
ZDA lutke, ki so predstavljale Indijance, imele poteze živih oseb - zlasti poteze
lokalnih Indijancev, ki so bedeli nad korektnim ravnanjem muzejskih delavcev.
Živi igralci v muzejih na prostem pa so že več kot pol stoletja predmet diskusij.
Na prelomu v 21. stoletje ni lahko najti karkoU novega. Na drugi strani se
muzeji soočajo z močno konkurenco televizijskih filmov, izobraževalnih
račtmalniških programov, računalniških iger (nekateri vključujejo "zgodovinske"
aU "eksotične" zgodbe iz različnih kultur) itd. Zdi se mi, da muzeji in galerije
niso kos konkurenci televizije in izdelovalcev programske opreme, vsaj ne na
ravni tehnoloških inovacij. To pomeni, da bi morali z množičnimi mediji
dvajsetega stoletja tekmovati z zelo naprednimi razstavami, ki obiskovalcem
omogočajo, da najdejo odgovore (ali jih skušajo najti) na bistvene probleme
sodobnega življenja in človekovega obstoja. Razstave bodo morale opustiti
znanstveno komunikacijo z obiskovalci in se posvetiti bolj filozofskemu načinu
komimiciranja z njinü.
Tak pristop med drugim zahteva opredelitev in izjavo, da razstave niso
touko izraz dejanske resničnosti, ampak bolj odraz avtorjevega znanja in stališč
(tako kot velja za knjigo, članek ali umetniško sliko) - da so tvorbe, ki izražajo
avtorjevo videnje nekega območja, vrste, naroda, plemena ali zgodovinskega
obdobja. Pri pripravljanju take "skor^truirane resničnosti" in pri izražanju njihove
narave skozi subjektivno domišljijo lahko uporabimo množico sredstev, ki jih
"tradicionalne" in "objektivne" razstave niso dopustile. Zelo pomemben vidik
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Josef Kandert
takili razstav je tudi njihova estetska plat. Dejansko take oblike postavitve in
domišljije že uporabljajo avtorji galerijskih razstav. Vendar je glavni pozitivni
vidik v možnosti uporabe tridimenzionalnih predmetov, ki simbolizirajo neko
temo, zamisel itd., tj. možnosti njihove uporabe za izgradnjo "vprašljivega sveta/
vesolja". Muzej Naprstek v Pragi na ta način pripravlja razstavo za leto 2000.
Delovni naslov je "Sprehod skozi čas" in vodilna misel je enotnost človekovega
znanja in doživetij.
BESEDA O AVTORJU
Tosef Kandert, dr., je študiral etnografijo,
narodopisje in afrikaiüstiko na Karlovi imiverzi
v Pragi. Terensko delo je opravljal v Nigeriji,
na Slonokoščeni obali, v Etiopiji, Zimbabveju,
Maroku in na Slovaškem. Dr. Kandert je v
Muzeju Naprstek v Pragi zaposlen kot kustos
asistent in znanstveni sodelavec. Na oddelku
za sociologije Karlove univerze predava o
socialni antropologiji.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
losef Kandert, Fh.d., studied ethno-
graphy, folklore studies and African studies at
the Charles University in Prague. He carried
out field work in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia,
Zimbabwe, Morocco, and Slovakia. Dr. Kandert
is employed at the Naprstek museum in Prague
as assistant curator and scientific fellow. He also
lectures on social anthropology at the univer-
sity's Department of Sociology. ,
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