News from Uganda National Museum

On 8^th November, 2011, the Uganda National Museum court case heard in the High Court of Uganda for the second hearing. I was out of the country (in Burundi) by the time but my team and our lawyer were present. They briefed me as follows:

The hearing started at 2:30pm in the private chambers of Justice Eldad Mwangusya.

Dr. Ephraim Kamuhangire (the former Commissioner, Department of Museums and antiquities, Government of Uganda and currently, the senior presidential advisor on cultural affairs) was the first expert witness to be examined and cross-examined. His testimony was on the history and importance of the Uganda National Museum. He boldly told court that the EA Trade Centre should not be mentioned alongside the Museum as it will deny the people of Uganda their right not only to preserve and enjoy their cultural heritage which is within the museum building but it will also be irresponsible of those advocating for the destruction of the home of that heritage to pave way for the construction of the trade centre.

Dr Kamuhangire also said that denial of a people of their cultural heritage for the 30 years, a period that construction will take, is a denial of their human rights. He further argued that objects in the Uganda Museum since 1954, acquired a new environment which is scientifically managed, whereby, if removed from that environment; the objects will break or get damaged.

He said that the museum as an institution is not transferable though some of its functions can be transferred. According to Dr. Kamuhangire, the current museum space is indeed its befitting home unlike its previous locations at Lugard’s Fort and Makerere College School of Fine Art which were smaller and borrowed facilities respectively.

Dr. Kamuhangire concluded by saying that the museum building itself is in an excellent state-it only needs regular maintenance and repairs and not condemnation.  He also said that EA Trade Centre can be built somewhere else and leave the museum to serve it purpose.

The second expert witness was Robert Baganda (from the environmental perspective). Robert was examined and cross-examined on the environmental dangers of the proposed EA Trade Centre.

Robert argued that the proposed building will affect the land use around the area and that it will also affect the persons enjoying and utilizing the green environment at and around the national museum.

Robert went ahead to argue that the proposed building will change the road network-(the judge was however, not convinced whether Robert, an environmentalist was the most competent person to talk about roads!!)

Robert suggested that: The EIA and the Heritage Impact assessment should be carried out before a project of the EA trade centre magnitude is undertaken. Thorough consultations with relevant stakeholders should be conducted.

After being briefed by my team, I realized the following errors which were committed in court.

·         Robert was partly inside while Dr. Kamuhangire was giving his testimony and this annoyed the Judge.

·         Robert’s testimony could imply that the project will be fine if an EIA or a Heritage Impact Assessment is done. Government might turn around and say that they will do all this since the project is still at proposal level.

·         Some peoples’ mobile telephones were not in silence

·         Very few journalists attended the hearing.

I therefore advised my team as follows;

·         We should follow the court rules while in court-if one is going to be a witness, please stay out when someone else is giving testimony.

·         We should also put our cell phones on silence!!

·         We have to prepare ourselves well before giving our testimonies. We also need to focus on key issues especially those we have all agreed on.

·          The right advice Robert should have given government is to relocate the E.A. Trade Centre since it will be unfit for the local environment around Uganda Museum. He should not have emphasized the need to carry out the EIA.

·         We need proper briefing and preparation by our lawyer so that we do not contravene court procedures or give responses that might weaken our case.

·         We need to involve as many journalists as possible.

What next?

Because the Judge is interested in disposing of the case before the year ends, the next hearing is scheduled for 1st December 2011. The next expert witness will be Kenneth Amunsimire, an architect from the Uganda Society of Architects. However, we should prepare an additional witness from the cultural dimension. We will try to work out this issue with Emily Drani from CCFU and see whether she will be available by the time of the hearing. We will also do whatever it takes to bring journalists on board. This requires some financing as well.

Impending challenge

The Lawyer is demanding his legal fees from us. Any suggestions on how we can move forward on this is highly welcome.

Ellady Muyambi

Executive Director,

Historic Resources Conservation Initiatives (HRCI)

Musei “nell’occhio del ciclone”

La sicurezza dei musei in primo piano dopo il terremoto e l’uragano “Irene” che hanno colpito la costa orientale degli Stati Uniti

di Caterina Pisu e Antony Wakefield (British Museum Deputy Head of Security Operations)

Le calamità naturali che recentemente hanno colpito la costa orientale degli Stati Uniti, il terremoto del 23 agosto scorso in Virginia e, soprattutto, l’uragano Irene che alla fine di agosto ha devastato vaste zone del Paese, facendo temere anche per la città di New York, hanno posto in primo piano la questione della salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale mondiale anche da questo tipo di avvenimenti, spesso imprevedibili. La sicurezza dei musei, nello specifico, è uno degli aspetti che si sono maggiormente evidenziati. Il Codice etico dell’ICOM per i musei, al punto 2.21 afferma che “particolare attenzione va dedicata allo sviluppo di politiche di protezione delle collezioni durante i conflitti armati e le altre calamità naturali o provocate dall’uomo”. Lo stesso ICOM nel 2002 ha messo a punto il programma MEP - Museums Emergency Programme - finalizzato alla formazione di professionisti museali in caso di emergenza. Sono stati elaborati, inoltre, alcuni manuali incentrati specificatamente sulla sicurezza nei musei, in particolare il capitolo “Museum Security, including Disaster Preparedness” di Pavel Jirásek in “Running a Museum”  e “Guidelines for Disaster Preparedness in Museums”, che forniscono una serie di linee guida da seguire per progettare un valido piano di emergenza e per formare il personale che lo attuerà. Per poter realizzare efficienti piani di sicurezza è importante che le esperienze siano condivise ed è per questo motivo che abbiamo rivolto alcune domande al Presidente della Museum Association of New York, John Haworth che dirige lo Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s e il George Gustav Heye Center, e alla Direttrice della Museum Association of New York, Anne W. Ackerson.  

