21:25
Nina took me to the coast of Slovenia, where she comes from.
Behind the ethnographic museum.
Metelkova
Clogs, Gorenjska, first half of the 19th century.
Chair, Skadanscina, Primorska, 19th century.
Wooden bowls display.
Cradle, Visnjevik, Primorska, 1890
Dormouse trap.
Scale model of Simoncic's toplar, hayrack.
This ancient but still fuctionnal structure -of weathered wood
or worn concrete, usually roofed, used for the drying sheafs of
grain, clover, beans or hay- is one of those cultural elements
that the majority of Slovenes recognise as part of "their" heritage
and national identity.
Textile sample.
Regional cultural diversity
Map of national dress.
We live in the Empire of Things.
Things clothe us, surround us in our homes, at work, in our free time.
Things help us to survive and to enjoy ourselves.
Without them, there is no life and they are also an inexhaustible
source of material, social and spiritual longing.
Things are crafted by the mind and the hand of the people,
originating from the soul of the nation.
Chinese women shoes.
Stereotype and Prejudice.
Museums, too, can knowingly or unwrittingly perpetuate or even create
stereotypes and prejudices, in particular when presenting remote cultures.
This can easily happen when the space available does not allow for one or
more cultures to be presented in all their diversity and richness. Museum
workers are thus forced to generalise and simplify. In doing so we trend to focus
on the difference our own culture and foreign ones. Forced to show the exotic
nature. And therein lies the greatest danger of stereotyping, which can turn into
prejudice. This is why we deliberately exhibit two such objects: a tsantsa, or
shrunken, preserved head from the South American Shuar or Jivaro Indians of
Ecuador; and shoes worn by Chinese women whose feet had been deformed in
line with the beauty ideals of their time. The two objects shock the observer
as material proof of the cruelty of two alien cultures and, in the absence of any
other information, they could very quickly assume the main role in the
presentation of these cultures. And, in comparison to them, our western
civilisation seems so much more "civilised". But it is easily forgotten that in
the West, too, it is possible to find, here and now, equal material proof of
cruelty: and who knows what will in future be considered violent and
unacceptable that we today consider perfectly normal.
Tsantsa.
Ethnographic Museum Ljubljana.