PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE

Jos van Beurden

PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE

The international projects of the KIT Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam

Bulletin 364

Royal Tropical Institute – Amsterdam KIT Tropenmuseum Bulletins of the Royal Tropical Institute Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) The Bulletin Series of the Royal Tropical KIT Tropenmuseum Institute (KIT) deals with current themes in Mauritskade 63 international development cooperation. 1092 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands KIT Bulletins offer a multi-disciplinary forum Telephone: +31 (0)20 5688 414 for scientists, policy makers, managers and Telefax: +31 (0)20 5688 331 development advisors in agriculture, natural E-mail: [email protected] resource management, health, culture, history Website: www.tropenmuseum.nl and anthropology. These fields reflect the broad scope of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) Royal Tropical Institute’s activities. KIT Publishers P.O. Box 95001 1090 HA Amsterdam, The Netherlands About the author: Telephone: +31 (0)20 5688 272 Drs Jos van Beurden (1946) is a journalist and Telefax: +31 (0)20 5688 286 publicist. He specialises in North-South E-mail: [email protected] issues. He co-wrote Jhagrapur: Poor Peasants Website: www.kit.nl/publishers and Women in a Village in Bangladesh (Dhaka, 1998, 5th imp.), as well as From © 2005 KIT Publishers, Amsterdam, Output to Outcome? 25 Years of IOB The Netherlands Evaluations (Amsterdam, 2004). For more than a decade he has focused on the Editing: Tibbon Translation protection of cultural heritage and the illicit Cover: Grafisch Ontwerpbureau Agaatsz trade in art and antiquities. Van Beurden has BNO, Meppel, The Netherlands studied this issue in many countries and Cover photograph: Schoolchildren in Kafali, published extensively on the subject, near Cotonou, Benin, visit the mobile including Goden, Graven en Grenzen: Over exhibition L’homme et son environnement kunstroof uit Afrika, Azië en Latijns Amerika (Man and environment). May 2003. (2002) (Gods, Graves and Frontiers: About the Cover photo: Paul Faber Pillage of Art from Africa, Asia and Latin DTP: Nadamo Bos, Driebergen, America). He has written country profiles of The Netherlands Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. Printing: Meester & de Jonge, Lochem, The Netherlands

ISBN: 90 6832 8506 ISSN: 0922-7911 NUR: 600 Table of contents

Preface 7

1 The challenge of imbalance: TM’s international cultural policy 9 Eastward bound – Development approach – Testimony to contact – International regulations – International cooperation – TM and the Dutch government BOXES:FIVE CITIES, FIVE STORIES 10 RESTITUTION AND MUSEUM ETHICS 14 JOINT EXHIBITIONS 17 SOUTH AFRICAN FAMILY STORIES: A GROUP PORTRAIT 18 CONSULTANT IN ZANZIBAR 21

2 Bits and pieces: Dutch international cultural policy 23 Culture and development – International cultural activities – Measures at home BOXES:EXAMPLES OF CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME PROJECTS TO 2001 24 EXAMPLES OF HGIS INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL PROJECTS 26

3 Collection management or protection: the introduction of Object ID 33 Greater protection – Getty project – Digitalising Object ID – TM in a hurry – Reactions in the South – Introduction in practice – Prospect of Object ID BOXES:OBJECT ID CHECKLIST 33 OUTLINE OF OBJECT ID TRAINING 38 MUSEUMS TRAINED OR SUPPORTED BY TM TO INTRODUCE OBJECT ID 38

4 Tailor-made: cooperation with municipal museums in Jakarta 45 Joint effort – Master plan – Preventive conservation – Back to basics – Looking back – Historical ties of Indonesian and Dutch museums BOXES: DKI MUSEUMS IN JAKARTA 46 FOLLOW-UP IN YOGYAKARTA 50 BIDESIA: MIGRATION AND ORAL TRADITION 52

5 Increasing museums’ choices: other activities 53 Spin-off – Defining TM’s role – Partnerships – Feedback BOXES:SUMMER UNIVERSITY 54 VIETNAM AS EXAMPLE 56 BENINESE MOBILE EXHIBITION 58

Conclusion 61

Preface

Recently one of our partner museums in Europe, the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg, Germany, celebrated its 125th anniversary. Reflecting on the present situation of ethnographic museums in Europe, my colleague Wulf Köpke underlined the need for such institutions to redefine their role. He referred to the kind of information that our museums were used to presenting about ‘others’, to the academic traditions ‘stored’ in our museum practices, to Eurocentrism and changing expectations and attitudes among the museum visitors, as well as to past constructions in which strict divisions were drawn between art, folk art and ethnography.1 Many of the issues he raised on the occasion of this festive event resonate with the experiences and practices of KIT Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Like every European ethnographic museum rooted in the colonial past, the Tropenmuseum faces the challenge of addressing these problems and developing a new profile.

KIT Tropenmuseum has the advantage of being embedded in a broader institution, the Royal Tropical Institute (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, KIT). KIT has gone through all the stages involved in developing from a colonial centre of expertise (from 1910) to becoming a major development institution in the fields of agriculture, health and culture (since 1950). The Tropenmuseum, together with KIT research and training departments, and its theatre and information and library services, has repeatedly developed incentives to link its presentations, exhibitions and collection policies to the changing relationships between North and South. In this process, the museum has been able consistently to link its work with cooperation and an exchange of views with partners abroad.

Towards the end of the last decade, KIT Tropenmuseum embarked on a new, active policy in the field of international cooperation, supported by the Dutch government. Two senior curators, Carel van Leeuwen and Pienke Kal, joined forces with our present head of Public Programmes, Paul Voogt, and the head of the Curatorial Department, Susan Legêne, to draft such an international programme, and many staff members enthusiastically joined in. Their efforts are described in the publication that lies before you. It is a first report on the trials and errors of this new approach. We invited an independent PREFACE 1 W. Köpke, B. Schmelz (Hg.), Hamburgs Tor zur Welt. 125 Jahre Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg. Hamburg 2004, p. 23. 7 journalist/expert to help us summarize our endeavours in order to provide us with a review of our work, and to enable our partners, funders and others involved to respond to the results.

I wish to thank the author, Jos van Beurden. He had to write his account mostly on the basis of the information we provided, and he has held up a mirror to our face. One of his strong recommendations, put forward in his conclusion, concerns more solid monitoring, evaluation, quality assessment and feedback procedures, not so much as to check the work of our partners but mainly to improve our own performance. This is a recommendation we will certainly act on.

What we aim for in our international projects are equal partnerships. We have experienced how difficult this is in our world, with all its inequalities. At the same time the projects undertaken have been an enriching experience. We sincerely invite our partners in the South to respond to this presentation of our past endeavours. Your comments will help us to promote and provoke national policies that enable cultural institutions to maintain sustainable relations in this area of culture and development.

Lejo Schenk Director KIT Tropenmuseum 1 The challenge of imbalance: TM’s international cultural policy

KIT Tropenmuseum was originally established to display art, culture and products from the Dutch colonies. Some three decades ago its focus shifted to issues in the so-called developing countries. Today, the museum attempts to present its collections in a historical and anthropological context. This first chapter describes the international situation in which the museum currently operates. It discusses the views and policies of the museum concerning international projects and its relations with partner museums.

Eastward Bound

The exterior of the impressive, neoclassical, colonial-style building of Amsterdam’s Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (Royal Tropical Institute or KIT) has remained almost unchanged since the building opened in 1926. However, the Tropenmuseum (TM), which it houses, has experienced many transformations. These will be familiar to regular visitors. For the 2004 exhibition Urban Islam,1 for example, the central light hall was divided into five sections representing five cities: Paramaribo, Marrakech, Istanbul, Dakar and Amsterdam. These formed the basis for a discourse on the diverse nature of one of the world’s major religions, the second largest in the Netherlands, which has given rise to a significant public debate. Urban Islam deals with the role of Islam in daily life and youth culture. It features both aesthetic objects and ordinary items of everyday use. In a virtual theatre presentation Amsterdammers from different religious and cultural backgrounds express opinions about issues relating to Islam. Visitors are challenged to respond to these statements. ‘The exhibition attempts to persuade visitors not to generalise’, says Susan Legêne, head of TM’s curators. ‘By presenting young Muslims from five cities across the world on equal terms, it challenges the problem of the traditional idea of “we Westerners against the others”, with all its inherent notions of inequality and hierarchy dividing old Europe from the other continents.’2 Taking the stairs to the first floor, visitors find Eastward Bound: Art, Culture and Colonialism. This multimedia spectacle embraces four semi-permanent exhibitions: a thematic display about Holland’s colonial past, and three collection displays on New Guinea, South-East Asia and Indonesian Textiles. Eastward Bound opened in 2003 and is set to remain for the next ten years. ‘In THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE 1 December 2003-September 2004 2 Communication with S. Legêne, TM’s head of the Curatorial Department, 9 March 2004. 9 those ten years we hope that every Dutch schoolchild will have had an opportunity to see the exhibition on Dutch colonialism. In addition to books, films, television programmes and other media, the museum enables them to understand the colonial past as an ongoing influence on today’s society and international relations.’3

Five cities, five stories

Paramaribo, capital of the former Dutch colony of Suriname, is a multicultural, multi-faith melting pot, where mosque and synagogue can exist side by side. In Dakar, with its overwhelming Islamic majority, each Muslim is a member of a brotherhood with its own religious leader. In Marrakech Islam is the state religion. In Istanbul religion and state are divided. In each of these cities, Muslims choose their own lifestyle. Many in the Netherlands have roots in Morocco and Turkey. Amsterdam’s Muslims, comprising eleven percent of the population, relate their religious identity to various sources, from the Arabic verses of the Qur’an to electronic messages on Internet. For more information, visit www.urbanislam.nl.

The Senegalese artist Papisto Boy explains the painting made for the Urban Islam exhibition in the Tropenmuseum. He was invited by the Amsterdam Art Fund, 2004. (Photo: Irene de Groot) PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE

10 3 Communication with S. Legêne, 9 March 2004. TM drew on input from like-minded experts from South-East Asia, various Western countries and the Netherlands to create Eastward Bound. The new presentation invites visitors to view the museum’s collections with a fresh eye. Curators made a thorough search of the depot collections and selected the finest pieces for display. The richly decorated canoes and ritual objects from New Guinea, for example, are works of art. They are shown in such a way that the focus is on their beauty and their purpose, while information is of course also provided about their historical context and provenance. ‘When rearranging the displays we interrogated the traditional ethnographic canon. This divorced objects from their social and temporal context, and was essentially a product of imperialist ideology. It emphasised difference and distinction, reflecting former political relationships. For example, while the documentation of Indonesian objects in Dutch ethnographic museums rarely mentions Islam, most objects in Middle Eastern collections are labelled Islamic, from religious and ritual objects to everyday utensils and textiles. We have now begun to re-examine our objects and to place them in their historical and ethnographical context. Where were they found? How old are they? Who collected them, when and why?’4 A door on the first floor leads to a special department. Only youngsters aged between six and twelve can enter. A poster on the door declares Exhibition Paradise & Co.5 This exhibition about Iran features a thousand-and-one objects, stories, poems, sounds, flavours and creative hands. One item is a beautiful modern triptych by Farah Ossouli showing old Persian stories by the poet Ferdosi. Children are introduced to book illumination and the art of hospitality. It is a popular place, visited by children on school trips and individually from all over the Netherlands. A key element of the exhibition is a special website www.kids-at-iran.nl, which enables Iranian and Dutch schoolchildren to communicate with each other and to get to know their respective cultures using images as well as language. TM’s children’s museum, relaunched as TM Junior, will run this exhibition until February 2006, involving pupils from two primary schools in Amsterdam, while Kanoon, the partner organisation for the cultural education of children in Iran, does the same with children there.

Development approach

The three exhibitions Eastward Bound, Urban Islam and Paradise & Co typify the present role of what is one of the Netherlands’ leading anthropological museums. TM’s history goes back to 1864, when the Maatschappij ter Bevordering van Nijverheid (Dutch Society for the Advancement of Industry) founded a museum of colonial products in the city of Haarlem. In 1910 the museum moved to Amsterdam, where it became a department of the newly founded Koloniaal Instituut (Colonial Institute), the present Royal Tropical Institute or KIT. At that time Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles

4 S. Legêne, ‘Eastward Bound: Auto-Ethnography, Empathy and the Concepts of

Authenticity’, paper for Workshop Identity Documents, Cape Town 12-13 March 2004. THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE Communication with the author, 9 March 2004. 5 This exhibition runs from September 2003 to March 2006. 11 were Dutch colonies. Of these only the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands today. The Indonesian archipelago was an especially significant source of objects for the museum’s galleries and depots. In the 1970s the discussion about the Netherlands’ colonial past opened up and intensified. Progressive political and liberation struggles in South-East Asia, Southern Africa and various Latin American countries appealed to the imagination of many in the Netherlands. Newly independent states attracted the attention of the public and politicians. Foreign aid, through multilateral, bilateral and private institutions, increased substantially and became a matter of public debate. In a world divided between the wealthy, advantaged countries of the North and the impoverished, disadvantaged countries of the South, the museum abandoned its exclusive focus on the former colonies and embraced the entire South. In 1971 the museum reformulated its policy as ‘providing information about the life and work of people in the tropics and subtropics, the way it has changed and the consequences of this, and the relationship between societies there and here’.6 This new approach was based on a visualisation of the current stage of development of these countries, or rather their underdevelopment. The museum’s objective was to raise public awareness and support for cooperative development.7 In addition, ‘people, rather than the art of palaces and temples, were given centre stage, along with the changes and developments taking place in the developing countries concerned.’8 Imitation slums, huts, shops, sounds and smells were exhibited as well as informative texts, helpful illustrations, maps and figures. New presentations about the various regions of the South were designed showing ethnological objects in combination with more recent everyday items. Despite this new focus, the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’, between North and South, remained. With hindsight, the tone of many of these exhibitions was often at best didactic, and sometimes paternalistic. It was not long before this concentration on poverty and development issues began to wear thin. The newly independent countries had matured and acquired their own policies and agendas. Some leaders and professionals began openly to oppose the dominance and patronisation of the North. Increasingly intense political, economic and cultural contacts bridged the divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The arrival in the Netherlands of large numbers of migrants from less advantaged countries also helped change public perceptions. Defining relationships with other countries in terms of development no longer sufficed. Displays of precious African, Asian and Latin American art were no longer the exclusive domain of ethnographic museums in the Netherlands and other Western countries. They were now shown in art museums alongside exhibitions of autonomous modern art from the South. At auctions high prices were paid for cultural objects from these regions.