Dott. Haworth, questa è la prima volta che New York ha dovuto affrontare due calamità naturali, il terremoto della Virginia e l’uragano Irene, in un così breve lasso di tempo. E’ stato elaborato un piano di sicurezza comune per tutti i musei dello Stato? In particolare, che cosa ha comportato il susseguirsi di questi due eventi nella gestione del vostro museo? 

Il National Museum of the American Indian’s di New York e il George Gustav Heye Center, da me diretti, fanno parte dell’istituzione Smithsoniana, il museo nazionale degli Stati Uniti. All’interno della gestione condotta dall’Istituto Smithsoniano, il museo ha sempre avuto concreti piani di emergenza finalizzati alla salvaguardia dei visitatori e delle collezioni. Il nostro staff è rimasto in contatto con le varie agenzie di New York che si occupavano di dare informazioni sull’arrivo dell’uragano. Il terremoto, invece, per noi non ha avuto un impatto rilevante. Il personale in molti casi non lo ha neppure avvertito ed è venuto a conoscenza del fatto solo dopo. In ogni caso, i responsabili delle collezioni hanno immediatamente esaminato gli oggetti con attenzione per assicurarsi che effettivamente non fossero rimasti danneggiati.  

Qual è stata l’entità dei danni causati dall’uragano?  

Sono lieto di riferire che non c’è stato alcun danno né al museo né alle sue collezioni. Il nostro personale ha lavorato diligentemente sulla base dei piani di sicurezza usuali e degli aggiornamenti che pervenivano riguardo l’avvicinarsi dell’uragano, curandosi anche di spostare un’intera esposizione fuori da un’area potenzialmente a rischio. Abbiamo chiuso il museo Domenica, in previsione dell’arrivo dell’uragano. Parte del personale è rimasto nel museo per garantire la sicurezza delle collezioni. I nostri visitatori sono stati avvisati della chiusura attraverso il sito web e le nostre pagine Facebook e Twitter, ma siamo stati felici di aver potuto riaprire già il giorno dopo.  

Sulla base della recente esperienza, in che modo potranno eventualmente essere rivisti e aggiornati i piani di sicurezza per affrontare questo tipo di evento?  

Il museo ha un accurato piano di emergenza e il personale specializzato per la sua attuazione. In ogni caso non è sempre possibile prevedere una calamità naturale. Sono felice di aver constatato che tutto il nostro staff ha saputo lavorare per realizzare perfettamente il piano di sicurezza a salvaguardia del museo, operando anche in collaborazione con le agenzie locali.  

Dott.ssa Ackerson, in che modo la Museum Association of New York, da lei diretta, ha dato supporto ai musei dello Stato di New York durante l'arrivo dell'uragano Irene? 

In un caso, la nostra Associazione ha messo in contatto una casa-museo con il personale degli Archivi di Stato di New York che ha poi provveduto a fornire assistenza. Nel nostro sito ufficiale, abbiamo postato una serie di risorse che sono state diffuse anche sulle nostre pagine Facebook e Twitter. Tramite posta elettronica abbiamo contattato i musei affinché documentassero eventuali danni, quindi abbiamo postato le loro risposte su Facebook insieme alle fotografie, relazionando, nel contempo, la nostra associazione nazionale sulle comunicazioni ricevute. 

Prima e dopo l'arrivo dell'uragano Irene, il Governo ha sostenuto la vostra azione sia dal punto di vista economico che da quello tecnico? 

In previsione dell'uragano, noi ed altre organizzazioni di New York abbiamo postato sul nostro sito web e sulla nostra pagina Facebook le informazioni fornite dall'Archivio di Stato di New York. Noi abbiamo un ottimo rapporto di collaborazione con l'Archivio di Stato di New York, che fa parte del Dipartimento dell'Educazione dello Stato di New York. L'Archivio è in grado di mobilitare il suo personale e di fornire informazioni tecniche alle istituzioni culturali che si trovano in situazioni di emergenza (alluvioni, incendi, furti, etc.). Esso è collegato allo State Emergency Management Office (SEMO), che a sua volta è collegato al Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Non abbiamo ricevuto alcun supporto economico dal Governo per essere stati una fonte di informazioni durante le emergenze. Questo è il nostro lavoro. 

 In riferimento al recente terremoto della Virginia, secondo le vostre informazioni, quanti musei di New York sono stati costruiti con le più avanzate tecniche antisismiche e quanti, invece, sarebbero a rischio nell'eventualità di altri terremoti?  

