#heritage sector

[inariedwards]

What is cultural heritage? Where does it come from and what does it do for a society?

First, there is the actual heritage – the objects, statues, memorials, buildings, and a wide variety of cultural products, customs, and traditions. These elements are not inherently heritage; they have been made so. In a process of selection, these objects – not a wide variety of other ones – were chosen to carry a specific meaning for our society.

Secondly, there is a narrative dimension – the multitudes of ways we talk about this heritage, the names we give to it, the stories we tell. This, too, is about selecting whose stories we tell as part of our shared heritage. When approached from the colonial context, deciding who gets to have a voice becomes even more important.

Finally, there is what I call the cultural archive. This archive is not a physical place. It is the manifestation of the values, stereotypes, and sentiments that societies hold. It is also where the intangible heritage of colonialism lives on. The cultural archive includes the learned behaviours we repeat without realising their harmful nature. Our cultural heritage – the selected collection of objects, traditions, and customs that we have learned to cherish and the stories we repeat in association with them – is a crucial way the coloniality of this archive is reproduced and kept alive.

Johanna Turunen: European cultural heritage and the politics of decolonisation (link)

[enbycrip]

What an *excellent* Disabled Historians Doing Disability History Zoom meeting tonight about museums and disabled representation.

(I was dressed for it and everything rather than covering up my jammies top with a cardigan 😜)

- Really interesting points raised about the heritage sector’s reliance on volunteer labour, the widespread expectation for disabled labour to be free, and how badly that intersects with the barriers disabled folk in particular face with ridiculously strict requirements to keeping benefits.

- Really interesting discussion about the backlash faced by an exhibition that acknowledged Henry VIII as a disabled person later in his life late last year, despite literally everyone knowing he had chronic pain from his leg ulcer and how much that impacted him as he aged, and how this feeds into the wider issue of “so many disabled experiences being disregarded or unrepresented because they don’t fit the abled idea of what disability is.”

- Really excellent points made about how many museums *only* focus on accessibility when thinking about disability. Which is really important, of course, but does feed into the “so many places will have accessibility for audience but not for speakers or performers” issue, because they can *just* get their head around disabled people listening, but not disabled people speaking or leading. Because they don’t believe disabled lives or disabled viewpoints have relevance or value.

[inariedwards]

Finland's Museum Days are on and I have been attending, and I bring this question that was posed there to the Finnish museum professionals to Tumblr.

Are museums institutions?

Yes museums are institutions

No museums are not institutions

Voting ended onJun 1, 2023

The topic of the meeting was the new ICOM museum definition, which these museum professionals had been shown before the poll, so I will show it to you too here:

“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

The speaker that polled the audience had also prefaced the discussion by talking about institutions, how for example marriage and the law are also institutions, in addition to things like universities and such.

And I was shocked beyond belief that the majority of those Finnish museum professionals in the room were of the opinion that museums aren't institutions.

The speaker quipped something to the effect that he needs to convince a lot of people then.

But the reason I am so shocked is that if the people working in museums don't recognise that museums are institutions, that means that they are wielding that institutional power completely unawares. And that is dangerous.

And like things like diversity, equality and inclusion came up frequently in these meetings. These are liberal well-meaning white middle class people, who at least claim that DEI is important to them. But not even recognising that the thing you work for, the thing you represent, is an institution and as such has (in my opinion, significant) institutional power, made me want to cry.

[g-art-99-blog]

Similar to the last outcome, this one only uses dodge and burn to create the outcomes. Which I believe helps the whole outcome as it helps to simply excentuate the results which I find particulaly exciting. 

One of the aspects that it has helped is to create the idea of a stronger depth, which helps the overall outcome as leads the eye closely and with more purpose. Though even with this I’m unsure weather the outcome will be suitable for use as promotion, I will however keep trying and see what the final outcome is like. 

[g-art-99-blog]

After looking at the photos taken and peices produced, I felt there was lack of simplistic and highly expressive peices. This was as I think this would help draw more of the older generation to reminisce, where as the double exposures appeal more to a younger audience. So by doing this I hoped to increase the general intrest by using a slightly different process, but still continuing the childish, homely theme and atmosphere.

I believe this photo turned out very well, even with the very subtle editing done to it, using dodge and burn to lighten and darken certain areas. This only helped to excentuate the lines and colours, which portray a tender but firm atmosphere. Which is mainly constructed by the colour combinations that meld together well, while letting some aspects stand out strongly allowing for firm connections to be made.

Unfortunately because of this I’m unsure of how I would add the textual element  ontop of this, as the outcome feels finished and complete. I think this because of how similar the feeling is between this outcome and all the other final outcomes, as they hold a softness that doesn’t seem breakable. As consequence to this I only plan on using one more photo, to create another final outcome.

[g-art-99-blog]

Using this childish atmosphere and theme, I chose to try combining these dolls with a flower photo. I did this as the colours combined rather well, with the golds helping to strengthen the smooth cream colour which I believe only enhances the effect. 

This worked well because the composition meant that the focus is immediately drawn to the floral element, because of a significant contrast in vibrancy due to the aging of the peices. Due to the vibrancy it helps to communicate the way in which life flows, which I find helps to remind you of your own experiences in life. This idea is imperative to bringing the familiar and a closeness that is often forgotten by the world and people alike when looking at history. 

Although looking forward i’m unsure where the details and specifics would be shown, though I think continuing to develop the photos would be more productive and crucial to the progression of the work. Even if the outcomes aren’t double exposures, as I believe some variety and slightly different atmospheres would help to appeal to a more varied audience which may not have been influenced before. 

[g-art-99-blog]

After reflecting on the previous piece, i decided to work back into it. Doing this by enhancing the detail and colour intensity, as it seem to have slipped my mind the previous attempt. It worked out very well as Overall there is still a sense of fragility to the pattern, which is drawn out by the use of a children's shoe. 

Like how I expressed in the previous reflection the soft and childish atmosphere created, works because of how smooth and mellow the composition is it’s simplicity. After changing the outcome slightly, I believe the overall outcome has improved though it’s not very prominent. I believe this improved result is because of the clearer pattern, even if it’s not particularly striking. 

[g-art-99-blog]

As a result of how the previous outcome worked, I created this one intentionally looking to produce a softness that is comforting. Which I think worked out really well, mainly because of how the muted colours help captivate the viewer into a childish state. 

I went with these photos in hopes that they would produce a naive but joyful atmosphere, by using the fragile looking flowers that haven’t finished growing quite yet. Though the pattern is faint I believe it works better that way, as it lets the eye glide over all of the photo with such simplicity. But I am tempted to try adding more intense colours to the pattern, even if i’m unsure of the outcome. 

As consequence of how well this piece turned out I wish to try producing more, as now I understand just what atmosphere and mood I want to portray. This clarity will help when trying to combine images together, so I can then look into what font style will help promote in the right atmosphere so not to clash.