6 Tropenmuseum, Collectienota 2003-2007: Erfgoed en Toekomst; een werkdocument. Amsterdam, 2004 (KIT Publishers, Bulletin of the Royal Tropical Institute, no. 355), p. 11.

7 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE ‘The Tropenmuseum and the Colonial Heritage’ Position Paper, March 1998, p. 7-11. 8 H. Leyten, ‘Non-Western Art in Anthropological Museums’, in: Leyten H., and Damen B., 12 Art, Anthropology and the Modes of Re-Presentation, Royal Tropical Institute, 1992, p. 19. It became clear that those who had been regarded as underdeveloped, whose problems and lack of development had been explained in exhibitions, were often also the proud creators and owners of rich cultures. The material products of these cultures required a different approach. The reassessment of these objects and deconstruction of the colonial or poverty-oriented Western interpretation became part of the process of redefining TM’s role and public profile. In the resultant fresh look at the collection it was understood that some sections – painted tree barks from the Papua region, nineteenth-century photographs, colonial libraries, coins of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) etc – were in poor shape. An investigation by the Instituut Collectie Nederland (Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage or ICN), the Dutch national expertise centre for management and preservation of moveable cultural heritage, concluded in early 1999 that thirty percent of TM’s 200,000 photographs were in bad condition, that almost all book collections and some 6,000 objects required better preservation and storage facilities and that valuable and rare objects like coins or beads had suffered from poor conservation. In fact by then improvements had already begun.

Testimony to contact

With an additional grant from the Dutch Foreign Ministry (‘Heritage Extra Project’), the museum was able to intensify efforts to improve the conservation of its holdings. As TM rediscovered its core collection the need to re-examine its colonial past became paramount. Work on this colonial heritage involved more than just historical interest. The colonial heritage at KIT Tropenmuseum was also part of the historical heritage of cultures that had been forced into a colonial relationship with the Netherlands and other colonial powers. This heritage was as important to the former colonies as it was to the former colonialists. This idea became an integral part of TM’s policy. After all, TM’s extensive collections of material culture and photography testified to ‘centuries-old contacts between the North and the South’. The museum resolved to break through ‘their supposed timelessness, and to place them in a historical context. In the past, collecting had varied from receiving gifts, exchange or trading objects to military violence, pressure and extortion.’9 TM began to rearrange the different sections of the museum and to give them a more modern place. The semi-permanent exhibition Eastward Bound was one of the results. With these innovations TM redefined its role as a ‘treasury for future generations’ and ‘a generator of culture at the cutting edge of cultures’, and its aim to offer an open forum to people and institutions. As the mission statement explains, the museum ‘promotes knowledge and understanding between Western and non-Western cultures’. TM’s role in this new phase has become more that of ‘a broker and builder of bridges’ between ‘here’ and ‘there’ and of a ‘provider of specialised knowledge’.10

9 Communication with S. Legêne, 9 March 2004. THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE 10 Communication with P. Voogt, head of TM’s Public Programmes department, 16 December 2003. 13 14 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE they willbesafeandaccessibleforthepublic.” has tosubmitarequest,andexplainwhytheobjectsshouldreturn, andalsoassureusthat principle, objectslikethesecouldbereturnedtoIndonesia,butunder certainconditions.Indonesia Borobudur, whichareshownintheEastwardBoundexhibition, arepartoftheworld’s heritage.In Rijksmuseum? DirectorLejoSchenk:“Asfarasweareconcerned,the archaeological findsfrom Netherlands EastIndiesalsodonatedantiquitiesin1934.DoesTMhold thesamepositionas were collectedinthenineteenthcentury, whiletheBatavianSocietyofArtsandSciencesin away fromtheRijksmuseum,alsohasaBuddhaheadandotherobjects linkedtoBorobudur. They the 18museums,Rijksmuseumisnotintendingtoreturnit.KITTropenmuseum, onekilometre in Indonesia.BorobudurisnowonUNESCO’s World Heritage List. Judgingfromthedeclarationof Marbles attheBritishMuseum)arousedmanyreactions. the nationswhichhousethem’.Thedeclaration(linkedtodebateonGreekParthenon become partofthemuseumsthathavecaredforthem,andbyextensionheritage to returntreasurestheyhadacquiredinthepastcountriesoforigin.Those‘have rejected theongoingillicittradeofart,antiquitiesandarchaeologicalobjects,theydidnotintend including theRijksmuseuminAmsterdam,issuedamanifestostatingthatalthoughtheystrongly A BuddhaheadattheRijksmuseum,forexample,originatesfromBorobudurtemplecomplex (Photo: IrenedeGroot) excavated inthenineteenthcentury. Buddha headfromtheBorobudur, of theyoniandlingam,onecanseea the Tropenmuseum. Behindthesculpture permanent EastwardBoundexhibition in displayinthe View oftheIndo-Javanese 12 11 of restitutioninevitablycropsup. When museumsincountriesoftheNorthwishtocooperatewithSouth,issue Restitution andmuseumethics S. Legêne,‘Cultuur&Kennis–Bijdrage aanPOPdiscussie’,paper, 1 April2002. the Dutchdaily Schenk madethisstatementduring adebateinTMon1February2003.Itwaspublished Trouw . 11 In 2002,18majorEuropeanandNorthAmericanmuseums, 12 In otherwords:goodculturalgovernance. International regulations International the newethicalapproach. museums intheUS,JapanandNetherlands,whichuntilrecentlyignored declarations, conventionsandcodes,practice.ColinRenfrewmentions exhibits, ifanydoubtexistedregardingtheirprovenance. accept itemsofculturalheritagethroughpurchase,acquisitionorloan,as contribute tothefightagainstillicittradinginculturalobjectsbyrefusing the 1994DeclarationofEthnographicMuseums.Thelatterresolvedto Ethics ofICOM(InternationalCouncilMuseums),andintheNetherlands objects. Thenewapproachwasreflectedinthe1986CodeofProfessional UNESCO Conventionagainstillicitimport,exportandtraffickingincultural and acquisitionofunprovenancedculturalobjects,theacceptance Museum inPhiladelphiaissuedaclearstatementagainstthelooting,smuggling received amajorimpetusaround1970,whentheUniversityofPennsylvania institutions suchastheUniversityofPennsylvaniaMuseum and the British however, themuseumhasstriventoapplysame stringentpolicyadoptedby caused tensionandledtoseriousdiscussionsamong TM’s staff. Since1994, dealers, butalsowhenacceptingunconditionallegacies. Insomecasesthis too manyquestionsaboutprovenancewhenpurchasing objectsfromart in Ghanathatitwouldfacilitatetheirreturnifdesired. Red ListofAfricanantiquitiesatrisksince2000.TM informedtheauthorities provenance’, themuseumnowadmits.Komastatuettes havebeenontheICOM from Ghana.‘We shouldnothavetakentheseritualobjects withsuchavague death figure,originatingfromtheToraja inSulawesi,andfiveKomastatuettes tainted acquisitions.ItwasaroundthenthatthemuseumboughtaTau Tau and conventionarenotretroactive. will notchangethelegalownershipoftheseobjects,becausedeclarations Heritage List).Thechangeinattitudetheglobalculturalsectorsince1970 objects suchastheBuddhaheadfromBorobudur(todayonWorld struggle fordominationoftheisland.Thesewereobtainedlongago,as from Lombok,donatedbyofficerswhohadtakenthemduringthefierce acquired underthecolonialregime.Acaseinpointiscollectionofobjects consequences too.Someobjectsinthe‘treasuryforfuturegenerations’were museum’s internationalregulations. both acquisition policiesandinternationalcooperation.Acquisitionconcern museum’s positionintheinternationalarena.Thisrelatedtobothcollection Redefining TM’s roleintheNetherlandsledtoareconsiderationof 14 13 For manymuseumsagapremained,andsometimesstillremains,betweenthe It tooktimetointernalisethenewethics.Curatorswere inclinednottoask Yet theethicalquestionremains.Eveninlate1980sTMwasstillaccepting C. Renfrew, Loot, Erfgoed entoekomst;eenwerkdocument For anin-depthdiscussionofthe museum’s acquisitionpolicy, see: of Antiquities)inLeiden. to theNetherlandsRenfrewmentions theRijksmuseumvoorOudheden(NationalMuseum what the museumproposestocollect,and Legitimacy andOwnership 14 KIT Tropenmuseum hadtocometermswithits 13 . KITTropenmuseum, Bulletin355,2003. The globaldebateonacquisitionethics , Duckworth,London,2000,p.72-73. Referring how , whichalsoinvolvesthe Collectienota 2003-2007: 15 THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE Museum. Every potential addition to the collection, whatever the circumstances, must have a legitimate provenance, proving that the object was outside its country of origin before 1970, the year the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing of the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property came into effect, or was exported with a legal export permit. If an art dealer or a generous benefactor cannot show sufficient provenance, the museum must refuse the object.15 According to TM’s head of the curators Susan Legêne this has been accepted by all the staff for several years. The ICOM code and the principles of the main international cultural heritage treaties, such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols, the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, are now no longer paper tigers. The acquisition of a Tau Tau figure or Koma statuette would be unthinkable now. TM has taken certain steps to respond to ethical questions more pro-actively. A Collection Commission has been appointed from among its own professionals to oversee new acquisitions.16 In addition to studying whether objects complement the museum’s key collections, it also examines whether ethical issues relating to provenance, for example, are raised. TM is aware of the importance of improving accessibility of information about its objects, and is currently compiling a digital register and documentation system of all its objects, a task which will be finished in 2007.17 TM also aims to extend its collaboration with partner museums in the South through exchange, loan and even transfer of ownership.18 Under certain conditions KIT Tropenmuseum is prepared also to restore objects.

International cooperation

Like the Dutch government’s international cultural policy, ‘the guiding principles of TM’s policy of international cooperation are the need to exchange resources, and artistic and creative potential, as well as a vision for the role of culture in development processes’, according to Susan Legêne. Well-developed national and regional, public and private museums with a concept of their role in society are a key aspect of the museum’s vision. They bolster state formation, support cultural heritage awareness and strengthen national identity. They can also help explain a country’s history, and national or global developments. Moreover, strengthening the cultural heritage sector can lead to socio-economic improvements. This applies to countries in the South and in the North alike. Partnerships between museums in the North and the South are not equal partnerships. There is an obvious and serious imbalance. Often, museums in the North have larger collections of artefacts from the South than museums in the South themselves. Museums in the South have relatively few European treasures. Many are understaffed and in financial need. Due to the rapid

15 Tropenmuseum, Collectienota 2003-2007, p. 64.

16 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE Idem, p. 73, 74. 17 Idem, p. 64. 16 18 Idem, p. 57. urbanisation of the South, the rise of a prosperous upper class in some Southern countries, and increasing interest among art dealers, collectors and museums in the industrialised world, the new museums have problems securing valuable, scarce ‘old’ objects for themselves. This in part reflects the former colonial situation, as well as current differences in infrastructure, money and networks.19

Joint exhibitions

- With the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi and the Centre for International Cooperation of Vietnamese Studies of the University of Hanoi on Village Life in the Red River Delta (1995/1996) - With the African Window Natural Cultural History Museum of Pretoria on South African Family Stories (2003-2005) - With the Karta Pustaka (Dutch Library) in Yogyakarta on Indonesian batiks and textiles (planned for 2005/6) - With the Manav Vikas Sangralahaya (Museum of the GB Pant Institute) in Allahabad and IMWO in Paramaribo on Bidesia folk culture (planned for 2006)

Museums in the South are certainly interested in international cooperation. This is prompted by a need for funding and expertise about collection management and protection, as well as a desire to curb illicit trade in cultural objects. International cooperation should be ‘stronger’ and ‘more regular’ in order to prevent ‘illicit traffic in cultural property’, said Nguyen Quoc Hung of Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture and Information.20 ‘We would love to make an inventory of the collection of our museum and of some regional museums’, assured deputy director Hab Touch of the National Museum in Phnom Penh.21 His colleague Samuel Sidibé, director of the National Museum in Bamako, shared these concerns. For him an inventory policy is also a priority: ‘European and American museum professionals can help carry out this inventory, which may be seen as a basis for further fruitful international cooperation’.22 Aware of the existing imbalance, TM tries to base partnerships on professional equality and commitment to a common cause, and to handle ‘the questions which the equality issue raises in our asymmetric world, in a transparent and pragmatic way’.23 This is not purely altruistic. KIT Tropenmuseum has its own