Non sono in grado di rispondere a questa domanda. Le regioni americane del Medio-Atlantico normalmente non sono zone a rischio sismico, ma non credo che molti musei potrebbero resistere a terremoti di forte entità.

(Tratto da ArcheoNews, ottobre 2011)

I musei più cliccati su Facebook? Non italiani. Il preferito è il MoMa di New York

di Giuseppe Baselice

 

La classifica dei luoghi d'arte più apprezzati sul social network vede al primo posto il Museum of modern art di New York, davanti al Metropolitan e al Louvre. Primo italiano il MAXXI di Roma, solo 70esimo. semplice classifica da social networking o nuova frontiera per veicolare la cultura e l'arte sul web?

I musei più cliccati su Facebook? Non sono italiani. Il Bel Paese sarà anche, come spesso si ricorda, un "museo a cielo aperto", e custode di buona parte del patrimonio artistico e culturale a livello mondiale, ma questo non viene rilevato e apprezzato dal mondo del web, attraverso il social network più diffuso del pianeta.

Su Facebook infatti le centinaia di milioni di utenti giornalieri preferiscono di gran lunga il MoMa di New York, che raggiunge quasi i 900mila fans. A seguire, sempre nella Grande Mela, il Metropolitan Museum of Art, con 562mila sostenitori. Al terzo posto il Louvre (403mila), quinto il Tate di Londra (310mila) davanti al Museo dell'Acropoli di Atene (301mila). A chiudere la top ten c'è il Centre Pompidou (176mila), mentre il British Museum è quattordicesimo (145mila).

Per trovare i primi siti italiani bisogna arrivare alla 70esima posizione con il MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, a Roma, con quasi 30mila fans, seguito dal MACRO - Museo d'arte contemporanea, sempre nella Capitale, con 24mila all'86esimo posto appena davanti alla Triennale di Milano con 23.900.

Ma non è il solo caso strano: la stessa Tour Eiffel, che pure conta ogni anno 6,6 milioni di visitatori reali, ha soltanto 25mila fan. E' proprio un quotidiano francese, Le Figaro, ad analizzare la questione, spiegando: il Louvre ha una pagina attiva sin dal 2009, agli albori del boom facebookiano, e ad oggi almeno 240mila fans sono utilizzatori attivi. Come dire: potenzialmente, 240mila visitatori in più.

Un bel veicolo pubblicitario, insomma, soprattutto se si pensa che al primo posto degli utenti iscritti non ci sono i francesi bensì gli americani. "Non contano solo i numeri, ma la qualità e l'utilità del contatto". spiega Sebastien Magros, consulente culturale.

La ricetta è semplice: creare appuntamenti da veicolare sulla rete, come fa ad esempio il Beaubourg, animando la piattaforma con foto, eventi e informazioni. Un modo per essere non solo cliccati, ma anche seguiti e conosciuti da un pubblico sempre più vasto. Ovvio, esiste anche il sito ufficiale, ma l'aggiornamento via Facebook consente un contatto più diretto con l'utente.

Tutto ciò potrebbe sembrare banale, visto che poi quello che conta sono i visitatori "fisici" di un museo. Ma nell'era di internet, in cui tutto, anche la cultura, viene veicolata attraverso il social networking, un pensierino i nostri musei dovrebbero farlo. Come numeri, non sarebbero secondi a nessuno. 

Tratto da First online

Il Museo diffuso a Ronciglione

Una nuovissima iniziativa è stata realizzata da molti giovani a Ronciglione: l’avvio di un Museo diffuso del territorio che non potrà non avere ampia eco e riconoscimento per le implicazioni culturali e sociali che potrà comportare.

Tanto per iniziare, l’assessore al turismo del Comune di Ronciglione, Giuseppe Duranti, è stato tra i primi a favorire e riconoscere l’alto valore dell’ iniziativa di questo Museo diffuso, realizzato da tanti giovani di Ronciglione che, a titolo gratuito, hanno voluto dimostrare come sia possibile offrire ad una città momenti di aggregazione culturalmente validi e creativi in cui si riconoscono e si sentono coinvolti. In particolare, il Museo diffuso di Ronciglione vede come punto di forza l’utilizzo delle più moderne tecnologie, come i QRCode e lo smartphone, strumenti ormai di uso comune, almeno tra i giovani. I QRCode permettono una rapida decodifica di contenuti che, nel nostro caso, rimandano a pagine web, dotate di audio; tali codici, collocati su apposite segnaletiche accanto ai principali monumenti cittadini, permettono l’ulteriore informazione dettagliata relativa a quel monumento, costituita da un audio, alcune foto e un testo, tutti correlati tra loro. Lo smartphone è in grado di scannerizzare il QRCode e di “raccontare” il monumento al turista. Tutto questo per riferire dell’uso strettamente tecnico dei dispositivi messi in atto per la descrizione dei luoghi salienti della città. Ma un Museo diffuso non si limita a questo, non è solo la presentazione di informazioni storiche, architettoniche, artistiche di un sito, va oltre: amplia il concetto di “museo” che non viene più visto come luogo delimitato e, forse, anche poco frequentato… Un Museo diffuso comunica, per definizione, un’idea di più ampio respiro relativa alla valorizzazione dei luoghi, ma anche delle persone che quei luoghi vivono, delle loro stesse capacità creative che hanno contribuito a rendere quel territorio così particolarmente unico.

