{"id":1255,"date":"2011-06-23T01:05:26","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T06:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2011-06-23T01:05:26","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T06:05:26","slug":"aic-39th-annual-meeting-objects-morning-session-june-3-tangible-vs-intangible-collections-the-journey-of-two-objects-by-vinod-daniel-and-dion-peita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2011\/06\/23\/aic-39th-annual-meeting-objects-morning-session-june-3-tangible-vs-intangible-collections-the-journey-of-two-objects-by-vinod-daniel-and-dion-peita\/","title":{"rendered":"AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Objects Morning Session, June 3, \u201cTangible vs. Intangible Collections: The Journey of Two Objects,\u201d by Vinod Daniel and Dion Peita"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first three talks in the Friday morning OSG session all dealt with the issue of finding a balance between preservation and access.\u00a0 In his talk titled \u201cTangible vs. Intangible Collections: The Journey of Two Objects\u201d, Vinod Daniel, head of Cultural Heritage and Science Initiatives at the Australian Museum, demonstrated the ways in which he and his colleagues are working to bridge the gap between collections and communities.\u00a0 While the Austrian Museum holds a wide variety of cultural material, half of the objects in the collection (some 60,000 objects) come from the Pacific region; almost three quarters of this material is from the indigenous cultures of Papua New Guinea.\u00a0 Vinod and his co-author Dion Peita, Collections Coordinator for Cultural Collections and Community Engagement at the Australian Museum, engage in regular exchanges with people from the Pacific Islands and, more recently, with Pacific Island peoples living in the greater Sidney area.\u00a0 These exchanges allow these groups to access their material culture in a very tangible way.\u00a0 Objects from the collection are used for ceremonies and performances, which necessitates a dialogue between the caretakers of the object and the users.\u00a0 For example, a bowl from the collection was used in a Kava Ceremony<\/a>\u2014part of an Intangible Heritage Forum held at the Museum in 2009\u2014to mix water and plant materials.\u00a0 The bowl was cleaned after the ceremony, and although no physical change was observed, its appearance was somewhat altered. \u00a0On hearing this anecdote I found myself wondering where this arguably acceptable change to the object would fall in the conventional ethical framework of our profession.\u00a0 Yes, the bowl was altered through its use, but the intangible benefits of the activation of the bowl and the documentation of its ceremonial context, were evident.<\/p>\n

Much of Vinod\u2019s talk centered around an exciting cultural renewal project that is reconnecting people from the Vanuatu Islands, particularly the Island of Erromango, with their material culture.\u00a0 After European contact in the mid 19th<\/sup> c., a dramatic decrease in the population and the discouraging of traditional practices led to an almost complete loss of the Island\u2019s material culture.\u00a0 Fortuitously, some of this material ended up in the Australian Museum, brought there by a Christian missionary.\u00a0 Today, a collaboration between the Vanuatu Cultural Center and the Australian Museum is allowing the people of Erromango once again to access their cultural heritage.\u00a0 Through the Visiting Elders Program, members of the Erromango community were able to study and handle objects from the Museum\u2019s collection, many of which were no longer produced on their Island.\u00a0\u00a0 Sophie Nemban, a woman from Erromango working for the Vanuatu Cultural Center, was provided with funding to study the Museum\u2019s collection of 532 objects from Erromango.\u00a0 Ms. Nemban was able to examine and touch the objects, some of which she then recreated back home.\u00a0 Her work aims to revive traditional female crafts on Erromango, and the acquisition of some of this new material by the Australian Museum speaks to the success for her efforts.\u00a0 Vinod then showed the following video, available on the Museum\u2019s website, in which Chief Jerry Taki talks about the singing arrows from Erromango: Singing Arrows<\/a>. When asked if he wanted these objects to be repatriated, Jerry Taki said no, he believes that the objects are \u201cat peace\u201d where they are.\u00a0 In an interview he referred to the Museum\u2019s collection areas as a \u201csacred dancing ground\u201d.<\/p>\n

In addition to facilitating access within the Museum, Vinod and his colleagues believe that it\u2019s also important to bring the collection to the Vanuatu Islands.\u00a0 Most of young people on the Islands have never seen these objects or any like them, and the Australian Museum has put together a \u201csuitcase\u201d of sorts containing a digital version of the collection that can be brought to schools.\u00a0 The Museum is also working to facilitate web access, particularly for diasporaic Pacific Island communities in the West, through projects like the Virtual Museum of the Pacific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vinod ended his talk by discussing the broader concerns raised by increased access: the physical handling of objects (\u201cdo people have to wear white gloves all the time?\u201d and \u201cis change to objects acceptable?\u201d); security issues; and the inability of conservators and collections people to have complete control over what happens to the objects.\u00a0 He believes the secrets to the successful balance between preservation and access include establishing relationships, investing time, showing genuine interest, repeated visits and, of course, a dedicated budget. \u00a0As someone who deals mainly with archaeological materials, I spend most of my time thinking about the tangible nature of objects\u2026but Vinod\u2019s talk was a very effective reminder that the stewardship of cultural heritage must also include the preservation of its intangible properties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first three talks in the Friday morning OSG session all dealt with the issue of finding a balance between preservation and access.\u00a0 In his talk titled \u201cTangible vs. Intangible Collections: The Journey of Two Objects\u201d, Vinod Daniel, head of Cultural Heritage and Science Initiatives at the Australian Museum, demonstrated the ways in which he … Continue reading “AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Objects Morning Session, June 3, \u201cTangible vs. Intangible Collections: The Journey of Two Objects,\u201d by Vinod Daniel and Dion Peita”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32,16],"tags":[70,161,355,408,534,574,931,945,1048,1051,1053],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-objects","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aics-39th-annual-meeting","tag-australian-museum","tag-dion-peita","tag-erromango","tag-intangible-heritage","tag-kava-ceremony","tag-singing-arrows","tag-sophie-nemban","tag-vanuatu-islands","tag-vinod-daniel","tag-virtual-museum-of-the-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}