19 The issue was discussed in Singapore during a meeting of ASEMUS, the Asia Europe Museum Network, in March 2004. See: F. Wardani, ‘Imbalance Twixt Asian, European Museums’, in: The Jakarta Post, 18 March 2004. 20 Nguyen Quoc Hung, ‘Preventing the Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property in Vietnam’, paper for seminar on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property in South-East Asia, Bangkok, 24-26 March 2004. 21 Interview in Phnom Penh, 19 January 2004. 22 S. Sidibé, ‘Fighting Pillage: National Efforts and International Cooperation’, in: H. Leyten,

ed., Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property: Museums against Pillage. KIT, Amsterdam, 1995, THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE p. 33. 23 Communication with S. Legêne, 19 April 2004. 17 18 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE Family Stories,2003.(Photo: Paul Faber) working ontheNunnfamilystory–oneofninestoriesportrayedinexhibition andbook,South African Bie Venter (coordinator),MarkusToerien (filmmaker), CedricNunn(photographer)andhisdaughterCathy From lefttoright: Dutch, producedbyKITPublishersandKwelaPublishers. exhibition inSouthAfrica,wasamajorreward.AcatalogueaccompaniedtheshowEnglishand Tropenmuseum, thesupportofSouthAfricanMinistrySport, Tourism andCultureforthe supported byseveralfundsandprivatecompanies,includingtheDutchHGISFund.For Museum, whereitopenedinMarch2004.Itwastheresultofintenseinternationalcooperation, The exhibitionsubsequentlymovedtoPretoria’s AfricanWindowNationalCulturalHistory South Africa’s history. Their storiesprovidedmovingviews,fromvariousperspectives,oftheimpactapartheidon twentieth centurythrougholdphotographs,artworks,originaldocumentsandhouseholditems. Portrait concluded jointpreparationsforanexhibitioncalled In 2002SouthAfricanandDutchresearchers,exhibitionmakers,photographersartists South Africanfamilystories:agroup portrait In Amsterdamtheexhibitionattractedalargenumberofvisitorsandreceivedpositivereviews. . Theyfollowedninefamilies,visualisingthefateandfortunesofthesefamiliesduring South AfricanFamilyStories:AGroup interests too. International cooperation through exchanges of objects and exhibitions, and by sharing expertise and networks, helps enrich and revitalise the museum’s own collection and focus on new contemporary topics. Where possible, the museum attempts to extend partnerships beyond the usual arrangements for research and loans, to include capacity building in the professional heritage sector in the South. This is achieved in various ways, for example, through training seminars and scholarships (see chapters 4 and 5). TM has developed the software system Object ID for collection protection and management purposes (see chapter 3). The museum ensures that its Amsterdam exhibition programme maintains an international character and response. This has been achieved, for example, by involving professionals from partner museums in rearranging its semi-permanent exhibitions and compiling joint exhibitions. For these exhibitions each partner provides objects on loan to the other, while TM takes responsibility for financial matters. TM also organises visitors’ programmes linking national and international areas of interest, by inviting professionals from partner museums to attend summer schools (see chapter 5). TM participates in discussions with the Dutch government on international cultural issues.

TM and the Dutch government

The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the main source of funding for KIT Tropenmuseum’s work in the Netherlands and its international projects. Since 1999 this relationship has been organised in an ‘output finance’ structure. Three programmes are discussed in greater detail in the following chapters. The budget for these three programmes, implemented between 2000 and 2004, was € 1,500,000.24 KIT Tropenmuseum is the only ethnographic museum in the Netherlands with such an extensive international programme. According to the museum’s director, “This is also thanks to the fact that the museum is part of the KIT Royal Tropical Institute with its vast expertise in implementing and realising international projects on a broad range of development issues. No other ethnographic museum finds itself embedded in such a favourable institutional setting.”25 It is sometimes thought that this international work is a new and crucial source of income for the Amsterdam museum. When invited in 2000 to join the Object ID project, Samuel Sidibé, director of Mali’s National Museum, suspected that while TM made it appear that it was doing them a favour, he was having to fit in with the Dutch museum’s new business plan.26 When TM presented the same Object ID project during the Protection of Cultural Heritage in South-East Asia Workshop in Hanoi in April 2001, the audience also first had to be convinced that TM and was not trying to sell its software as some

24 Object ID: via the Culture and Development Programme € 754,000; DKI: From the HGIS funds (Homogeneous Group on International Cooperation) a.o. € 225,000; Institutional

Development programme via the Culture and Development Programme € 534,000. THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE 25 Communication with Lejo Schenk, 19 May 2004. 26 Communication with S. Sidibé, 2 March 1999. 19 sort of commercial venture.27 A similar suspicion is raised every now and then at the Netherlands Foreign Ministry. ‘Today, KIT Tropenmuseum, prompted by the demands of its donor, operates less from a sense of idealism and a pure focus on content than it might have fifteen years ago. It is involved with business. There is nothing wrong with this as such, although it makes monitoring and evaluation by an external partner more important.’28 TM’s head of Public Programmes, Paul Voogt, welcomes monitoring, adding that it is necessary to put this into perspective: ‘TM receives around nine million euros annually in output subsidies. The international work is interwoven with the other activities. The income from international projects is a minor fraction of that amount. With our small staff we would not be able to handle much more.’29 Since, for most of TM’s international projects with partner museums, additional external funding is needed, a donor may have a significant influence on the choice of the activities to be funded. For example in 1999 the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation limited the number of countries in which TM could introduce the Object ID object registration system. The ministry was only willing to pay for the fourteen countries that had been selected as focus countries for bilateral aid. As a result, TM found itself with rather a mixed bag of countries with which to collaborate on Object ID. This is just one example of the relationship between TM’s international programmes and Dutch government policy. Staff at the Foreign Ministry’s cultural department and TM’s staff maintain good contacts. Naturally, TM tries to influence the government’s Culture and Development Programme, both in terms of finance and content. Early in 2000, staff from the ministry and TM discussed the museum’s role in the programme. TM expressed its wish to provide Dutch embassies in a number of developing countries with information about possibilities for projects to be funded from the programme and to contribute to keeping culture ‘on the development agenda’.30 In May 2004 the museum was able to present its policies and views in this respect. Today, TM’s international policies are based on a wish to distinguish between tailor-made technical ‘capacity building’ projects and broader cultural projects promoting sustainable development. Capacity building projects provide training, museum management support, conservation and documentation policies. The broader issue of culture and development involves projects relating to topics such as relationships between migrants and their country of origin; cultural identity and non-material (intangible) heritage; strengthening cultural awareness as a contribution to conflict prevention or community development, supporting sustainable tourism policies. Whether TM has had a real impact on policy formulation is doubtful, since the Culture and Development Programme does not have a clear, focused policy but consists

27 P. Voogt, ‘Report Workshop on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in South-East Asia, Hanoi, 9-13 April, 2001’. 28 E-mail communication with M. Mulder, Press, Culture and Education Counsellor,

PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE Netherlands Embassy Jakarta, Indonesia, 18 June 2004. 29 Communication with P. Voogt, 18 March 2004. 20 30 Report of meeting with DCO and KIT, 26 January 2000. evaluation. Kenya. TM’s roleistohelpsetuptheproject,bringpartiestogether, andprovideafinal for MuseumDevelopmentinAfricaMombassa,andinternshipsatthe NationalMuseumsof reliance. ItarrangedforZanzibarimuseumprofessionalstoreceivetraining undertheProgramme step-by-step andsmall-scaleapproach’toimprovement,thenurturing ofthemuseums’self- an inspiringpartnerwithgoodideasandnetworks’, ‘has beenfillingavacuumwithrelativelygoodprojects’, mainly ofanassortmentprojectsandvariousbitspieces.Certainly, TM ministry’s staffersnoted. 33 32 31 (Photo: MubianaLuhila) Participants intheZanzibarMuseumExhibitionDevelopmentandTraining Programme, 2004. self-reliant thanmanymuseumsincountrieswithstrongtiesdonors. and itsmemberstateshadcutdiplomaticties.Asaresult,TMnoted,the museumswerefarmore comments. Zanzibarhadbeenfairlyisolatedsince1996,duetothepoliticalsituationthere.TheEU Museum andtheNationalHistoryofZanzibaraskedTMtoreviewtheirplansprovide In anattempttoimproveperformance,in2002theHouseofWonders, thePeaceMemorial Consultant inZanzibar 2002’. P. Voogt, M.Reijmers, ‘NationalMuseumsofZanzibar, Identificationmission,7-11August Ministry’s CultureandDevelopmentProgramme, 10March2004. Communication withF. Dorsman,DeputyHeadInternational CulturalPolicyoftheForeign of theDutchForeignMinistry, December2003. Communication withInspectorA.SlobofthePolicyandOperations EvaluationDepartment 31 32 33 however, and‘TMis as twoofthe TM proposed‘aphased, 21 THE CHALLENGE OF IMBALANCE

