Workshop: Engaging the Senses / Creative Dialogue - Visual Arts, Performing Arts & Museums. Visions and Experiences, May 26 + 27, 2015. The workshop at Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “L. Pigorini” in Rome (IT) centred on the dialogue between artists and curators in the representation of cultures and it discussed and evaluated examples of such collaborations.
In recent years several ethnography museums have opened their spaces to contemporary artists inviting them to use their collections as sources of inspiration for the creation of works of art or projects of cultural critique. On one hand, such practices have been fruitful, in facilitating the sharing of authority and finding new modes of engaging with publics; on the other hand, complementary and similarly innovative practices need to be developed to engage traditional and new audiences.
The workshop intended to answer the following questions: what kind of new exhibitionary formats have resulted from the interaction between artists and curators and how they may have a sustaining impact? How can we avoid falling into the trap of using an artist installation to offer a 'quick fix'? Which collaborations have worked and what factors were critical in making some of them more successful than others
lectures by:
Arnd Schneider (University of Oslo), Benoit de l’Estoile (EHESS-ENS, Paris), Michele Lanzinger (MuSe – Museo della scienza of Trento), Giovanna Brambilla (Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Bergamo), Stefania Vannini (MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo of Rome), Marco Salustri, Francesca Gollo (Museo Laboratorio della Mente of Rome), Anna Maria Pecci (anthropologist and independent researcher), H. H. Lim (artist), Ilaria Piccioni (art critic), Sandra Ferracuti (University of Basilicata), Cristine Bluer (Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale – Tervuren), Bambi Ceuppens (Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale – Tervuren), Ali Clark (Museum Archaeology and Anthropology – University of Cambridge), Anita Herle (Museum Archaeology and Anthropology – University of Cambridge), Emanuele Rinaldo Meschini (art curator)
moderators and introduction:
Egidio Cossa (MNPE), Edith Gabrielli (Polo museale del Lazio), Vito Lattanzi (MNPE), Loretta Paderni (MNPE)
The first part of the workshop was dedicated to discussing the theoretical frameworks of the relationships between art and anthropology.
In his contribution Contemporary Art, Museums, and Anthropology, Arnd Schneider (University of Oslo), focused on the relationship between contemporary art and anthropology at a conceptual level, addressing issues such as the relationship between Anthropology of the Senses and Contemporary Art; the links between Dialogical Art and Anthropology; and ethics as an area of discussion and contestation when entering into collaborations with contemporary artists. In his lecture Challenges for Contemporary Museums, Benoît de l’Estoile (EHESS-ENS, Paris) addressed the issue of how art can be both a solution and a source of risks for museum curators in time of crisis. On the one hand, it is an easy “way out”: art can be an excuse for the curator to remain uninvolved. On the other hand, the artistic act can be conceived as a “magnet” able to turn the museum itself into a work of art.
The two lectures stimulated an active debate among participants and a range of different questions were raised about the role of ethnographic museums in the next future. Overall, the key questions explored were: What is the appropriate way to combine entertainment and education within museum environments? What are the advantages of working with artists rather than with other figures like indigenous scholars? How can museums avoid the risk of transforming the artist intervention into a “quick fix”? How can museum professionals go beyond the tendency to privilege the visual dimension over all others?
The second part of the first day was dedicated to a series of experiences and best practice examples in Italy, related to the main themes of the workshop.
Michele Lanzinger (Museo della Scienza of Trento) described the collaboration with Renzo Piano and Trento’s citizens and communities, and discussed the role of performing arts in promoting higher levels of engagement in users’ experience. Giovanna Brambilla (Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Bergamo) gave an insight into the Project “Greenhouse effect”, which was born from the idea of bringing the museum to the Prison of Bergamo in order to deliver different cultural activities, and carry out several regeneration projects through the collaboration between inmates and artists. Stefania Vannini (MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome) presented the art installation “Il tavolo del Meriditerraneo-Love difference” (2011) by Michelangelo Pistoletto and the process of audience engagement in which the MAXXI has been involved since 2010.
In the following contribution, Marco Salustri and Francesca Gollo described the Museo Laboratorio della Mente of Rome, its particular collections and the collaboration with Studio Azzurro that permitted to exhibit the intangible heritage related to the former Santa Maria della Pietà Psychiatric Hospital. Salustri illustrated the collaboration with artist Sarah Bennet and her video-installation Safe-keeping (2014).
In the last contribution of the panel, Anna Maria Pecci (anthropologist and independent researcher) presented the project “The art of making the difference” which aimed to enhance the collections of the Turin’s Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography through contemporary art, and to support and promote dialogue between emerging and outsider artists, educators and museum staff. Pecci emphasized the capacity to “stay in-between the different disciplines” as a key element for the success of the project.
The second day of the workshop, artist H. H. Lim engaged in a dialogue with the art critic Ilaria Piccioni and showed his artistic and creative pathway and some key concepts of his artistic research.
Sandra Ferracuti (University of Basilicata) made the initial statement of the Roundtable “Residences and Creative Dialogue” discussing the concept of “ethnographic arts”.
Christine Bluer and Bambi Ceuppens (Musée royal de l’Afrique Centrale – Tervuren) presented two residency programmes hosted by Tervuren Museum, Ali Clark and Anita Herle (Museum Archaeology and Anthropology – University of Cambridge) focused their attention on two projects: the experimental exhibition Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination (2009 - 2010) and the project Pacific Presences. Oceanic art and European museums (2013-2018) carried out by a network of collaborators, including community members and contemporary artists, who provided a range of expertise and experimental perspectives upon art works.
Emanuele Rinaldo Meschini (art curator) described the project Declinazione di Comunità – Declination of Comunity (2015) at Pigorini Museum.
The final debate focused on the collaboration between museums and contemporary art as well as underlying dialogues and conflicts in several projects from the SWICH project partners.
Review of the event by Rosa Anna Di Lella, Research Assistant – SWICH Project at Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “L. Pigorini”.