E’ questa la forza di un Museo diffuso: l’integrazione naturale, vivace, in continuo progredire dei luoghi e delle comunità che li vivono; così, accanto alle segnalazioni di importanti monumenti si potranno avere QRCode accanto ad uffici o negozi o laboratori, per indicarne orari o le caratteristiche professionali o artigianali di chi li gestisce, riportando la storia e lo sviluppo che una specifica attività può avere avuto negli anni. E’ il modo con cui la stessa comunità cittadina “si racconta”, armoniosamente con i monumenti e i beni culturali che la circonda, divenendo protagonista essenziale del territorio che abita.

A Ronciglione i tanti ragazzi che avevano dato vita alla Notte Giovani, hanno saputo individuare un ambito di collaborazione e concreta operatività realizzando questo Museo diffuso che vede così essi stessi primi protagonisti di quanto hanno inteso proporre alla città.  E, d’altra parte, l’accoglienza e il sostegno dell’assessore Duranti all’idea del Museo diffuso di Ronciglione, testimonia quel carattere fondamentale che una iniziativa come questa deve avere: il coinvolgimento tra popolazione e istituzioni, insieme per proporsi come strumenti di valorizzazione e promozione del patrimonio culturale dei luoghi e delle persone che li vivono. 

(tratto da OnTuscia)

National museums and the negotiation of difficult pasts

Call for papers

26-27 January 2012

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Organised by Eunamus and Pr. Dominique Poulot, Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

This conference aims to take a transnational and comparative perspective on the conflicts that national museums have dealt with as holders of contested objects and as places where disputed or difficult pasts are displayed.

Objects of contested possession
How have European discourses of ownership developed in national museums over the last century in relation to the possession of artefacts that are subject to restitution claims? Cases of contested objects in Europe can be related to contexts of colonial appropriations of material culture and post-colonial claims, to processes of secularisation of church property, to situations of war and plunder, to archaeological finds in territories where national frontiers have changed or are disputed. From a methodological point of view case studies will be privileged that go beyond legal aspects to examine the historical significance of using objects from the past as expressions of national identity.

Difficult pasts
What role do national museums play in handling historical issues that are socially and politically sensitive and liable to give rise to contestation? Particular attention will be given to individual or comparative cases related to the construction of national territories and to conflicting representations of “natural” and ethnic communities, which have become the subject of specific revisions in light of political and intellectual developments.
Furthermore, national museums are increasingly being called upon to provide forums for dealing with highly sensitive issues of traumatic past events – particularly those related to situations of political criminality. In light of the increasing importance of memory studies, this conference will examine how museums attempt to represent the “unspeakable” elements of the past.

Please send proposals of no more than 500 words, for 20 minute presentations to eunamus@gmail.com or Felicity.Bodenstein@univ-Paris1.fr by 14 November.

http://www.eunamus.eu/

Erogazioni liberali ai musei: l’urgenza di una riforma fiscale

 di Caterina Pisu

Mentre nel mondo anglosassone le risorse private costituiscono una voce importante nel budget delle istituzioni culturali, in Italia l’apporto dei privati stenta ancora a crescere, se si esclude il caso del Colosseo che sarà restaurato dall’imprenditore Diego Della Valle con un finanziamento di 25 milioni di Euro. Secondo i dati delle più recenti statistiche, nel 2010 il British Museum, per esempio, ha ricevuto 14,7 milioni di sterline da donatori privati, sponsor, trust e fondazioni; il MoMa di New York nello stesso anno è stato sostenuto da ben 135.000 donatori, e così molti altri musei, soprattutto negli Stati Uniti, dove si favoriscono le donazioni grazie alla detassazione. Altrove si ricorre ad espedienti pubblicitari, come in Francia, in cui la situazione è abbastanza simile a quella italiana, con la differenza che non sono stati effettuati gli stessi drastici tagli alle sovvenzioni dello Stato, come purtroppo invece è avvenuto in Italia; inoltre, in Francia le donazioni sono deducibili fino al 66 %. Nonostante ciò, gli introiti non sono ugualmente sufficienti per cui il Musée d’Orsay, per esempio, ha affittato a Chanel la facciata del museo, su cui è stato apposto un gigantesco flacone di Chanel numero 5. In Italia la maggior parte delle erogazioni liberali delle imprese, pari a circa 31 milioni di euro annui, sono destinati per lo più al settore dello spettacolo, ma l’iter burocratico resta, comunque, eccessivamente intricato. Ai donatori, inoltre, spesso non viene dato il giusto risalto, e non sempre essi possono scegliere direttamente a quali istituzioni culturali indirizzare le proprie erogazioni, tranne nel caso in cui queste siano in possesso di personalità giuridica (per esempio le fondazioni); perciò solitamente le risorse vengono incamerate dal Ministero delle Finanze che poi le trasferisce al Mibac, il quale destina i fondi soltanto agli istituti culturali che non hanno autonomia amministrativa. Il meccanismo complicato, la scarsa visibilità dei donatori, unitamente alla normativa fiscale poco vantaggiosa (con una detrazione pari al 19%) hanno quindi l’effetto di scoraggiare l’investimento dei nostri imprenditori nel settore della cultura (argomento trattato anche in ArcheoNews gennaio 2011, “Mecenati in soccorso alla cultura”). La riforma delle normative che riguardano le erogazioni liberali deve essere attuata urgentemente perché ormai l’impoverimento delle risorse statali non è più sufficiente a mantenere in vita le migliaia di musei italiani e il ricorso ai finanziamenti privati non è più soltanto un’opzione. E’ necessario arrivare alla deduzione individuale al 100%, come nei paesi anglosassoni, ed anche all’autonomia amministrativa dei musei. Per ora, infatti, ci sono solo alcune iniziative, come in Toscana, per esempio, dove è stata avanzata una proposta di legge che dovrà essere approvata dalla Giunta regionale della Toscana prima della fine dell’estate e che prevede sgravi fiscali per privati e imprese che decideranno di investire in cultura. Si potrà detrarre il 20% di ciascuna donazione e, inoltre, sono previsti sconti sull’addizionale Irpef e, nel caso di aziende, sull’imposta per le attività produttive (Irap). Le riforme, tuttavia, dovranno essere ben più radicali e risolutive se si vorrà salvare veramente il patrimonio culturale nazionale.