Culture anddevelopment cabinet, definedcultureinhis1990policypaper the leadingchampionofcultureaspartdevelopment policyintheDutch Cooperation oftheForeignMinistry. first culturalexperttothestaffofDirectorateGeneral forInternational Eegje Schoo,(MinisterforDevelopmentCooperation 1982-1986)appointedthe purely technicalactivities...cannotbeignored’.Following thisadvice,in1986 process inwhichculturalconditionsandtheconsequences ofwhatappeartobe noted thatdevelopmentactivities‘arecomponentsof anoveralltransformation introduced theconceptofcultureasaspecificpart development. the frameworkof‘cultureanddevelopment’. international culturalactivities.Theotherdealswithprojectswithin Ministry ofEducation,CultureandSciencetheForeignMinistry, concerns international culturalactivities.One,basedoncollaborationbetweenthe exception. of policythancoherentimplementationontheground.TheNetherlandsisno foreign aidandisregardedasessentialtodevelopment,thereoftenmoretalk political andeconomicinterestsratherthananaiminitself.Ifcultureispartof figures areontheforeignpolicyagenda,theygenerallyatooltopromote agenda. Noministerfordevelopmentcooperationmakesitapriority. Ifculture No governmentputsinternationalculturalpolicyatthetopofitsforeign culturalpolicy Bitsandpieces:Dutchinternational 2 including thematerialand immaterialproductsofthatcommunity. Through typical qualityortheentiretyofwaysthinking andlivingofacommunity, 34 Jan Pronk(MinisterforDevelopmentCooperation1973-1977 and1989-1998), The chapterdescribestheincreasingpublicinterestininternationalculturalexchanges. activities. TheproblemofcoherenceinDutchinternationalculturalpolicyisalsoexamined. cultural projectsarefunded,andwhichreflectedinKITTropenmuseum’s international chapter discussesthetwogovernmentpolicyandbudgetprinciplesonwhichinternational Dutch internationalculturalpolicyisespeciallyrelevantforKITTropenmuseum. This In 1981theNationalAdvisoryCouncilforDevelopmentCooperation(NAR) The Dutchgovernmenthasdevelopedtwopolicyandbudgetguidelinesfor Years ofDutchDevelopmentCooperation1949-1999 S. LegêneandE.Postel-Coster, ‘Isn’t ItAllCulture?’,in:J.NekkersandP. Malcontent, , TheHague,2000,p.282ff. A World ofDifference 34 NAR as ‘the Fifty 23 BITS AND PIECES: DUTCH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY 24 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE 35 . StrengtheningofLibrariesandDocumentationCentresinEasternAfrica 6. RoyalTropical InstituteforObjectIDandRegionalProgrammetoStrengthenInstitutional 5. GovernmentofYemen forseveralCulturalHeritageProjects 4. NationalAcademyforVisual Arts 3. HubertBalsFundforFilmProducersinDevelopingCountries 2. MuseumforPopularArt,LaPaz,Bolivia 1. Examples ofCulture andDevelopmentProgramme projects upuntil2001 (Photos: ElisabethdenOtter, 2001) he madeinAmsterdam. Tropenmuseum commissionedworkfromhim,which Abomey, participatedintheproject.In2004 Right: theBenineseartistCyprienTokoudagba, from of Partner MuseumsintheSouth. Programme toStrengthenInstitutionalDevelopment the ObjectIDandRegionalDevelopment d’Abomey, oneofthe fourteenmuseumsinvolvedin Above: collectioninthestoreofMuséeHistorique Theme (1981-2001) Ministry ofForeignAffairs/IOB, Development ofPartnerMuseumsintheSouth(chapters3and5) , TheHague,2002,p.80. Culture andDevelopment:TheEvaluation ofaPolicy 35 development policyhadreceivedsomeextraattention’. formulation was‘negligible’.Itthe‘endofanerainwhichcultureand Operations EvaluationDepartmenttheimpactofconferenceonpolicy report, conference ontheWorld CommissiononCultureandDevelopment’s UNESCO ministries ofForeignAffairs,andEducation,CultureSciencehosteda Cooperation. and DevelopmentProgrammewithintheDirectorate-GeneralforInternational Herfkens’s focuscountrieswereaskedtodefinetheirbilateral prioritiessector receiving Dutchbilateralaidhadanegativeimpacton culturalprojects. culture anddevelopment.Herpolicyofrestrictingthe numberofcountries development. criticised forfocusingonprofessionalartistsandfailingtolinkculture intellectuals andartistsfromtheSouth,whileHIVOSCultureFundwas development andforconfiningitsactivitiestotheinternationalsceneof sufficiently encouragingdebateintheNetherlandsaboutcultureand generally positivepress,thePrinceClausFundwascriticisedfornot exercise moreorlessautonomouspolicies.Althoughtheyhavereceiveda million eurosandthePrinceClausFundaround2.3euros.Bothfunds funding fromtheForeignMinistry:HIVOSCultureFundgetsaroundthree safely ‘atadistancefromtheministry’. separately fromtheculturalcontext’. development. Economicandtechnologicaldevelopmentcannotbeconsidered irrelevant orasanobstaclefordevelopmentbutabasissustainable noted further, ‘InDutchdevelopmentcooperation,cultureisnotseenas these waysofthinking,meaninganddirectionaregiventotheactions.’ of artinthedisadvantagedcountriesSouth. the Caribbeanthatreflectacontemporaryandoriginalapproachtothemes and supportsinnovativeculturalactivitiesinAfrica,Asia,LatinAmerica named aftertheculture-conscioushusbandofDutchmonarch,encourages poetry, visualarts,performingartsandliterature. HIVOS CultureFundsupportsculturalorganisationsassociatedwithfilm, Fund in1995andthePrinceClausforCultureDevelopment1996. 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 Culture wasrarelydiscussedinsubsequentpolicypapers.In1995theDutch Jan Pronk’s successor, EvelineHerfkens(1998-2002), paidlittleattentionto The debateontheroleofcultureindevelopmentwascontractedoutandput 1990, p.264. September 2002,p.19.ThePrince ClausFundhasorganisedseveralpublicdebates. Verslag ConferentieoverCultuurenOntwikkeling See: R.v.d. Berg,‘Rozenmetdoornen:Vier evaluatie rapporten’,in: See www See www Idem, pp.40and58. beleidsthema (1981-2001) Ministerie vanBuitenlandseZaken/IOB, Idem. J. Pronk, Our CreativeDiversity .princeclausfund.nl .hivos.nl Een Wereld vanVerschil 41 . HIVOSisoneoftheco-financing agenciesintheNetherlands. . TheHague2003,pp.38-39. . . AccordingtotheForeignMinistry’s Policyand , TheHague,MinisterievanBuitenlandseZaken,August Cultuur enOntwikkeling:deevaluatievaneen 36 That sameyearPronksetupaCulture 38 Two fundsweresetup,HIVOSCulture , PrinceClausFund,TheHague, 6 40 39 Both fundsreceiveannual The PrinceClausFund, 37 Rozen indeWoestijn, 35 He 25 BITS AND PIECES: DUTCH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY 26 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE conservation traininginMarch2004.(Photo:MartijndeRuijter) The staffoftheSurinameMuseuminParamaribo discussmaps,booksandobjectsduringacollection 0 Improvementofdepotfacilitiesandmuseum staff trainingatSurinameMuseuminParamaribo 10. .JointDutch/SouthAfricanexhibitionproject 9. Rotterdamfilmfestival:projectabout11September2001,theTwin Towers andtheIraqWar 8. ExhibitiononDutcharchitectureinWarsaw, Poland 7. Training ofsevenDKImuseumsinJakarta(seechapter4) 6. TANAP Project:Cooperationwitha.o.SriLanka,India,IndonesiaandSouthAfricaon 5. Majorexhibitionin2005on60thanniversaryofIndonesia’s declarationofindependencein 4. PoetryInternationalannualfestivalinRotterdam 3. Youth theatreanddancingperformancesinthe USandCanada 2. Equipmentandknow-howtorescuefloodaffected archivesintheCzechRepublic 1. culturalprojectsExamples ofHGISinternational and itsculturalconsequences management ofDutchEastIndiesCompany(VOC)archives museums inJakartaandLeiden South AfricanFamilyStories:AGroupPortrait been introduced. unusual. InBritain,Norway, SwedenandSwitzerland asimilardistinctionhas terms andforspecificprojectsshehasappliedanarrower concept.Thisisnot cultural componentindevelopmentactivitiesmoreeffectively. Inoperational broad sense,withoutdefininghowherdepartmentintends toobservethe reduced. Informulatingpolicy, theministerhasusedconceptofcultureina aspects ofDutchforeignaid,thebudgetforprogrammehasnotbeen this intensificationorbroadeningwouldberealised.Unlikebudgetsformost financial supporttospecificculturalprojectsinpartnercountries (culture asanaim). and thestrengtheningof‘culturalidentitiesviaspecificculturalprojects’ ‘the integrationofaculturaldimensioninprojects’(cultureasaninstrument) unchanged. ImplementationoftheCultureProgrammewouldleaveroomfor self-awareness andunderstandingbetweendifferentcultures–wouldremain aims oftheprogramme–strengtheningculturalidentity, promotingcultural and thattheCultureDevelopmentProgrammewouldbecontinued.The evaluation. Cooperation, AgnesvanArdenne(appointed2002),endorsedthefindingsof be furtherintensifiedandcanbroadened.’ restricted tothefieldsofarts,filmandheritage.‘Theexistingprogram...will cooperation remained‘largelycosmetic’. development cooperation’.Mostattemptstoincludeculturein reformulations ‘havehadvirtuallynoeffectontheimplementationof a departurefromcurrentpractices.’Inaddition,earlierdiscussionsand culture werechosenasthebasisfordevelopmentcooperation,thiswouldmean explicit focusonculturehadlargelydisappearedfromdevelopmentpolicy...If Operations EvaluationDepartmentconcludedthat‘bytheendof1990s,any to do. sector. Staffattheministry’s departmentofculturewereatalosstoknowwhat culture anddevelopmentactivitiesthesehadtobecategorisedunderanother considered culturetobeaprioritysector. ForDutchaidtobediverted education, water, infrastructureandgoodgovernance,noneofthecountries foreign assistance.Mosthadpoliciesandurgentfinancialneedsforhealth, by sector. EachwererequiredtoselecttwofoursectorsastargetsforDutch 47 46 45 44 43 In alettertoParliamentinMay2004shereconsideredherstatementthat In alettertotheDutchParliamentpresentMinisterforDevelopment In itsevaluationoftheCultureandDevelopmentProgramme,Policy Ministry, 10March2004. Communication withF. Dorsman,DeputyHead InternationalCulturalPolicy, Foreign quote isfromtheamendedversion oftheletterdated25June2004. framework programmeCulture andDeevelopment),lettertoParliament,28May2004.The ‘Verandering in beleidskaderprogrammaCultuurenOntwikkeling’(Changein policy For alistof36partnercountries,seewww December 2002. Beleidsreactie opIOBevaluatieprogrammaCultuur&Ontwikkeling beleidsthema (1981-2001) Ministerie vanBuitenlandseZaken/IOB, 44 She confirmedthatcultureisabasisforsustainabledevelopment 47 , TheHague,2002,p.2. Cultuur enOntwikkeling:Deevaluatievaneen .minbuza.nl 43 46 She offerednoindicationhow . , lettertoParliament,2 44 would be 27 BITS AND PIECES: DUTCH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY 28 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE from Turkey, Suriname,Moroccoandthe NetherlandsAntilles. the country’s non-Western communities.Thelargestnon-Western groups are two thirdsofpopulationgrowthintheNetherlandsis duetotheexpansionof and CentralEuropeancountries. remarkable increaseinculturalexchangebetweentheNetherlandsandEastern brings. TheexpansionoftheEuropeanUnioninMay2004resulteda see itasapotentialforenrichment,althoughconsciousoftheproblems Netherlands considerEuropeanunificationathreattonationalidentity;others characteristics, andtopresentthesetheoutsideworld.Somein increase, agrowingneedisfelttodefinetypicalDutchqualitiesand society toredefineitsidentity. AscontactswithothernationsinEurope languages ingrowingnumbers. Dutch authorshavebeentranslatedintoEnglish,German,Frenchandother Dutch filmsanddocumentarieshavewonmajorinternationalprizes.Novelsby Rembrandt andVan Gogh,orthemodernchoreographiesofRudivonDantzig. The architectureofRemKoolhaas,forexample,thepaintingsVermeer, frontiers.’ foreign culturesandhave,inturn,inspiredothersbeyondournational government afewyearsback.‘We havealwaysbeeninspiredbydialoguewith cultural policy. ‘Culturehasbydefinitionaninternationaldimension’,wrotethe welfare, aswellsport’. involves allformsofexchangeinthefieldsart,education,scienceand leads to understanding between thenationsandisbeneficialforbothsides.It fraternity wasstillatthecoreofDutchculturalpolicy:‘Culturalcooperation realignment ofDutchforeignpolicy, inwhichvariousaspectswerestreamlined, trend. Netherlands inthesekindsofactivities.Thereareseveralfactorsbehindthis and nationswithdiverseculturalbackgrounds’. promotion ofmoreunderstandingandbetterrelationsbetweenpeople,groups much inthecourseoftime.Aroundtwentyyearsagoitwasdefinedas‘the In essence,theaimsofDutchinternationalculturalpolicyhavenotchanged arrival hascausedfrictionandproblemsduringthelast threeorfourdecades, 52 51 50 49 48 International culturalactivities International Also significantisthechangingcompositionofDutch population.Around European integrationhasplayedapartinthis.ItchallengedDutch In recentyears,governmentshavepaidincreasingattentiontointernational cultuurbeleid 2001-2004 Ministerie vanOC&W, Idem, p.36. Evaluatie 1997-2000 Ministerie vanBuitenlandseZaken/IOB, 2003, p.11. Centraal BureauvoordeStatistiek, van HGIS-gelden Ministeries vanOC&WenBuitenlandse Zaken, 51 Various Dutchculturalproductshavegainedinternationalappreciation. 50 This increasehascoincidedwithgrowingpublicinterestinthe , TheHague,1999,p.5. , TheHague,2001,p.35. Cultuur alsconfrontatie:Uitgangspunteninternationaal , p.1. 49 Allochtonen inNederland2003 De KunstvanhetInternationaalCultuurbeleid– Internationaal Cultuurbeleid:De besteding 48 Ten yearslater, afteramajor , Voorburg/Heerlen, 52 While their to anincreaseindemandforartandantiquities.While thisisnottheplaceto combined witharapidsurgeininternationalandintercontinental travel,hasled such asdams,haveplayedarole.Growingnumbersof affluentpeople, civil conflictsareanimportantfactor. Insome cases developmentprojects, source countries.Andthishasbeenincreasingforseveral decades.War and collectors andmuseumsisrife.Considerabledamage iscausedasaresulttothe ways inwhichcollectionsandobjectsdisappear. heritage alsohavetodealwiththeproblemoftheft,smugglingandother most organisationsfundingtheimprovementofconservationDutchcultural heritage andcurbtheillicittradeinartantiquitiesNetherlands.Yet reluctant toimplementinternationalregulationsprotectendangeredcultural art andpreservationofculturalheritage,Dutchgovernmentshavebeen Despite supportforactivitiesrelatingtocultureanddevelopment,exchangeof Measures athome were definedasanaimofDutchinternationalculturalpolicy. Promotion ofDutchartisticproductsandpreservationjointculturalheritage government’s HomogeneousGroupforInternationalCooperation(HGIS). introduced aspecialbudgetforinternationalculturalprojects,providedbythe In 1997theministriesofForeignAffairsandEducation,CultureScience organising the among Dutchyoungsters.ThisalsoinspiredtheTropenmuseum when in MoroccoandTurkey arebestsellers,andmusicianshavegainedpopularity it hasalsoledtoanewwaveofartisticcreativity. Novelsbywriterswithroots number ofDutchembassies. Indonesia. related tocolonialhistoryandcommerce):India,SriLanka,SouthAfrica countries wereprioritisedforprojectstopreservemutualheritage(mostly cultural activitiesabroad. confined itsroletofundingandfacilitatingDutchinstitutionsinvolvedin become oneofthepillarsDutchforeignpolicy. TheDutchgovernmenthad ‘an increaseofthenumberinternationalculturalactivities’.Culturehad provided ‘aseriousimpulsefortheinternationalprofiling’ofDutchartsand Policy andOperationsEvaluationDepartmentconcludedthatHGISfundshad Suriname, Russia. 56 55 54 53 Illicit tradeinculturalobjectsfrompoorandvulnerable countriesbydealers, An internalreviewin1999andanevaluation2002bytheForeignMinistry’s Zaken, Ministerie vanBuitenlandseZaken/IOB, o.c.,p.3/4.MinisteriesvanOC&WenBuitenlandse Ottawa, Paris,Prague,Pretoria, RomeandTokyo. Dutch embassiesinBerlin,Budapest, Djakarta,London,Madrid,Moscow, New York, Idem. cultuurbeleid 2001-2004 Ministerie vanOC&W, Internationaal Cultuurbeleid:De bestedingvanHGIS-gelden 54 The governmentalsobegantoincreaseitsculturalinputina Urban Islam Cultuur alsconfrontatie:Uitgangspunteninternationaal , p.1. 56 exhibition. 55 This policywasextended,especiallytoGhana, . TheHague,1999,p.8. 53 Initially, four 29 BITS AND PIECES: DUTCH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY 30 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE in Dutchmuseumstoo. from origin. TheNetherlandsisalsoatransitcountryforstolennationaltreasures Rotterdam andSchipholairport,whichshouldneverhavelefttheircountriesof and ChineseartefactsobjectsfromWest Africafindtheirwaytotheportof country ratherthanasasourcecountry. NumerousantiqueSouth-EastAsian Netherlands isinvolvedinthisillicittrade,andasadestinationtransit Property. Preventing oftheIllicitImport,ExportandTransfer ofOwnershipCultural to ratifythe1970UNESCOConventiononMeansofProhibitingand have beenreturned. Hague ConventionandtheaccompanyingProtocolsearlier, thefouriconswould objects hadbeenacquiredinbadfaith.HadtheNetherlandsimplemented the Netherlands,wasturneddownbecauseitcouldnotbeprovedthat church duringtheTurkish invasionin1974andhadbeenacquiredbyacouple return offoursixteenth-centuryiconswhichhadbeenillegallyremovedfroma request madeinthe1990sbyGreekOrthodoxChurchofCyprusfor that alawwasproposedtoimplementtheConventionanditstwoProtocols.So Cultural PropertyintheEventofArmedConflict,butitwasonlyMarch2004 Netherlands’. ears inmanypartsoftheWest, including,Iamashamedtosay, inthe importance ...Formanyyears,thecallforinternationalregulationfellondeaf in 1994heremarkedthat‘theattitudeofrecipientcountriesisgreat the RijksmuseumvoorVolkenkunde (NationalMuseumofEthnology)inLeiden conventions, wasJanPronk.Attheopeningof from theSouthandaboutneedtoacceptrelevantinternational explicitly andextensivelyexpressconcernaboutthetheftofculturalobjects the relevanttreaties,orhasonlydonesobelatedly. Thelastministerto Cultural andNaturalHeritage,theNetherlandshaseitherfailedtoimplement Belgium hasasmallerartmarket) European countries.RecentlyBritain,Switzerland,Belgium andSweden(only describe theextentofthisseriousglobalproblemindetail, in dangerandwheretheprinciplesofgoodculturalgovernance aremaintained. the USreachedbilateralagreementswithcountrieswhere culturalheritageis done in1997,andthelargestartmarket,US,1983. Followingratification, 61 60 59 58 57 In July2004theNetherlandsGovernmentundertookinalettertoParliament The Dutchcabinetratifiedthe1954HagueConventionforProtectionof Apart fromthe1972ConventionConcerningProtectionofWorld Pillage speech wasprintedinH.Leyten (ed.), J. Pronk,‘FightingPovertyisImportant fortheSafeguardingofCulturalHeritage’.The See MuseumSecurityNetworkwww Latijns Amerika See e.g.J.vanBeurden, TEFAF, Letter toParliament,19July2004, reUNIDROITTreaty. chateaux , Amsterdam,Bamako,1995,13. 60 The EuropeanArtMarketin2002: ASurvey Delaying ratificationhadlefttheNetherlandsbehind mostother 59 and churchesinFrance,whilemajorrobberieshavetakenplace . KITPublishers,2002.Seebibliographyfornumerousothersources. 58 Goden GravenenGrenzen:OverKunstroofuitAfrika,Azië .museum-security 61 Illicit Traffic inCulturalProperty:MuseumsAgainst ratified theconvention,whichFrancehad . Helvoirt,2002,p.22. .org Niger Valleys . 57 clearly the exhibition in efficient instrumenttocurbtheillicittrade. and culturalheritageinspectorshavebackedtheUNIDROITConventionasan over ahundredcasesofsuspectedillicitimportculturalgoods. stopping theflowofstolenandsmuggledobjects,aswasshowninananalysis other countries. cultural objects,whichhavebeenstolen,illegallyexcavatedorsmuggledfrom government resolvedtoprepareaprohibitiveorderonimportingorholding Convention.Insteadthe period oflimitationassetintheUNIDROIT cultural objects,thereversalofburdenproofgoodfaithandlong indignation. Thegovernmentobjectedhowevertothebroaddefinitionof regions arementionedontheUNESCOWorld HeritageList,therewasgeneral known artdealerintheNetherlands.SincebothAngkorandAyutthaya Buddha headsfromAyutthaya inThailand.Theywereontheirwaytoawell- discovered two had signedthelatterin1996,aftercustomsportofRotterdam 1995 UNIDROITConventiononStolenorIllegallyExportedCulturalObjects.It The DutchletterfurtherannouncedthattheNetherlandswouldnotratify discovery oftheCambodian coherence inDutchinternationalculturalpolicies. international orientation,facesthechallengeofhelpingtostrengthen and commerce.KITTropenmuseum, withitsbaseintheNetherlandsand Dutch internationalculturalpolicylackscoherence,vacillatingbetweenethics threat, refusingtoacceptmeasures,whichmightlimitfreetrade.Asaresult, important. Themerchantdeftlysidestepstheclericwhencommerceisunder objects areparamount.Culturalbelongtoallmankind.Bordersless projects. Forthemerchant,freetrade,andmovementofpeople cultural heritageisneededtheclerichasupperhand,especiallyfordistant values andequalpartnerships.Wheneverfinancialsupportfortheprotectionof the clericandmerchant.Theformerisconcernedwithglobalethics,shared commitment ofofficialscustoms,policeandculturalheritageinspectors. facilities, thenumberofdiscoveriesdependstoomuchonpersonal 63 -62 Dutch customs,policeandculturalheritageinspectorshavehaddifficultyin It hasoftenbeensaidthatDutchforeignpolicyisaconstantstrugglebetween daily See e.g.interviewwithChiefInspector ofCulturalHeritageCharlottevanRappardinthe March 2004,p.9. for theseminaronIllicitTraffic inCulturalPropertySouth-East Asia,Bangkok,24-26 See also:E.Tijhuis, ‘TheIllicitTrade inAntiquities fromSouth-EastAsiaandChina’,paper NRC Handelsblad apsaras , 8March2002. from theAngkorregioninCambodiaandelevenold apsaras and theThaibuddhaheads,Dutchcustoms 63 With sofewinstrumentsand 62 Since the 31 BITS AND PIECES: DUTCH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY

