Rereading collections

Objects, works and documents decontextualized from their places of origin and preserved in museums acquire the status of “cultural property,” therefore placed in collections and subjected to preservation, study and enhancement activities. The process of musealization has often distorted their purposes, functions and the values for which they were conceived, made and acted upon in their original contexts. How do we restore to objects the complexity of their life prior to the time of acquisition?

In this issue, we reflect on this theme and on some paths of re-reading works and objects. Musician Dudù Kouate, at the invitation of visual artist Justin Randolph Thompson to sonorize live a screening of his film From the Campidoglio to the Zoo, has re-played some musical instruments from the collection of African arts and cultures.

Adelita Husni Bey’s contribution, on the other hand, develops out of the permanent workshop A Collection in Turmoil, which began in 2022 at the invitation of LOCALES and in collaboration with the Museum of Civilizations. The workshop proposes a critical reflection on the collections of the former Colonial Museum and on the possibilities of thinking of them as composed of subjects and not only as objects without will. Finally, artist Gala Porras-Kim, during her research fellowship at the Museum of Civilizations, reflected on the relationship between curators and the objects they care for, creating a video installation that seeks to materialize this relationship.