Tratto da ArcheoNews, anno VIII, n. XCI, agosto 2011

Smithsonian Inspector General finds substandard storage conditions at American History museum

By Jacqueline Trescott

The storage conditions at the 44-year-old National Museum of American History (NMAH) and its offsite facilities are outdated, crowded and generally substandard, leaving some collections in jeopardy, according to a new report by the Smithsonian Inspector General.

“NMAH storage equipment as well as object housing and housing practices need improvement,” concluded an audit by A. Sprightley Ryan, the museum’s Inspector General. “For example, nearly all storage rooms at the museum had exposed pipes and conduits, resulting in frequent leaks that threaten collection items.”

The report, released this week, looked at the physical aspects of preservation and collections care primarily at the museum where there are 70 permanent and temporary locations for storage. The auditors found that some collections were at risk and suggested urgent improvements and a priority plan.

These problems of inadequate storage and leaks dripping into rubber buckets and general poor conditions have been uncovered in the past by the Inspector General and others. The Smithsonian has admitted replacing and repairing the storage is a major concern. Since 2006 a care and preservation fund has dedicated more than $10 million of federal funds for these projects. In 2010 the Smithsonian established an institution wide advisory committee on collections. “We do have substandard conditions,” said David Allison, associate director for curatorial affairs at American History and a member of the committee. “We are making some progress. Certainly there’s more to do.” The report listed a number of conditions that it said put collections at risk. It cited the deterioration of a delicate silk World War I flag and damage to fur coats and other clothing items in the Cold Storage Room.The report cited poor housing of whaling harpoons in one area, stating the risk to staff as well as the object if they were bumped into and fell. It described lead dust in one basement storage room at the museum and the museum itself removed asbestos during the museum’s renovation. The report contained some eye-opening graphics, depicting mercury leaking from a barometer into a beaker, enclosed by the staff in a plastic bag. Buckets catching water were photographed, as well as plastic protecting cabinets from leaks from the heathing and air conditioning systems.

The report also examined the poor conditions of outside storage at the Garber Facility, where large items from military history, transportation and agriculture are stored. Some of the 7 buildings NMAH uses at Garber contain asbestos or lead-containing dust, a well-known fact about the 1950s-era facilities. Those buildings are slated to be torn down once the funding is secured. The museum, one of the largest on the National Mall, has 3.2 million objects in its collections, with only about 5,000 regularly on view. One of the challenges is preserving the old artifacts and properly storing new donations that come in almost on a daily basis, David Allison said. He said the goal at the Smithsonian is to assess the long-term storage needs of all the museums. Eventually new facilities will be constructed at Garber in Maryland and The Steven Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia for these purposes. Some funding has helped start projects, he said, including new storage cabinets, rehousing the military collections and designing a way to install electric heating and cooling systems that will replace the antiquated pipes and methods that leak. American History will be a prototype for retooling and replacing existing storage space. This is the second Inspector General report this year to focus on conditions at American History. Examining inventory management, the February audit found lax or nonexistent inventory controls. This led, the report said, to inaccurate counts of the collections.

In the new report the office called for a “comprehensive preservation program to mitigate the deterioration of objects.”  

In general, according to the report, security is adequate at the museum proper. Yet it found not all storage areas had the required security devices, a circumstance it had pointed out before. It also said security rules in the collections storage area were a problem, pointing out keys are often given to staff and volunteers who are not authorized to be in the storage areas or the keys are not securely stored. “These conditions increase the risk of theft and diminish control over collections,” said the report.

Vigorous and accelerated planning and work are needed, said the auditors. “We believe that as stewards of the nation’s most valued and treasured collections, the Smithsonian should lead the museum community in collections care,”said the report.