Greater protection inventories oftheircollectionsandimprovesecurity? eventually helpmuseumsandothersinvolvedwithartantiquitiescompile America’s communicationsystemsintheeventofanuclearwar, would US PentagonwasdevelopingtopreventaSoviettakeoverorthedestructionof Who couldhaveimaginedinthe1960sthattechnologicalrevolution Collectionmanagementorprotection: the 3 and downsoftheintroductionObjectIDconcludeswithrecommendations. in fourteencountriestheSouth.ThechapterdiscussesreactionsSouth,ups explains howKITTropenmuseum developedadigitalversionandintroduceditinmuseums This chapterdiscussesObjectIDwhichdevelopedasatoolforcollectionprotection.It Keeptheinformationinasecureplace - Write ashortdescription - Answerthefollowingquestions: - Take photographs - Object IDchecklist Maker DateorPeriod o Subject o Title o DistinguishingFeatures o InscriptionsandMarkings o Measurements o MaterialsandTechniques o Type ofObject o o introduction ofObjectID 33 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION 34 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE comprehensible fornon-expertstoo. illicit tradeinculturalobjectsandtoprotectcollections. Thelisthadtobe was atoolforcollectionmanagement,theAHIPlist intendedtostopthe ways ofencouragingdocumentation.UnliketheAFRICOM Handbook,which to listthecoreinformationneededidentifyacultural objectandtopropose as ‘oneofthemostimportantmuseumdocumentationstandardsrecentyears’. designed forhandwrittencataloguing. AFRICOM within eachmuseumandinexchangesbetweenmuseums.Theextensive continually readapted’,thesestandardssoonprovedtheireffectiveness,both Africa. ‘Tested overthreeyearsonthecollectionofsixpilotmuseumsand AFRICOM networkmetinGhanatodiscussstandardsformuseumcollections systematise standardswasmadein1991,whensome120professionalsofthe objects betweenmuseumsanddevelopmentofjointprojects.Amajoreffortto for bettercollectionmanagement,security, exchangeofinformationabout continued toworkondefiningthecoreinformationaboutculturalobjectsneeded some improvements,butmuchremainedtobedone. fight thegrowingthreattoculturalobjects.UNESCOconventionsprovided museum sector, academicworldandarttradetoestablishnewmeasures theft ofculturalobjectswasalsoincreasing.Thisforcedprofessionalsinthe provide adequateinformationforinternalmuseumreports. Homulos devisedalistofbasiccategorieswithwhichtoidentifyanobjectand and to enableinformationonculturalobjectsbeexchanged.Chenhall management. Thisentailedthedevelopmentofglobalstandardscataloguing They, andmanyothers,hopedtousethenewtechnologyimprovemuseum technology. In1978RobertChenhallandPeterHomuloswrotein It wasnotlongbeforemuseumexpertsdiscoveredthepotentialofnew minimal documentationstandards. heritage andthepossibilityofaninternationalcollaborative projecttodefine Agency todiscusstheroleofdocumentationinprotection ofcultural Council ofEurope,ICOM,UNESCO,INTERPOLandtheUSInformation representatives oftheConferenceforSecurityandCooperationinEurope, In July1993theGettyArtHistoryInformationProgramme(AHIP)metwith Getty project about creatingadequaterecordsforthemillionsofobjectsstoredinmuseums’. the widespreadavailabilityofcomputertechnologyhasmadeitfeasibletothink 67 66 65 64/ Throughout the1980smuseumcommunityandothersinculturalsector Around thistimethepillageofarchaeologicalsitesandsmuggling Standards Cited inR.Thornes, Idem, p.1. R. Thornes, ICOM, Information Institute,1997,p.17. Handbook ofStandards:Documenting AfricanCollections Handbook ofStandardsDocumentingAfricanCollections , TheGettyArtHistoryInformation Program,SantaMonica,1995,p.14. Protecting CulturalObjectsinthe GlobalInformationSociety Protecting CulturalObjectsThroughInternationalDocumentation 67 At theendofmeetingAHIPwasasked 65 The AFRICOMHandbookwaswelcomed . Paris,1996. , TheGetty Museum was ‘that 64 66 against theillicitarttrade,praisedsheetforits‘fantasticsimplicity’. UNESCO’s CulturalHeritageDivisionandwell-knownpioneerinthefight Amsterdam inMay1997,andwaswidelyapplauded.Lyndell Prott,chiefof Object Identification,orIDwaspresentedatamajorconferencein Digitalising ObjectID of coreinformation.’ community. Attheend,theyallturnedouttohaveagreeduponsametypes Each norminthelistgotapprovalofatleast80percenteachinterested conclusions thantheywouldhavedoneinthepresenceofothercommunities. just discussingamongstthemselves,allcommunitieswentfartherintheir between communitieswhichusuallyhadoppositepositionsandeachcommunity information neededtoidentifyculturalobjects.‘Byavoidingconfrontations AHIP invitedeachgrouptodiscussindividuallythecategoriesofcore Thearttrade - Theinsuranceindustry - Law-enforcementagenciesandcustoms - Documentationcentreswithoutcuratorialresponsibility - Museumsandgalleries - groups involvedintherecoveryofstolenart. museums andthearttrade,AHIPtookadecisivestep.Itdistinguishedfive that itwouldnotbeallowedtolanguishamidtheusualdisagreementsbetween To ensurethatalltherelevantpartieswouldremaininvolvedinprojectand Carabinieri, Trace andtheInternationalArtLostRegister. bases, includingthoseofINTERPOL,NewScotlandYard, theItalian description andaphotographwascompatiblewiththemajorityofarttheft impressive inbothitssimplicityandthoroughness.Thelistofninenorms,a list ofcoreinformationtookthreeyears.Theresultwasachecklist,which last moment.Shaje’aTshiluila,generaldirectorofthe InstitutdesMusées conspicuously absent.Theonlypersoninvitedfromthe Southcancelledatthe with theseexistingsystems.Expertsfromthecountries oftheSouthwere standards forculturalobjects,althoughObjectIDwas generallycompatible advantaged North.Mostalreadyhadmoresophisticated documentation Almost all,however, camefromart-marketcountries ofthewealthy, describing art,antiquesandantiquities. Conference laterendorsedObjectIDastheinternational standardfor Hungarian, Italian,Korean,Persian,RussianandSpanish. UNESCO’s General was soontranslatedintoArabic,Chinese,Czech,Dutch,French,German, 70 69 68 Representatives ofallthegroupsinvolvedattended launchofObjectID. Society conferenceinAmsterdam, 27-28May1997. Communication withL.Prottat the ProtectingCulturalObjectsinGlobalInformation Interview withR.Thornes,AHIP officialresponsibleforObjectID,24October1997. Thornes, o.c. 1995, p.17. 69 The entireconsultationeffortandthecompilationof 68 70 It 35 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION 36 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE Eveline Herfkens(MinisterforDevelopmentCooperation 1998-2002)torestrict countries oftheSouth.Thissuddeninvitationwaslinked tothedecisionby international agencies,intheart-marketcountriesof theNorthandsome and repaired,intheautumnof1998amorestableversionwasinstalled. installed inbothmuseums.Anumberofbugsthesoftwarewereencountered museums wereselectedforthepilot.ByFebruary1998systemhadbeen Museum ofMaliandTMwithChampainDanang,Vietnam, thesetwo the pilotprojectfinancially. an ObjectIDformat.TheNetherlandsMinistryofForeignAffairssupported of theftthesystemhadtobeablegeneraterecordsmissingobjectsin structured andself-explanatory. Digitalimageshadtobeincorporated.Incase AFRICOM The softwarehadtocomplywiththespecificationsofObjectIDand build upthecoreoftheircollectioninformationsystemswiththissoftware’. for theuseofsoftwareandtoinvolvetwopilotmuseumsinSouth for acoreregistrationsystemmuseumobjects,developtrainingmaterial had emerged‘tostageapilotprojectthatshoulddeveloplow-budgetsoftware KIT Tropenmuseum andtheNationalEthnologicalMuseuminLeidenidea ID. IndiscussionsbetweenAHIP, theDutchCulturalHeritageInspectorate, looting hermuseuminKinshasa. Nationaux deZaïre,hadtoreturnquicklybecausemutinyingsoldierswere development. would beinterestedinObjectIDandotheraspectsof institutional programmes foranumberofnationalmuseumsindeveloping countriesthat Foreign Ministry, toformulate,withintwoweeks, oneortwolargecultural In December1999TMwasinvitedbytheculturaldepartment oftheDutch TM inahurry various technicaldifficultiesanddelays,bothpilotsweresuccessful. more informationtohand,thedailyaverageinBamakowas40objects.Despite was includedinMalithanVietnam, andtheNationalMuseumalreadyhad 1999 over3,000objectshadbeenregistered.Sincelessadditionalinformation Another teamcollectedtheinformationandentereditintodatabase.Bylate National MuseuminMalioneteamtookdigitalphotographsoftheobjects. average, some20objectswereregisteredaday, usingthenewmethod.In sufficiently protected.Work thereforeproceededatDanangMuseum.On office spaceforthecomputerequipment.Moreoverthiscouldnotbe Champa Museum,abranchofDanang’s ProvincialMuseum,hadbarelyenough 73 72 71 Since theLeidenMuseumhadalongstandingrelationshipwithNational One ofthetopicsdiscussedatconferencewasdigitalisationObject Amsterdam, 27-28May1997. paper fortheProtectingCultural ObjectsintheGlobalInformationSocietyconference J. Taekema, ‘PilotProjectCoreDataRegistrationMuseumCollections MaliandVietnam’, Some otherinstitutionswereencouraged toprovidetenderswithprojectproposals. Communication withJ.Taekema, 9October1998. Handbook ofStandards 73 By thenObjectIDhadbeenwidelyacceptedamong . Thedataentryprocesshadtobewell 72 71 proceeded muchslower’. initiative theprofessionalset-upofmuseum’s internationalworkwouldhave However, asheadofcuratorsSusanLegênenoted,‘withoutthisForeignMinistry admitted thattheMinistry’s callforproposalsmighthavebeenmanagedbetter. cultural projects,andPienkeKal,laterthestaffermostinvolvedwithObjectID, were atelephoneline,localInternetproviderandsuitableelectricitysupply. and makequickassessments.MinimaltechnicalrequirementsforObjectID TM emissariesweresenttomostofthesemuseumsfindpotentialpartners were identifiedandcontactedviaDutchembassiesinthecountriesconcerned. proposal foravirtualplatformparticipantmuseums.Nationalmuseums chapter 5).IncludedintheObjectIDprogrammewasadigitalhelpdeskand Strengthen InstitutionalDevelopmentofPartnerMuseumsintheSouth(see programmes wereformulated:ObjectID,andRegionalProgrammeto and toimprovethetechnologyofdigitalversionObjectID.Two projects involvingmorethanonecountry. Nevertheless, moneywasmadeavailableforinterregionalprogrammesand few recipientcountrieswouldapplyforDutchdevelopmentaidculture. bilateral developmentaidtofour. Attheculturaldepartmentitwasclearthat the numberofrecipientcountriesandtolimitsectorsfor submitted byTM,theRegionalProgramme. strategic plan.Thislastprojectwastransferredtothe secondproposal selected forObjectID,whiletheIESwasofferedsupport indrawingupa did nothavegoodcontactswithdonors.Eventuallythe NationalMuseumwas relationship. TheEthiopianauthoritiesoptedforthe National Museum,which Ethiopian Studies(IES)ofAddisAbabaUniversity, withwhichithadalong participate intheproject.Theembassyproposed museumoftheInstitute culture andtheDutchEmbassydisagreedaboutwhich museumshould Problems occurredinsomecountries,however. InEthiopiatheministryof In mostcountriestheproposedintroductionofObjectIDwaswelcomed. Reactions intheSouth envisaged thatitwouldhavetorushmeetthedeadlineoftender. November1999’,i.e.withinthreedaysofposting.Ofcourse,TM’s staffhad 26 necessary trainingcourse...Applicationsmust,however, reachusby isthatsomemembersofpersonnelfollowthe wrote. ‘The only obligation countries. Bothashorttrainingcourse,andthehardwarewouldbefree,he clear fromVan Leeuwen’s letterof23November1999tomuseumsindeveloping up manynewopportunities.Thehastewithwhichtheprojectwasformulatedis centre, LivingstoneMuseum,proceededmoresmoothly. National MuseuminLusakatothecountry’s oldestandlargest exhibition 76 75 74 With hindsightbothCarelvanLeeuwen,whocoordinatedTM’s international TM grabbedthisopportunitytobuildupitsinternationalculturalactivities Communication withP. Schothorst,8March2004. Communication withS.Legêne, 22 June2004. Communication withC.vanLeeuwen andP. Kal,15/16December2003. 75 The optionsprovedsurprisinglyplentifulandopened 76 In Zambiatheswitchfrom 74 37 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION 38 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE etme 2000.(Photo:Paul Faber) September Getting toknowtheObjectIDsoftwareandsystematicsduringatraininginLivingstone,Zambia, Zambia–LivingstoneMuseum - Vietnam –Vietnam MuseumofEthnology, Hanoi;NationalHistoryMuseum,Hanoi–Cham Tanzania- –NationalMuseumofTanzania, DarEsSalaam SriLanka–NationalMuseum,Colombo;MuseuminPolonnaruwa - Mozambique–MuseoNacionaldeEtnología,Nampula - Mali–MuséeNationaldeMali,Bamako - India–CraftsMuseum,NewDelhi - Ghana–MuseumsandMonumentsBoard,Accra - Ethiopia–NationalMuseumofEthiopia,AddisAbaba - Egypt–TheCopticMuseum,OldCairo - BurkinaFaso–MuséeNationalduBurkina,Ouagadougou - Bolivia–MuseoNacionaldeArquelogia,LaPaz - Benin–MuséeHistoriqued’Abomey - Bangladesh–NationalMuseum,Dhaka - - Museums trainedorsupportedbyTMtointroduce ObjectID: months, aone-weekmonitoringandsupportmissionwasorganised. digital photographsofthecollection.Ahelpdeskandawebsiteprovidesupport.After6to12 theory andpractice;instalment,implementationtrialrunsofthetextualpartObjectID museum’s collectiondocumentationsystem;discussionofcategorisationstrategies, training coursebytwoKITstaffers, acuratorandtechnician.ObjectIDinvolvesanalysisofthe were providedwithcomputerhardwareandsoftware.Thiswasaccompaniedbyatwo-week The projectstartedwiththeimprovementofexistingObjectIDsoftware.Participantmuseums Outline ofObjectIDtraining Museum, Danang. introduction ofObjectIDcouldbehelpful.’ art andantiquitiesinBurkinaFasowasquiteintense.To curbit,the objects, thanasystemtoregisterthemproperly. Although...theillicittradein more inneedofmeanstofightthewhiteants,whichweredamagingtheir exposition halls.Thestoreswerepoorlyorganised.Possiblythemuseumwas that themuseumhadalargeterrainandwallaroundit,butno Burkina FasowasmoreamenabletoTM’s proposalbut‘theproblemtherewas interregional workshoplaterinNovember2000.TheNationalMuseum financial supportfromtheDutchEmbassyinBamako,Sidibéorganised Burkina FasoandBenin,oneEnglish-speakingcountry, Ghana.With more supplydriventhandemandoriented.’ The TMconsultantdidnotfeelparticularlywelcome.‘MaybeTM’s offerwas Benin (bothonHerfkens’s list),weretobeincludedintheObjectIDproject. Vink earlyin1999thatonlytwootherWest Africancountries,BurkinaFasoand Director SamuelSidibéwassurprisedtolearnfromTM’s representativeNico expanding itsregistrationsystemtoincludeotherWest Africanmuseums. which hadbeenoneofthetwopilotmuseumsin1998,wasprocess The choiceofcountrieswasproblematictoo.InMali,theNationalMuseum, etc) suggestinganunfamiliaritywithinternationalwork. Working inan numerous irrelevantdetails(journeytoSchipholAirport, taxis,restaurants, difference inquality. Somearetothepointand businesslike.Otherscite and aKITITexpert.Thereportsofthesemissionsreveal aremarkable In eachmuseumObjectIDwasintroducedduringthe firstvisitofaTMcurator Introduction inpractice regional workshoponit.’ warn eachotherimmediatelyincaseoftheftorsmuggling.We neededtoholda could benefitandsetuparegionalobjectregistrationsystemsothatthey preferred ‘anapproachinwhichmuseumsthroughoutFrancophoneWest Africa looking forfundstointroduceObjectIDinCambodiaandLaos. Museum inPhnomPenhwasstillinterestedObjectID,whileTM were amongthefourteenonHerfkens’s list.In2004theimpressiveNational were inseriousneedofaregistrationsystem.However, noneofthesecountries theft ofculturaltreasuresfromLaos,CambodiaandMyanmar, thesecountries include moreSouth-EastAsiancountriesintheproject.Becauseoframpant funding foramuseumbuildinghadbeenturneddownbytheEuropeanUnion. been poorconsolationtobeofferedObjectIDtraining,aftertheirrequestfor 80 79 78 77 TM wasforcedtoconfineitsofferthethreeFrancophonecountriesofMali, Apart fromtheotherWest Africancountries,TMwouldalsohavelikedto Communication withdeputydirector HabTouch, 29January 2004. Communication withN.Vink, 17 December2003. Communication withS.Sidibé,2 March1999. Communication withN.Vink, 17 December2003. 78 79 77 For themuseumstaffitmusthave Sidibé hadremarkedthathe 80 39 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION 40 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE thefts fromchurches,andtheplanwasadjusted. director-general oftheVice-Ministry ofCultureexplainedtheseriousness Arqueologia. Followingamajorrobberyatcolonial-periodchurch,the and initialcontactswithEthiopia. corrugated ironroof,withaventilatorbutnoair-conditioning’. separate structurewithanearthfloor, nowindowsbutshuttersanda conditioned roomsfortheequipment,whileinBeninprojectstarted‘a Differences werealsoevidentininfrastructure.Somemuseumshadair- for themisthesearchfunction(whichnotyetfunctioningwell!)’ collection tobeputintothecomputerasquicklypossible...Mostimportant ‘scarcely interestedinthestoryaboutarttheft...Itwantsits22,000-object New Delhi’s CraftsMuseum,forinstance,wasparticularlyoutspokenand management. Mostmuseumsurgentlyneededtodocumenttheircollections. illicit trade,manyofthemuseumsalsowantedtouseitasatoolforcollection it wasforthetrainees. international projectprovedalearningexperienceformanyTMstaffersjustas Paz, camefromsixdifferentinstitutions. starting onObjectID. Ethiopia themuseumtraineeshadfamiliarisedthemselveswithWindows staffers ofvariousmuseumswithMicrosoftWindows. InBolivia,SriLankaand management. the museumswantedObjectIDtobeextended,andmadesuitableforcollection was sonewthattrainingfocusedmoreonWindows thanonObjectID. installation’. line wasonlyavailableattheendoftwoweeks’introductionand went bywithoutelectricity, whichmeantnocomputerwork–whileatelephone introduction ofObjectIDwashamperedbytheweakelectricitysupply–‘Days trading’. parts ofcollections‘thatrunamajorriskinternational artrobberyandillicit Ministry shouldcontroltheprojectandequipment.’Registrationbeganwith one museum,butmoremuseumsandincludechurches.ThereforetheVice- Nacional andTMconcludedthattheintroductionofObjectID‘shouldnotserve 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 In Bolivia,ObjectIDwasoriginallyintendedforMuseoNacionalde While ObjectIDhadbeendesignedtoprotectcollectionsagainsttheftand Another initialobservationrevealeddifferentlevelsoffamiliarityamong in South-EastAsia,Workshop Proceedings, Hanoi,Vietnam, 9-13April2001 P. Kal, ‘CulturalHeritageandObjectID’,in: E. denOtter, ‘ReportObjectIDBenin, 24November-8 December2000’. Cairo, Egypte,29November2000’. F. vanLeeuwen, ‘Verslag vandeintroductieObjectIDinhetKoptischMuseum het NationaalMuseuminAddisAbeba,Ethiopië Lanka, 17-29July2000;F. vanLeeuwen, F. Fontaine,MissionReportBolivia,14June-27August2000;J.Boers,Sri B. Meulenbeld,‘Verslag India:CraftsMuseum, Delhi,4-15September2000’. ICOM RedListforLatinAmerica, 2004. The threattoarchaeologicalobjects andcolonialorreligiousartisclearlyreflectedinthe Communication withP. Schothorst,8March2004. 88 The sevenparticipantswhoattendedtheObjectIDintroduction inLa 85 This hadapparentlybeenoverlookedduringthehastyappraisal 82 In othermuseums,suchasCairo’s CopticMuseum,it 86 Verslag vaneenObjectIDimplementatiemissiein ICOM/ASPAC, ProtectionofCulturalHeritage , 22October-2 November2001. 87 The directorgeneral,Museo 84 In Ethiopiathe , p.76,77. 81 Many of 83 protection ofobjectsandcurbingillicittradethanfordocumentation.’ minimises thephysicaluseofcollection.Initspresentformitismorefor Lucas, curatorEthnologyandHistoryattheNationalMuseumofTanzania. ‘It from manualtocomputerisedregistrationoftheobjects’,explainedEmanuel and preparetrainingmaterialsforthosewhooncewillreplaceus.’ to speeduptheregistrationandworkasateam.We shouldmakeamanual to putateamtogetherwiththespecialistsofotherdepartmentsmuseum that timenobodycontinuedtheregistrationjob.AftermyreturnIwillpropose department. ThenIleftfortwentymonthsstudyintheNetherlands.During registered aroundonethousandobjects,fifthoftheobjectsinmy taught touseObjectID’,remarkedEmanuelLucas.‘UntilAugust2002I amtheonlyoneindepartmentofEthnographyandHistorywhohasbeen ‘I objects. InmostcasestherewasonlyonestafferabletoworkwithObjectID. website continuedtobeavailable. second softwareupdateinJuly2003.Thehelpdeskandwww Vietnamese translationwasprovidedbymuseumsthemselves.TMsenta translated intoFrench,Spanish,PortugueseandVietnamese. Infactthe objects. TMalsoprovidedadditionaltraining.TheEnglishmanualwas and elevenfieldsforinformationabouttheacquisitionactuallocationof additional window, requestedbyvariousmuseumsforcollectiondocumentation, software update.TMdevelopedanewversionoftheprogrammecontainingan phase comprisingafive-daymonitoringmissionandtheinstallationof These initialimplementationandtrainingsessionswerefollowedbyasecond 1999 bugs. appreciated theimprovedsoftware,whichwasconvenientandfreeofpre- In general,mostmuseumstaffersrespondedpositivelytoObjectID.They with smallercollectionswouldcertainlybenefitfrom ObjectID.’ However, thetwentyorsoregionalmuseumsin theprovinceofYogyakarta immediately optforafullregistrationsystemlikeThe MuseumSystem(TMS). to PienkeKal.‘TheNationalMuseuminJakarta,forinstance, should simple? ‘Notformuseumswithsmallandmedium-sized collections’,according protect theircollections.Was ObjectID,despitetheinternational praise,too participants werealreadyusingmoresophisticatedsystems tomanageand conference tolaunchtheprogramme.Mostofcultural sectorandarttrade benefit fromTM’s introductionofObjectID,werepresent at the1997 As wasmentionedabove,noneofthemuseumsorcountries,whichwerelaterto Prospect ofObjectID of severalgeneralmuseumsoftwaredocumentationsystems. Itwasdeveloped 91 90 89 88 Many museumsspentconsiderabletimetakingpicturesanddescribing Communication withP. Kal,18December2003. Communication withE.Lucas,25 March2004. P. Kal, August 2000. F. Fontaine,MissionReportImplementationof ObjectIDprogrammeinBolivia,14June-27 Eindrapportage ProjectObjectID 89 ‘Object IDisagoodtooltoworkwith.Ithasbeenmove , 10July2003. .kit.nl/objectid 91 TMS isone 90 41 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION 42 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE interest hasremainedhighaswell.‘Thedirectorand staffofHoChiMinhCity’s management andprotectionofitsculturaltreasures.’ InVietnam andMali good cooperation.SriLankawasitselfafteracentral computersystemfor Culture havebeenconducive.Museumstaffremained enthusiastic.Therewas infrastructure andthebackingofsomehighranking staff intheMinistryof Pienke Kal,isSriLanka.‘Ithasbeenmostsuccessful inSriLanka,wherethe the countriesinwhichObjectIDhasbornemostfruit. Athird,mentionedby language. lost, andaninternationalalerthastobesent,Englishisthemostefficient French andSpanish,themanualinmanymorelanguages,butifanobjectis crucial roleintheprotectionofcollections.ObjectIDisavailableEnglish, having therelevanttextstranslatedintoVietnamese. Languagecanplaya English fromcolonialtimes.TheVietnamese museumssolvedthisproblemby individual. Often, asuccessfulimplementationdependedontheenthusiasmofone which hasneverfunctionedasajointplatformfortheparticipatingmuseums. complicated.’ InfactTM’s helpdeskisrarelyconsulted,northewebsite, Phoning theTMhelpdeskisexpensive.To explainabottleneckbye-mailis on directcontact.‘Ifsomethinggoeswrongthereisusuallynolocalhelpdesk. museums inothercountriesthecontinuationofObjectIDprojectdepends present everyday. To workinaconcentratedmannerisimpossible.’ computer hasbeenputinanovercrowdedroomwheredozensofpeopleare mail. OnlyoneoffivetraineeswasallowedtospendtimeonObjectID.The Files werelost.Thestaffwasnotallowedtousethetelephone,Internetore- recommended endingsupport.‘Equipmenthadgonemissingorwasbroken. This wasinNovember2000.ButamonitoringmissionApril2002 training wasasuccess.‘Participantswereverymotivatedandeagertolearn.’ and hadyettotakeplaceinautumn2004.InCairo’s CopticMuseumtheinitial security reasonsthemissiontoBethlehemhadbepostponedseveraltimes made compatiblewithotherprogrammes’. although italsohasalightversion,whichiseasytouse.ObjectIDcouldbe involved thanjustpressingabutton.TMSissophisticatedprogramme, question ofwhetherthetwosystemsarecompatible.Kal:‘There’s more preferred themoreextensiveTMS.Mentioningdifferentsystemsraises Mali’s NationalMuseumdirectorSidibéagreedwithKal.Hewouldhave and othermuseumsintheNetherlands,asatoolforcollectionmanagement. by GallerySystemsintheUS.Museumsuseitalloverworld,includingTM information iscurrentlyavailableaboutthesituationinBurkinaFaso. 94 93 92 Vietnam andMali,wherepilotprojectswere firstsetupin1997,areamong English isanotherdifficulty, especiallyincountrieswithnotraditionof Object ID’s introductiondidnotalwaysmatchtheanticipatedresults.For Communication withP. Voogt, 18March2004. M. Shatanawi, Caïro, Egypte,29November2000’. F. vanLeeuwen,‘Verslag van deintroductievanObjectIDinhetKoptischMuseum Missie naarCaïro , 29July2002. 93 No 94 For 92 code ofthesoftwareonInternet.’ open-source softwareand‘notonlypublishtheapplication,butalsosource museum hasapproachedUNESCOandICOMaboutdevelopingObjectIDinto other initiativesaroundtheworldthatprovidevariationsonObjectID.The wishes touseit,aslongitisnotforcommercialpurposes,andcontact service. TMwouldliketoprovidethesoftwarefreeofchargewhoever wishes tohaveitforpagodasinthenorth.’ History Museumwouldlovetointroduceit.TheVietnamese ministryofCulture heritage organisationwouldhavetoactasmoderator. 95 Object IDimplementationandtraininghavenowdevelopedintoawell-run Cultural PropertyinSouth-East Asia,Bangkok,24-26March2004. P. Voogt, ‘ObjectID, LookingBackandForward’,paperfortheSeminaronIllicitTraffic in 95 For this,aninternationalcultural 43 COLLECTION MANAGEMENT OR PROTECTION

