(un)locking memories
10-01-2020
Researchreport Thomas Janssen Student 0938617 Wordcount 2192
Photographs of the cabinet are made by Jessica Rijkers during the Exposition
# Researchreport
Introduction
These days it is more and more difficult to be proud of your own background and the things we have done in the past as a family. Society nowadays is focussed more on showing inequalities and things we, or our family, have done in the past. We have become afraid to show our family history because we are afraid that our grandfathers did something that, in these days, is completely unacceptable. Our personal history, #2 Research Report
and the heirlooms that come with that, sometimes have stories which we are not proud of, or which are not beautiful. We have the tendency to hide the dark side of our past behind the beautiful stories and objects. We sometimes go as far as destroying the past we inherit, we choose to give heirlooms to museums, hide them somewhere in our home or even throw them away. We do this because we do not want to confront ourselves, or others, with the story
which is behind the item. My research question became; How can we make sure we keep our family history together, but still be able to show only the beautiful side of our past? I wanted to figure this out because in my own family we struggle with this problem and that is also why we do not showcase our family heirlooms because those items might be charged with emotions we do not understand.
Photographs of the cabinet are made by Jessica Rijkers during the Exposition
‘Do not close your eyes to things that are rotten. The wounds are deep and almost impossible to heal. Who wants to understand the book must also read the black pages.’ 1 - Fresku
Research Report #3
‘Understanding your past can help you to create a better future’ -Robert Tew
Photographs on both pages are made by me
Chapter 1 What is the problem? We are destroying our history by not being able to show our past and what we inherit. We are afraid of what we show publicly to others in our private places/homes. Because we are afraid to do so, we start tearing up our history and background. Most of the times we do that because we do not understand the story or the background of the heirloom which we inherit. We have the problem that we cannot find a place for the item in our house or work environment. Heritage encompasses a broad and overarching term: “it” #4 Research Report
is something that someone or a collective considers to be worthy of being valued, preserved, catalogued, exhibited, restored, admired. 2 There is an important difference between cultural heritage and national heritage. As the discussions of official heritage, difficult heritage and ethical choices, heritage can influence the sense of national identity, which is often mistaken for national culture. The issue these days is that we conflate the idea of national culture with the false claim that everybody in a nation is culturally the same.
We find out more and more about how every generation has its own part in our cultural heritage and how this layered system has its impact on our national heritage.8&9 Another historical issue which is a point of discussion in the Netherlands is our colonial history. We, the Dutch, have a rich history regarding traveling around the world and creating colonies in different places. Most of the time this happened with a lot of violence and blood shedding.
The problem always has been that we condemned this because we hardly knew about what happened across the sea. And those who fought the wars there rarely talked about what happened there.
become more critical of that but also more afraid of what other people might find of these actions or the items which tell that story.
in combat by him and, due to the fact that he was a fighting soldier on the frontline, those items may have been used in those fights.
The problem now is In my own family we that because we, my have a past/relation own family, know some with the colonial war of those items are The call against discrimination and to in Indonesia which the emotionally and politicreate equality is a Dutch have fought cally loaded we strugworldwide phenome- there. My grandfather gle to find a way to disnon, the past decade was recruited in the play them. We struggle the world has seen a army when the war in because these items growing amount of Indonesia started in do reflect our heritage protest movements 1945 (August 17th) and and background, an like Black lives matter, has fought there the army family, but they the women’s march, whole war until 1949 are also controversial the #metoo move(December 27th).4 because there is this ment and the climate ongoing discussion strikes.3 In our family we have a about our country’s couple of items which colonial history. These movements also he used and brought have an influence on back from that period how we look and reof time, some small flect our own actions, pieces of furniture, art but also the actions and wallets. But we that our ancestors also have some things have done. This way we that have been used Research Report #5
‘Understanding your past can help you to create a better future’ -Robert Tew
Photographs on both pages are made by me
frontline in battle are also items which we do not want to appropriate. This is because we, as a family, do not think that these items are ‘clean or innocent’ and we are very aware of the harm the may have caused to others.
cultural appropriation often arise in numerous of artistic contexts (in particular furniture, music and fashion) as well as other non-artistic contexts, such as costumes, hairstyles, cuisine, and traditional knowledge.12
Cultural appropriation is generally understood as the taking or use of the cultural products of “cultural insiders” by Because one of the “cultural outsiders”.10 problems we face is cultural appropriation. Cultural products can We do not want to ap- range widely, including propriate the items we stories, styles, motifs, artifacts, artworks, inherited because we know that the way the- traditional knowledge, se items were obtained as well as representacannot be justified. tions of the members of a particular cultuAnd the items that have been used at the re.11 Questions about
The concept of cultural appropriation can be used in either a descriptive or normative sense, and so it is important to pay attention to how it is being employed in a particular context.