Fonte: The Washington Post

Premio ICOM Italia – Musei dell’anno 2011: ecco i finalisti della II edizione

I tre musei vincitori saranno decisi da una giuria internazionale e presentati al pubblico a Siena il 29 ottobre prossimo

Dopo una lunga seduta di lavori, la giuria tecnica del “Premio ICOM Italia – Musei dell’anno 2011”, presieduta da Alberto Garlandini, Presidente di ICOM Italia, e composta da membri del Consiglio direttivo e del Collegio dei Probiviri di ICOM Italia, ha annunciato le terne dei finalisti per le categorie premiate.

• I finalisti per il premio al miglior progetto di mediazione culturale, destinato a valorizzare le realizzazioni più innovative ed originali nell’ambito dei servizi educativi, sono: il Museo MAXXI di Roma; il Museo delle Trame Mediterranee - Fondazione Orestiadi di Gibellina (Trapani); il Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia.
  
• Sono in corsa per aggiudicarsi il premio Information Comunication Tecnology: il Museo delle Scienze di Trento; i Musei Civici di Palazzo Buonaccorsi di Macerata; il MuseoTorino. In questo caso, il riconoscimento intende dare evidenza alle migliori soluzioni in materia di ICT, sia in ambiente web che on-site, volte a promuovere ed agevolare il rapporto tra pubblico e museo.
  
• Infine, altri tre musei si contenderanno il premio per il miglior progetto di partnership pubblico-privato, riconoscimento attribuito al migliore esempio di collaborazione tra istituzioni pubbliche e privati (mondo del terzo settore, società civile e aziende). Nello specifico si tratta di: Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ di Milano; Museo Benozzo Gozzoli di Castelfiorentino; Museo MAN di Nuoro.

La giuria di primo livello, su indicazione dei Probi Viri, ha escluso dalla votazione quei membri degli organi direttivi di icom italia a qualsiasi titolo interessati direttamente o indirettamente nei progetti presentati.
Le candidature dei finalisti saranno valutate da una giuria internazionale, sempre presieduta dal Presidente di ICOM Italia, Alberto Garlandini, e composta da:

• Alessandra Mottola Molfino, Presidente del Collegio dei Probiviri di ICOM Italia;
• Emma Nardi, Presidente ICOM-CECA (International Committee for Education and Cultural Action);
• Manon Blanchette, Presidente di ICOM-AVICOM (International Committee for the Audiovisual and Image and Sound New Technologies);
• Carol Ann Scott, Segretario Generale di ICOM-MPR (International Committee for Marketing and Public Relation).
  
  Fonte: Icom-Italia

Museums waging war on exhibit-eating bugs

Collections of irreplaceable and valuable artefacts in many of Britain's museums and heritage properties are under threat from a growing army of insects, particularly moth and beetle larvae. Can we stop them munching away on our precious relics?

"If you have ethnographic objects from around the world which were collected maybe 200 years ago, maybe some of these people are no longer producing these objects, maybe some have even died out... you can't just go and get another one."

"Bug man" David Pinniger, an entomologist and renowned heritage site pest control consultant, knows how important it is to put an end to an infestation before the damage becomes irreversible.
He is the person Britain's biggest museums call when conservators make the terrible discovery that one of the nation's exhibits has become lunch for some bugs.

He works with all Britain's national museums, as flourishing populations of a pest called the "clothes moth" have been causing havoc in recent years.

"Virtually all the major museums now have clothes moths, and some serious problems, where 10 years ago we found very few indeed," he says.Webbing clothes moths are about 8mm long and gold-ish in colour, but Mr Pinniger explains that people should not be fooled by their size: "People find big moths and think they do lots of damage, but clothes moths are really small."

The Pitt Rivers Museum, which is home to Oxford University's collection of anthropology and world archaeology, was recently forced to call on his services.

Heather Richardson, head of conservation at Pitt Rivers, says: "We have a much higher density of objects on display than a lot of other museums do. In a fine art institution you may have five objects in one case - we have 300 in it." The museum has always had a few clothes moths, but in 2005 they took hold of one display case and despite treating the case straight away, the problem spread to other cases.
Ms Richardson says there is a key reason moths love their displays: "These cases are full of natural fibres, hairs and skins - food potentially for beetle and moth larvae."

Adrian Doyle, collections care conservator at the Museum of London, has to keep a close eye on exhibits he classes as high on the "munchability index".

"The things most munchable are things probably most valuable, like wool, silk, cotton, older fabrics," he says.

The museum is home to the Fanshawe dress, which belonged to the Lady Mayoress of the City of London in 1751.

Mr Doyle says: "It is absolutely beautiful and highly munchable - so the risks to that are extreme and we keep a very, very close eye on it indeed.

"We have an enormous costume collection here, and if we had a couple of moths in there I would be extremely worried because they multiply so quickly, and before you know it we've got an epidemic on our hands."

David Pinniger says the nooks and crannies in historic buildings provide perfect hiding places. "To get on top of pests, you need to think like an insect. If you are a clothes moth, you want it dark, undisturbed and nice and warm, and that's the place you want to be looking."

So why are the numbers of clothes moths increasing?

Mr Pinniger says: "Everyone's shouting climate change. Because we've had a lot of warmer winters, we're often running our buildings warmer inside now, but there's also the fact that we have lost some pesticides that were very effective against clothes moths and we can't use them now."