Foreign MinistryandtheforEducation,Culture andScienceresource provide a‘trainingexperienceformuseumstaffinJakarta’. transport ofobjects,’whiletheentireprocessrealising theexhibitionwould from starttofinish,’recalledPienkeKal,‘fromconcept designtopackingand others fromprivatecollectionsinJakarta.‘Thedirector wantedcooperation the city. Someoftheobjectsweretocomefrommuseum’s owncollection, The suggestedshowwaslinkedtothe470thanniversaryoffoundation officials, merchantsandotherwealthyindividualsduringthecolonialperiod. proposal toTMforajointexhibitionofBataviansilveracquiredbyDutch founded theTropenmuseum inthecityofHaarlem. form hisownAfricancolonyinCongo. indigo, sugarcane,spices,rubberandoilinspiredBelgium’s crownprinceto invariably fraught.ThehugefortunesmadebyDutchmerchantsfromcoffee, The relationshipbetweenthecolonistsandindigenouspeopleswas town hallhousesaHistoryMuseum.Itscollectionsincludemanycolonialitems. fought theDutchforfiveyears,wasimprisonedherein1830.Today, theold administration’s offices,lawcourtsandprisoncells.PrinceDiponegoro,who town hallwithabelltower. Itwasbuiltin1627.UnderDutchruleithousedthe Batavia, asJakartawasknownunderDutchcolonialrule,hadanimpressive Joint effort Tailor-made: cooperationwithmunicipalmuseums 4 97 96 The DutchEmbassyinJakartasuggestedapplyingto thenewHGISfund, In 1996,SoedermajiDamais,directoroftheHistoryMuseum,presenteda project’s fourphasesbetween2000and2002,theadjustmentsmadeinprocess. project fortrainingincollectionmanagementandpreservation.Thischapterdiscussesthe In 1999KITTropenmuseum andsevenmunicipalmuseumsinJakartainitiatedabilateral Kolonie H.W. v.d. Doel, writing ofthechapter. communications withPienkeKal, curatorforSouth-EastAsiaandprojectleader, duringthe Indonesia’, KIT, Amsterdam,April2001;(3)variousprogressreports, and(4)regular verbetering vanBehoudenBeheerzevenstedelijkemusea (DKI-musea) inJakarta, Tropenmuseum Amsterdam,AProjectProposal’,April1998;(2)‘Masterplanter between theServiceforMuseumsandConservationofDKI Jakartaandthe Unless mentionedotherwise,thechapterisbasedon.(1)P. Kal,‘MuseologicalCooperation in Jakarta , Amsterdam,1996,p.91. Het RijkvanInsulinde:Opkomst enondergangvaneenNederlandse 97 It wasagroupofDutchmerchantswho 96 45 TAILOR-MADE: COOPERATION WITH MUNICIPAL MUSEUMS IN JAKARTA 46 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE (Photo: Pienke Kal) History Museum,2002. The renovatedstoreoftheJakarta GedungJoang’45(MuseumoftheRevolution):meetingpointfreedomfightersandother - MuseumTaman Prasasti(ParkofStoneInscriptions):cemeterycontainingtheofteninscribed - MuseumBahari(MaritimeMuseum):VOCwarehouseswithtraditionalshippingoutfits, - MuseumTekstil (Textile Museum);in1975thishouse,the19th-centurypropertyofawealthy - MuseumWayang (PuppetMuseum):previouslyachurch,thenwarehouseandnowmuseum - MuseumSeniRupadanKeramik (MuseumofFineArtsandCeramics):locatedclosetothe - MuseumSejarahJakarta(Jakarta HistoryMuseum):carvedwoodenfurniture,china,18th- - DKI museumsinJakarta against theNetherlands,1945-1950. shows theresistanceagainstJapaneseoccupationforcesandindependencestruggle militant Indonesiansinthedaysleadingtodeclarationofindependenceon17August1945; tombs, manyreplacedupright,ofkeycolonialleaders. navigation equipment,modelsofwoodenboats. Frenchman, becameamuseumwithwealthoftextilesandbatiks. instruments and located nearJakartaHistoryMuseumwitharichcollectionoftheatrepuppets,musical Indonesia’s famouspainterRadenSaleh. History Museum:19th-centuryandcontemporarypaintings,includingaself-portraitby century mapsandprintsportraitsofBatavia’s GovernorsGeneral,thehistoryofcity. wayang stage equipment. colonial furniture). silver collectionandpaintings)toobjectsofhistorical significance(suchas they variedconsiderably, fromfineartofhigh aesthetic quality(suchasthe workshop. Althoughallthecollectionsconsistedmostly ofhistoricalobjects, start oftheDKIproject,sevenmuseumsshareda singlerestoration largest museumandsomeoftheothermuseumsare located closeby. Atthe several canalsandtraditionaldrawbridges.TheHistory Museumisbyfarthe in Kota,theoldestpartofJakarta,hometomanyold colonial structures, Apparently, thedonor’s wishandtherecipients’ needsmatchedsufficiently. knewmostofthemandtheirmainstaffersfrompreviousvisits.’ professionals. I Their directors wereenthusiasticmuseum interest. showed museums ‘All Jakarta andIndonesianmuseuminfrastructure.AsPienkeKalcommented, in thetrainingandrestoration,sincethisinvolved‘structuralsupport’to museums, allofwhichunderthejurisdictionJakartaDKI,wouldbeinvolved finance acollectionmanagementprogramme.Moreover, notonebutseven for ajointexhibitionandcataloguewouldnotbeavailable,butthatthey two otherEuropeancities;andacatalogue. restoring museumobjects;anexhibitioninJakarta,Amsterdamandpossibly municipal authority(DKI).Itsfourelementsinvolvedtrainingofmuseumstaff; proposal withthedirectorandstaffofHistoryMuseumJakarta’s Asia curatorandasilverconservator, visitedJakartaandformulatedaproject for jointculturalheritageandsimilarprojects.PienkeKal,TM’s South-East between KITTropenmuseum andJakarta’s Municipal DepartmentforMuseums In January2000memorandums ofunderstandingforathree-yearcooperation Master plan Plenairy sessionintheDKItrainingprogrammeJakarta HistoryMuseum,2002.(Photo:Pienke Kal) The sevenDKImuseumswerealllocatedincolonial buildings, fourofthem Early in1998,HGISinformedJakartaHistoryMuseumandTMthatagrant 47 TAILOR-MADE: COOPERATION WITH MUNICIPAL MUSEUMS IN JAKARTA 48 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE would havebeenheldatall.’ the museumdirectors‘tocreateaclimateoftrust’.Without that,‘notraining done inIndonesiatobetooopenaboutweaknesses.’Kal usedhercontactswith beforehand, butthentheirdirectorswouldhavebeen lesscooperative.Itisnot cultural complicationtoo.‘Icouldhavestudiedthestaffers’ capacities director anddepartmentchiefs,notwithordinary staffers’.Therewasa the factthatduringvisitstomuseumssheonlymet withthegeneral expertise ofJakarta’s museumstaffersintheproposalhad beendueinpart‘to training course. funded anadditionalphase.TheTropenmuseum teamthencontinuedthe were teachinginEnglish’,amemberoftheDutchteamrecalled. discussed withthetranslatorswhentheydidnotaccuratelytranslatewhatwe From oursideonlyprojectleaderPienkeKalspokeBahasaIndonesiaandshe command ofEnglish,thereforeDKIprovidedtranslatorsfromtheirownstaff. had beenfluencyinEnglish.‘Mostparticipantswereratherweaktheir therefore, althoughoneofthecriteriaforparticipationintrainingproject afterwards translatedintoIndonesian.Languageposedaseriousproblem, glass, paperandphotographs,leatheroilpaintings. conservation byspecialistsinmetal,wood(forcolonialfurniture),ceramicsand proper storagewereinadequate.Aroundhalfofalltheobjectsrequiredactive available expertisefellfarshort.Preventivemeasures,suchasdustingand collections hadlaggedbehindinpreventiveaswellactiveconservation.The surveys werecombinedinasinglemasterplan.Thisshowedthatmost registration anddocumentationweredescribedanalysed.Theseseven environment, climateandlighting,theconditionofcollectionstheir state ofcollectionmanagementandpreservation.Eachmuseumbuilding,its Dutch museumspecialistsworkedwithstaffateachtosurveythe and Conservationweresigned.Theprojectproceededinfourphases.Four ‘would haverunoutofresourcestooquickly’. project proposal.Meetingthisneedwould,however, havemeantthattheteam and collectionmanagementwasinsufficient.Thishadnotbeenforeseeninthe write bytheirtrainersthatbasicknowledgeaboutcollectionpreservation of-the-art treatment.Somehadstatedintheweeklyreportstheywereaskedto the museumsandrestorationdepartmentwishedtobeableemploystate- prompt firstaidforculturalobjects,howeverlimitedtheexpertise.Yet staffat improve conditionsattheDKImuseumswithsomegoodhousekeepingand The courseemphasisedpracticaltraining.Muchcouldbedonetostabiliseand Preventive conservation 99 98 Project leaderPienkeKalnotedthatthefailuretoaccount forthelimited The masterplanwasfirstwritteninDutch,ratherthanEnglish,and Communication withM.deRuijter, furnitureconservator, 20March2004. Conservation Jakarta’, in: Museums inJakarta,withEmphasis ontheColonialFurnitureinMusiumSejarah M. deRuijter, ‘PickingUpthePieces:FirstStepsinCollectionManagement forSeven Proceedings, SixthInternational SymposiumonWood andFurniture , p.24. 99 DKI thereforearrangedand 98 acquired practicalknowledge aboutvariousmaterialsandrestorationtechniques. subsequently visitedvarious restorationstudiosintheNetherlandswherethey conservation, studiedduringthefirsttwophasesof project.Theparticipants the groupremainedtogetherforarefreshercourseon museologyandpreventive department helpedorganisetheirtrainingintheNetherlands. In English. InstituutCollectieNederlandandReinwardt Academie’s restoration Before departing,theDKIorganisedalanguagecourse toimprovetheir of FineArtsandCeramics,theMaritimeMuseum theTextile Museum. Jakarta CityConservationLaboratory. Theother threewerefromtheMuseum autumn of2002.Thiswasthefourthphase.Threeparticipants werestaffersat go forfourweekstotheNetherlandsattendrestoration workshopsinthe skills andknowledge,itwasaboutachangeinattitude andideas. cleaners’, PienkeKalrecalled.Theprogrammewasnotjustabouttrainingfor objects themselves,sincetheyalwayshadtoleavethisthemuseum’s for objectlocation.‘Someoftheparticipantshadnevercleanedormoved Museum’s depotcontinued,includingthedevelopmentofaregistrationsystem such asmetals,woodandtextiles.Meanwhile,thereorganisationofHistory recognition ofdamageanditscausesbasiccharacteristicsmaterials decided toswitchthefocusofthisthirdphasepestanddamagecontrol, about thecharacteristicsofmaterialswouldberequired.Itwastherefore active conservationwouldpresentadifficulttask.Considerableknowledge preventive conservation,trainersandparticipantshadrealisedthattrainingin team oftrainersfortheworkshop.However, duringthesecondphaseon for thethirdphase.Aconservationspecialistinorganicmaterialsjoined A three-weekworkshopandtraininginactiveconservationhadbeenplanned Back tobasics according totheprinciplesofdepotorganisationandpreventiveconservation. practice sinceitwishedtoreorganiseitsfour-hundred-square-metre depot collections. TheHistoryMuseumofferedanopportunitytoputallthisinto collection management,includingregistrationanddocumentationof preventive conservationwereinterspersedwithlecturesonmuseologyand History MuseumaswelltheMaritimeMuseum.Training sessionsin implementing themingroups,workingthestoragedepotsofJakarta Participants studiedvarioustheories,writingconservationproposalsand proved ausefultextbook.Itdealtwitheveryaspectofpreventiveconservation. In thisandthefollowingcourse,Indonesianversionofmasterplan Jakarta ServiceforMuseumsandConservation.Thislastedfiveweeks. from allsevenmuseums,theConservationLaboratoryofJakartaandDKI job courseinpassiveandpreliminaryactiveconservationfor28professionals would receivethreeweeksofpracticaltrainingwaschangedtoasingleon-the- programme wasadjusted.Theinitialproposalthatstaffersateachmuseum Upgrading thereforebecamethekeywordforsecondphaseand 100 Six conservatorswereselectedfromthe28participants ofthetwocoursesto steering committee forthewholeproject. Reinwardt AcademyofMuseology inAmsterdam.Bothinstitutionsparticipatedthe The trainingtrajectwassupported byInstituutCollectieNederlandaswellthe the firstweek 100 49 TAILOR-MADE: COOPERATION WITH MUNICIPAL MUSEUMS IN JAKARTA 50 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE The surveyreport,combiningtextanddigitalphotographs,wasusedasteachingmaterialinthe weaknesses ofeachthe26museumstohelpfine-tunetraining. model forthissurvey, theYogya surveywasmorelimited,offering insightsintothestrengthsand help assesstheconditionofbuildingsandcollections.WhileDKImasterplanprovideda (chapter 5).Insixdays,theTMprojectleaderandaconservationexpertvisitedall26museumsto Regional ProgrammetoStrengthenInstitutionalDevelopmentofPartnerMuseumsintheSouth Although thisprojectwasaspin-off oftheDKI project,itwasacceptedasthefinalprojectof province ofYogyakarta. Theseincludeprovincial,military, universityandprivatemuseums. week trainingcourseonpreventiveconservation.Barahmusbringstogether26museumsinthe Early in2004,respondingtoarequestfromtheBarahmusmuseumsociety, TMorganisedathree- Follow-up inYogyakarta museum, 2004.(Photos:Pienke Kal) a surveyofthecollectionondisplayin registration anddocumentationtraining, and Training Course,duringacollection Participants oftheYogyakarta Museum acted astrainers. course eitherinSingaporeorBangkok,also specialisation andafterabrieftraining Three participants,eachwiththeirown museum ofartandcraftsinYogyakarta. Museum SonoBudoyo,theprovincial basics ofpreventiveconservationat following twoweeksoftrainingonthe members, whofollowedourtraining,arenowtrainingtheirowncolleagues.’ was convincedthattheresultswouldbelasting.‘Ijustlearnedstaff that drewupthemasterplanandatrainerinlastthreeweeksofproject, helped theprojectyieldpositiveresultsandvisibleimprovements. long-standing relationship,regularvisitsandcommitments onbothsideshave museums inJakartaandtheexpertisethatKITTropenmuseum canoffer. A Indonesia andtheNetherlandsdidnotdisruptDKIproject. authorities havesupportedtheirmuseums.Thepossibilityoffrictionbetween benefits ofsharingknowledgeandexpertise.Morerecently, theIndonesian complementary collections,datingbacktocolonialtimes,andthepotential Museums inbothcountriesare,however, keentocooperate.Thisreflectstheir Minister forDevelopmentCooperationconcerninghumanrightsinIndonesia. cooperation tieswiththeNetherlandsfollowingseriouscriticismsbyDutch In theearly1990s,forinstance,Indonesiangovernmentcutdevelopment Relations betweenIndonesiaandtheNetherlandshaveoftenbeenproblematic. Historical tiesofIndonesianandDutchmuseums encourage thetraineestothinkofsolutionsthemselves’. commented, ‘Infutureweshouldrestrictourselvesinofferingsolutionsand practice. TMlearnedlessonsfromtheDKIprojecttoo.AsDeRuijter materials arerepeatedandparticipantsencouragedtoputtheminto Another lessoninvolvedcontinuity. Newknowledgecanonlyemergeifthe apparent. opportunity totunecoursestheneedsofparticipantsasthesebecome A keylessonoftheDKIprojectwasthatleadersneededtimeand can nowproceedindependently.’ learned basicpreventiveconservationandcollectionmanagementskills DKI museums‘tomakeastartonpropercollectionmanagement.Theyhave Most ofthoseinvolvedfelttheprojecttohavebeensuccessful.Ithadenabled Looking back 104 103 102 101 The DKIprojectwasasuccessfulmatchbetweentheneedsofmunicipal Communication withM.Mulder, DutchEmbassy, Jakarta,18June2004. pp. 209-226. Malcontent, P. See: P. Malcontent,‘TheShadowMinisterofForeignAffairs’,in:J.Nekkers and Idem. Communication withM.deRuijter, 29 March2004. Fifty Years ofDutch DevelopmentCooperation:1949-1999 101 Martijn deRuijter, oneoftheteamfour , TheHague,2000, 104 102 103 51 TAILOR-MADE: COOPERATION WITH MUNICIPAL MUSEUMS IN JAKARTA Bidesia: migration and oral tradition

