Art, Anthropology, and Contested Heritage: Ethnographies of TRACES

Description

This book presents innovative and creative ethnographic perspectives on the intersection between art, anthropology, and contested cultural heritage resulting from ethnographic and artistic research by the TRACES project (an interdisciplinary research project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme involving a collaboration between institutional partners in 11 European countries). The case studies in this volume critically assess and evaluate how and in which arrangements artistic/aesthetic methods and creative everyday practices contribute to strengthening communities both culturally and economically. They also explore the extent to which these methods emphasize minority voices and ultimately set in motion a process of reflexive Europeanisation from below which unfolds within Europe and beyond its borders. At the heart of these ethnographic case studies is the development of a new way of transmitting contentious cultural heritage, which responds to the present situation in Europe of unstable political conditions and a sense of Europe in crisis. With chapters looking at difficult art exhibitions on colonialism, death masks, Holocaust memorials and skull collections, the contributors articulate a response to the crisis in current economic-political conditions in Europe and advances brand new theoretical groundwork on the configuration of a renewed European identity. Through combining studies of heritage within museums, this volume will appeal to students and scholars of anthropology, heritage and museum studies, and visual culture. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title Copyright Contents Figures Contributors Acknowledgments 1 Working with TRACES Arnd Schneider Introduction Art, anthropology, contested heritage Contested heritage and ethnographic research with TRACES Methodologies and strategies: ethnography, experiments, and intervention Ethnographic work with the CCPs Ethnographic interventions Notes References 2 The Scattered Colonial Body Serendipity and Neglected Heritage in the Heart of Rome Arnd Schneider Serendipity from the outset Serendipitous vignette A scattered body: the setting and challenges of access Objects in transit Agency, re-enactment, and “reanimation”: facial plaster casts in the Pigorini Libyan collections and Italo-Libyans: the long decolonization Serendipitous vignette: mending memory objects Background: ambiguous de-colonials Twice returned: displaced memories and return travels, and the non-recognition of “places” Conclusion: the challenges and limits of art- intervention, or the ethnographic field as artistic laboratory Notes References 3 The Palm, the Couscous, the Face Leone Contini Interview with my grandmother Ersilia, 2002 and 2009 (edited in 2017) The couscous and the palm Re-stolen Notes 4 Research on Research on Research On Reflexive Relationality Matei Bellu Interlude: the mosquito dream Part 1. Nesting frictions: unshelling knowledge into institutional policy Part 2. The decoys of friendships in research Interlude: a walk on the hill of cemeteries Part 3. Elusive conflict: The Jewish Bath Business Center Conclusion: the defaults of boundaries References 5 Framing Faces A Conversation Between Răzvan Anton and Julie Dawson Led by Matei Bellu Răzvan Anton, Julie Dawson, and Matei Bellu CCP1 Notes 6 An Ethnography of Process Following the Realization of the Awkward Objects of Genocide Project Katarzyna Maniak Introduction Participants in the project The course of process: what did they see? Translated into an exhibition Affective violence in art Conclusion Notes References 7 Awkward Objects of Genocide Project—Difficult Encounters with Holocaust Folk Art A Hybrid Record of Research and Exhibition Planning Roma Sendyka, Erica Lehrer, Wojciech Wilczyk, and Magdalena Zych Paths towards a collaboration Research process, field notes Curatorial researching, documenting, dreaming, and planning: visual log Notes References 8 From Something to Nothing A Peculiar Ethnography of a Peculiar Art Project Blaž Bajič An expectation to say something The pre-history of DRS’s engagement with death masks From contentiousness to cultural sainthood Masking a nothing From message to massage Notes References 9 Casting of Death Domestic Research Society Creative Co-Production pizza chart with a “Casting of Death” glossary Artistic upgrade Research cone chart Notes References 10 Dead Images Multivocal Engagement with Human Remains Aglaja Kempinski My positionality “The one thing you can guarantee is that it’s going to be controversial” Multiplicity of viewpoints Using humor to navigate the unresolvable Conclusion: outcomes and reactions Notes References 11 Disposing of Dead Images Reflections on Contentious Heritage as Toxic Waste John Harries with Tal Adler and Aglaja Kempinski Dead Images An ethnography of “Dead Images” Destroying an exhibition The big photo coming down Making contentiousness The promiscuity of images Toxic remains References 12 Participatory Approaches to Places of Unresolved Heritage Working with The Communities of Long Kesh/MazeLaura McAtackney Introduction Contentious heritage and Long Kesh/Maze Prison Positionality: anthropologist, archaeologist, and insider Insights into “TRACES: Transforming Long Kesh/Maze Prison” Some final thoughts References 13 Dispersed Presence Long Kesh/Maze Prison, its Artifacts as Catalysts of Testimony Martin Krenn and Aisling O’Beirn Method 1: restaging Method 2: reappropriation Method 3: retelling Conclusion Notes on the figures Notes References Index