Pesticide dichlorvos, which was used in museums to kill insect pests for years, was banned after being found to be carcinogenic.

Val Blyth, the conservator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, says there was a population explosion of webbing clothes moths throughout London three to four years ago, and agrees the loss of chemicals has hampered eradication efforts.
By using moth lures, her team found moths at the V&A were living off debris that fell into a void underneath floorboards in the British Galleries' wood-panelled rooms.

Adrian Doyle has a theory about why insect numbers are up. "When I was a kid, if you went to a museum and it was cold in winter you wore a coat. Stores were cold in winter, so insects died."

But pest specialists are also using modern techniques to assess how bad an infestation is and deal with it.

At Pitt Rivers they are trying pheromone traps, using female pheromone to attract males.

Mr Pinniger explains: "There's a glue board inside which is sticky. The board contains this glue... and a pheromone equivalent to 1,000 female moths, so these poor deluded males are attracted to that pH and then get stuck in the trap."

Dee Lauder works for English Heritage Collections Conservation as its collections care manager.

At Dover Castle, a lot of the pests are damp-related. The Kings Hall there is covered in red woollen wall hangings. She says: "The dye that they used for that, carmine, was basically made from crushed insect bodies.

"We've laid out realms of protein for the insect pests to feast upon. It's a steak house." And in gaps and cracks behind the wall hangings, insects can live without being disturbed.

She is using a moth confusion lure, called Exosex, which coats males moths in a female pheromone when they enter it, ensuring they attract other male moths once they fly back out, interrupting the breeding cycle.
But she says the simplest solution is often the most effective. "It all depends on whether it's a major infestation. In most cases a lot of it is down to good housekeeping," she says.

Val Blyth says freezing individual objects at a very cold temperature also kills bugs.

"What I do as a preventive method, or to treat an infestation as we do, is put things wrapped in our chest freezers, and take the temperature down to -30, and over a period of three days this will kill most insect pests."

When David Pinniger retires, a small group of conservators will continue working to protect Britain's museums from hungry insects. They plan to discuss their strategies at the Pest Odyssey gathering at the British Museum in October.

"To get on top of pests, you need to think like an insect”

David Pinniger Pest control consultant



Link: BBC News

Earthquake closes Smithsonian museums; damages Washington National Cathedral

All of the Smithsonian Institution museums on the National Mall have been closed in the wake of an earthquake centered in Virginia that shook the nation's capital.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough tells The Associated Press that staffers are examining the buildings for damage, and no injuries were reported.

Clough, who is an earthquake engineer, says a main concern is the Smithsonian Castle, the red, gothic-style building that was constructed in 1857.

He says he was meeting with his staff when they felt the floor move.

Clough says there are some minor cracks and broken glass in the castle. There are also reports of damage at two Smithsonian facilities in suburban Maryland that do not receive visitors.

The National Zoo is also closed.

The National Park Service says most of the monuments and memorials on the National Mall have reopened after being closed following the East Coast earthquake.

The park service says all monuments and memorials were initially evacuated and closed, including the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.

But the King memorial and several others that don't include large buildings were reopened within an hour of the 5.8-magnitude earthquake, which struck at 1:51 p.m. Visitors continued streaming through the King memorial Tuesday afternoon.

The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials were closed for several hours but reopened Tuesday evening. The Washington Monument was found to be structurally sound but it's not clear when it will reopen. The Old Post Office tower will reopen Wednesday morning.

Here is a summary of how Washington landmarks were affected by Tuesday's earthquake:

— Washington National Cathedral: Damage to three of the four pinnacles atop the main tower, and visible cracks in the church's structure. Building remains closed to visitors.

— Washington Monument: Evacuated, closed. Preliminary inspection finds it structurally sound. Grounds reopened but monument remains closed.

— U.S. Capitol: Evacuated, closed, reopened after inspection by structural engineers. House and Senate office buildings now accessible.

— White House, Old Executive Office Building, Treasury building: Nonessential employees evacuated; reopened around 4 p.m. No damage.

— Lincoln Memorial: Evacuated, closed, reopened after several hours. No damage.

— Jefferson Memorial: Evacuated, closed, reopened after several hours. No damage.

— Old Post Office tower: Evacuated, closed, no damage. Reopening Wednesday.

— Smithsonian museums: Closed Tuesday, being inspected for damage. Minor cracks, broken glass reported at 1857 Smithsonian Castle.

— MLK Memorial: Briefly closed, now open. No damage.

Link: artdaily

Plans to Demolish the Uganda Museum

Open Letter to President Yoweri Museveni, Republic of Uganda

22 February, 2011
His Excellency Yoweri Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda
State House
Kampala, Uganda

REF: PLANS TO DEMOLISH THE UGANDA MUSEUM

I am writing to you in my capacity as President of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) to express this Society’s concern with regard to the news that a 60-storied Trade Centre is planned to be erected on the grounds where the Uganda Museum now stands. The planned demolition of the Museum to give way to a trade centre will effectively end the 102-year history of one the oldest cultural institutions in Uganda. In the 1970s, the Ugandan government, then under General Idi Amin Dada, presided over the destruction of the old Museum at Lugard’s Fort. This act was decried by many Ugandans and was indeed viewed as a government culturally devastating act against its people. I implore you to reconsider this imminent act, which will be seen by Ugandans and around the world in very much the same vein, especially give the unfortunate destruction of the Kasubi tombs--Kampala’s only World Heritage site--last March.