The book Istori Kita5 helped me to understand the family history of the people who are from that region and have witnessed the war. But it also told me new information about what had happened there, and I do have a better understanding why my family struggles with placing these heirlooms.
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Photograph made by me during my visit in the Rautenstrauch-Joest museum
‘Why do you not look in to a larger scale then just your own family?’ -Natalia Sorzano at October 9th feedback meeting Research Report #7
# Chapter 2 How does it relate to Public & Private?
The struggle of finding places and ways to show items which are emotionally and politically loaded is not something which is new. For decades we have been trying and struggling to find ways to tell our history without offending people, appropriating discrimination and/ or cultural differences and hiding the ugly side of the things we have done. There are numerous exhibitions and museums which have been trying to tell these stories about slavery, apartheid, different wars we have been in and religions. Some museums or artists have created things which were rejected by boards and institutes because the work was not an objective view on the issue or timeframe. There have been designs for gates to mansions and objects for exhibitions about WW2 which have been declined and did start an outrage in the Netherlands.6 Much has been written about the cultural values represented by museums. The social history of museums repeatedly shows that value-based choices have been made concerning what to collect, #8 Research Report
how to collect, what to do with what has been collected, and for whom and for what purposes the collections are kept. Many of the objects become cultural icons, symbolizing values and providing tangible evidence of them. The museum, as an institution, becomes a signifier as well as a creator of cultural meanings. Museums, therefore, have a vested interest in preserving their collections, and preservation is a primary mandate of most museum policies. At the same time, the cultural value of collections can be the product of a circular and self-fulfilling path in museums.13 But there are also some very carefully curated and designed exhibitions which have showed the upmost respect regarding the nature of the objects. For instance, the collection at the ‘Tropen Museum’ in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) is a very well thought through assembly of items with a large historical value. The museum is known for its research department and their quality in creating a well-researched story to go with this object.
Photograph made by me during my visit in the Rautenstrauch-Joest museum Research Report #9
‘I think that doing a small scale is more challenging for me then a large one’ -Thomas Janssen in response to Natalia Sorzano on the 9th of October
I took my mom on this trip to the museum, to try and understand a bit more about our family history.
A different museum, which I visited for research purposes, is the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne (Keulen-Köln). This museum is specialised in how to showcase specific types of items which have a history or can be seen as an object which has a different meaning to it due to the fact that it may be a colonial piece of art.
lution we have made regarding exploring, understanding and living with other cultures and religions. The story which is created by the layout is about how we discover things regarding other cultures and religions. By creating different parts/sections in the museum, a matter of perception and opinion & transitioning doors, the museum showcases artefacts in a different way than most museums would do. 7
and Private is fairly obvious. Both large museums and families have the same struggle on how to showcase those items with a lot of backstory. This has been a struggle in the past but will become even more of a struggle in the future due to the rising awareness and protests in our society. 3
This might mean that museums will revalue their collection and The museum guided might be taking obpeople through the jects out because there museum with a very has been a change This way our percepthought through layin the way we look at out and a very carefully tion and understandselected array of attrib- ing of these artefacts is those items. different than what we utes which all have a story to tell. normally experience in a museum. The layout of the museum tells the story of The relation my project mankind and the evo- has with both Public #10 Research Report
# Conclusion Conclusion;
things we have done in our past. The way that this museum worked To conclude my research, I have with that is a very respectful way. made the choice to stay very close They highlight the aesthetic qualto my own family and our heritities of these items and also tell age. There are two main reasons the story on how these items have for this; been used. - The museums are large institutions which have large teams that can research on how to display those items which have a powerful backstory. These teams have also a lot of experience in formulating the stories of these items and are capable of creating coherent exhibitions.
The cabinet that I have made is an object which, I hope, has the qualities of becoming an heirloom itself. I took a lot of the skills that I inherited from my grandfather to create this piece of furniture which showcases my findings in this research.