Founded in 1908, the Uganda Museum is the principal repository of the material culture of the people of Uganda. The Museum holds the original "charms' donated by Baganda chiefs in 1908/9. Some of the charms and ethnographic objects in the Museum have ties with shrines that today serve as the nerve center of what being a Muganda, Mugika, Munyoro, Munyankole, Mlugbara etc., means. Collectively, these collections illustrate to past, present, and future generations of Ugandans, the essence of being Ugandan. They illustrate the poignant and proud history of the Pearl of Africa.

A large percentage of these collections are rare, fragile, and can never again be collected. Even if the resources were available to acquire them, the knowledgeable men and women who created them are long gone leaving the people of Uganda—their descendants—this material culture that bears witness to a once illustrious and glorious history of the peoples and cultures that make up this beautiful, rich, and rising country.

I understand from very reliable sources that a two-storey section of the trade centre will be given to the Museum. My concern is that the fragility and irreplaceable nature of many of the ethnographic and some archaeological artifacts will most assuredly ensure that these items will virtually self-destruct. Some of the collections in the Museum still have not been catalogued. The highly informative and readable catalogue Tribal Crafts of Uganda, produced by curators Margaret Trowell and Klauss Wachsmann, still remains one of the few in use. Large highly valuable collections in the Museum have yet to be fully inventoried. The archaeological material has been growing, thanks to the sustained research by the British Institute in Eastern Africa its students, and Uganda colleagues. This collection constitutes the heartbeat of Uganda. We urge the government to protect this heritage by avoiding any further deterioration of the collections though the proposed relocation for temporary storage and return to a small space in a Trade rather than Cultural Centre.

Moving the collection to another site, during the time of construction of the Trade Centre, will expose the collection to a number of problems. First, many of the collections are fragile would be subject to deterioration due to traumatic movements. Second, a vast majority of the collections in storage are poorly labeled and their provenience will be lost making them irrelevant. Third, the collections, particularly the royal regalia, arts and crafts from the many precolonial and colonial chiefdoms and kingdoms, will most assuredly fall prey to vandals, looters, petty thieves and art collectors. Witness the recent Baghdad and Egyptian Museum traumas. The Ugandan people, and indeed the African and international community, will hold your government responsible for the destruction of the heritage of the people of Uganda. The gains made during the last eighty years may be severely eroded.

Museums in Africa and elsewhere exhibit, nurture, celebrate, and promote culture. The Uganda Museum has recently been playing a leadership role in promoting regional and national unity and consciousness amongst East Africans and Ugandans. The Society of Africanists Archaeologists whose membership is global implores you to intervene to save the Uganda Museum from destruction.

As a national heritage institution, the Uganda Museum promotes Uganda’s cultural and national heritage through research on the cultural, social, technological, and political achievements of Ugandans, protects all movable and immovable antiquities and monuments within national boundaries, and fosters national unity and pride through exhibitions and displays. The nine-acre plot currently allocated to the Museum is not adequate to serve the needs of a modern Museum. To confine it to a two storey section within the trade centre sends a clear message that the government is not interested in preserving and indeed fostering the cultural heritage of Uganda. This will be tantamount to reducing a national heritage institution into a gallery where the business community and tourists might visit to view the ‘savage’ past of Uganda. How will school children, who constitute more than 60 percent of the current museum visitors be accommodated? How will they learn to be proud Ugandans, when their past is placed in a trade centre built and financed by foreign interests?

The members of SAfA are acutely aware of the challenges and dilemmas that Uganda faces in its tasks to reconstruct itself and its economy. Nevertheless, the national and global significance of the Museum, its value to scholarship, and its unique characteristics, compel this organization to urge that an alternative location be found for the Trade Centre. Destroying the Uganda Museum very likely will lead to an irretrievable loss of the pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial cultural heritage of the nation. Great nations are those that safeguard and promote homegrown political, economic, social, technological, as well as cultural institutions. We believe that Uganda belongs to those nations that have proud histories and take pride in safeguarding that heritage.

Therefore, we urge the Government of Uganda to develop a plan directed towards preventing any interference with the Museum and to include plans that will prevent any possible encroachment of the undeveloped Museum land and the immediate surroundings. As part of this action, we would recommend that information about the Museum, its national, regional, and global, significance be made widely available to local communities and discussed in local schools. We further urge the Government to consult with AFRICOM (headquartered in Nairobi), UNESCO, Commonwealth Association of Museums, and other heritage agencies and specialists to find a lasting solution that will allow the Government to achieve its goal in providing space for the proposed Trade Centre.

We respectfully thank you for your consideration of this request.

Yours sincerely

Dr. Chapurukha M. Kusimba

President, Society of Africanists Archaeologists

Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago

Curator of African Archaeology and Ethnology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago USA.