I have made an Elm wooden cab- Second, for me it is also an inet with glass sides and doors. opportunity to dive in the history This way the items which have a of my own family and try to under- story which we are proud of are stand why we struggle to showdisplayed in a respectful manner. case some of these items. I tried to There is also a statement piece in use my heritage, a furniture maker, the cabinet, the burned black box. to create a solution for my family This box contains the items with on how to keep both sides of our stories we are afraid to show to history, both the good and bad others and we would like to hide. items/stories, together. This box resembles the dark past The trip to the Rautenthat we try to burn and destroy. strauch-Joest Museum in Cologne But how hard we try does not helped me a lot with trying to matter, what is inside will still live understand on how to showcase on. items, even if they have a history which might be showing the bad
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Photograph made by me during the build of the cabinet
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Photographs of the cabinet are made by Jessica Rijkers during the Exposition Research Report #13
‘Are you sure that a commercial building is the best place to present such a heavy private work?’ -Michiel Huijben during our test-walk of the expo
The location I choose to present did also fit the project, an old orphanage in the city centre of Rotterdam. The things that have happened there also are some of the darker stories and we, as the Dutch, are not proud of that. The resemblance and connection regarding my project/heritage and this place lies in the timeframe and religion which both the orphanage and my family hold dear. Both the orphanage and my family have a Roman-Catholic background, so we were though both the same standards and rules. Second, the timeframe of when this orphanage was at its busiest and the objects in the cabinet are the same. Both date back from WW2 till 1949 when the war in Indonesia ended.
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To end, I did learn a lot about my own family’s history but also about how difficult it is to create an object or place which showcases items with a troubled past. It gave me a new perspective and insight on how to deal with these issues in these troubling times.
Photographs of the cabinet are made by Jessica Rijkers during the Exposition Research Report #15
Footnotes and Sources 1 Translated from Dutch; ‘Sluit niet je ogen voor dingen die rot zijn. De wonden zijn die pen bijna niet te genezen. Wie het boek wil snappen, moet ook de zwarte bladzijdes lezen.’ Lubach, Arjen. Fresku. “Canon.” YouTube, Zondag Met Lubach, 15 Dec. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA40QEzFdko. 2 Mulder, Sjoerd. “Waarom Is Zwarte Piet Zo’n Onderdeel Van Onze Identiteit Geworden?” Trouw, Trouw, 21 Nov. 2019, https://www.trouw.nl/religie-filosofie/waarom-is-zwarte-piet-zo-n-onderdeel-van-onze-identiteit-geworden~b13180e0/. 3 Younge, Gary. “Streets on Fire: How a Decade of Protest Shaped the World.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Nov. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/nov/23/decade-of-protest-occupy-wall-street-extinction-rebellion-gary-younge. 4 “Nederlands-Indië.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Jan. 2020, https:// nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederlands-Indië. 5 Berger, Simone, and Sylvia Pessireron. Jouw Familiegeschiedenis: Ontdek Je Familiegeschiedenis Met Je (Groot)Ouders, Maak Indische, Molukse, Chinees-Indische En Hollandse Herinneringen Aan Nederlands-Indië Weer Levend!, Aerial Media Company, 2016, pp. 234–242. 6 Pontzen, Rutger. “Holocaust Als Design.” De Volkskrant, De Volkskrant, 5 Jan. 2012, https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/holocaust-als-design~b729fa009/. 7 “Theme-Based Presentation – People in Their Worlds.” Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum | Permanent Exhibition, https://www.museenkoeln.de/ rautenstrauch-joest-museum/Permanent-Exhibition.
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Footnotes and Sources 8 Matthes, Erich Hatala. “The Ethics of Cultural Heritage.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 12 July 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-cultural-heritage/#Bib. 9 Ireland, Tracy and John Schofield, 2015, “The Ethics of Cultural Heritage”, in The Ethics of Cultural Heritage, edited by Tracy Ireland and John Schofield, New York: Springer, 1–10. ISBN:10.1007/978-1-4939-1649-8_1 10 Young, James O., 2005, “Profound Offense and Cultural Appropriation”, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 63(2): 135–146. ISBN:10.1111/ j.0021-8529.2005.00190.x 11 Young, James O., 2008, Cultural Appropriation and the Arts, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN:10.1002/9780470694190 12 Young, James O. and Conrad G. Brunk (eds), 2012, The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN:10.1002/9781444311099 13 Clavir, Miriam. Preserving What Is Valued Museums, Conservation, and First Nations, UBC Press, 2002, pp. 26–30. ISBN: 9780774808606
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Photographs of the cabinet are made by Jessica Rijkers during the Exposition Thomas Janssen Spatial Design Minor Public/Private 0938617@hr.nl