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, when the abolition of slavery left European planters in dire need of labour, many poor migrants from Bhojpur in North-East India found work in Mauritius, Fiji Islands, Suriname, British Guyana and Uganda. They left their villages to become indentured labourers. Their families at home called them bidesh (literally: foreigners, i.e. those gone abroad), and remembered their leaving in songs. The migrants developed their oral folk culture in new contexts, with songs and theatre, in which they expressed their longings and hardships. The GB Pant Institute in Allahabad initiated a discussion, documentation and display of this cultural memory of migration in India and abroad. A TM identification mission helped formulate a project to collect, document and exhibit these expressions of bidesia folk culture in India, Suriname and the Netherlands. This led to a three-part project – GB Pant Social Science Institute in Allahabad, the Institute of Social Science Research in Paramaribo, Suriname, and TM in Amsterdam – the results of which are expected in 2006/7.

Migrants travelling near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Historical picture in a Dutch photograph album from 1913/4. (Photo: Collection Tropenmuseum) Spin-off discuss andbetterassesstheneedsofothermuseums. preceding theintroductionofObjectIDenabledTMtowidenitsnetwork,and other, smallerprojectstoo.In2000,however, thehastyappraisalsandvisits Museum inSana’a,Yemen forthreeyears.Andstaffershadbeeninvolvedin Curator CarelvanLeeuwenhadbeenatechnicalassistantattheNational Involvement ininternationalprojectswasnothingnewforKITTropenmuseum. Increasing museums’choices:otheractivities 5 with ObjectIDatasitesuchasthis. therefore easytargetsforlooters.Thisprojectwould bethefirstexperience installation ofObjectIDinapagoda.Pagodasareoften difficulttoprotectand Museum, bothinHanoi.InVietnam apilotprojectwassuggestedforthe museums inVietnam, theMuseum ofEthnologyandtheNationalHistory elsewhere, forexample,tothemuseuminPolonnaruwa inSriLankaandtwo Object IDtomuseumsincountrieswhereithadalready beenintroduced Faso afour-day courseonmusicalinstruments wasorganised.TMalsooffered Studies (IES).Severalotherspecialprojectswereimplemented. InBurkina Zambia andBurkinaFaso,forthemuseumofInstituteEthiopian strategic planning.Thelatterwasdevelopedforthenationalmuseumsof partner museumsortailor-made aidforparticularmuseums,example,on and thediversificationofsourcesincome. storage andconservationpoliciespractice,aswellmuseummanagement embraced thecompilingofexhibitionsandaccessingspecifictargetgroups, implementation. 106 105 partnerships withmuseumsandinstitutionsintheSouth,introducesvariousprojects. This chapterdiscussesexperiencesandapproaches,aswellthesignificanceof Development Programme),TMhasbecomeincreasinglyinvolvedininternationalprojects. of PartnerMuseumsintheSouth(bothfundedbyDutchForeignMinistry’s Cultureand Through ObjectIDandtheRegionalProgrammetoStrengthenInstitutionalDevelopment TM respondedbyofferinggeneralworkshopsandtrainingcoursesfornew Idem. ‘Aanbevelingen uitvoerendenmissies’, 7February2001. 106 So farnofundshavebeenfoundfor 105 Their concerns 53 INCREASING MUSEUMS’ CHOICES: OTHER ACTIVITIES 54 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE open tocriticalreflectionsfromoutsiders’. practice ofourownmuseumasastartingpoint.SowemakeTMworkvisibleandare enables ustoreflectwithoneanotheraboutdevelopmentsinourprofessionandusethe some participantsfrompartnermuseumsintheSouth.SusanLegêne:‘TheSummerUniversity Museums (2002).Themuseumsubsidisedthefees,andtravelaccommodationexpensesof Other ExpressionsofPopularCulture(2000),EthnographyintheMetropolis(2001)andKids organised coursesonCloth,CultureandCommunication(1998),Mermaids,Hip-hop,Tattoo and other. Participantshadtopaytheirownfeeandtravelaccommodationexpenses.TM cultural sectorprofessionalswhonotonlyhaveaninterestintheteachingbutalsomeetingeach In 1997theAmsterdamandMaastrichtSummerUniversityinvitedTMtoorganiseacoursefor Summer University Participants oftheSummerUniversity‘KidsinMuseums’,August2002.(Photo:IrenedeGroot) objects andexpertise. also attemptstofindpartnermuseumsintheSouth,amenableexchanging This isknownascapacitybuildingandinstitutionaldevelopment.Moreover, TM demand andsupply, betweenNorthandSouth,SouthSouth. do thisintwoways.Bybrokeringexpertiseandmoney, bringingtogether mission toincreasethechoicesavailablemuseumsinSouth.TMtries KIT Tropenmuseum arecloselylinked.Initsownfield,themuseumhasa Africa, AsiaandLatinAmerica.Forsomeitwastheir firstvisittoanAfrican and seniorstaffatTMpartnermuseums.Theycame fromtwelvecountriesin Development ofMuseumsinMombassa.The35participants werealldirectors the workshops.InOctober2000,TMheldaConference onInstitutional invited professionalsfrompartnermuseums,whilePMDA organisedandled Development inAfrica(PMDA)Mombassa,Kenya, TMraisedfundsand excelled inspecificareas.ForworkshopsattheProgramme forMuseum for trainingmuseumprofessionalsandprovidingadvice intheSouth.Eachhas Through itsprojectsTMhasdevelopedgoodrelationswithvariousinstitutes Partnerships people’s choices’reflectstheseviews. development bytheUNDevelopmentProgramme,as‘aprocessofenlarging voice andgrabtheinitiativefortheirowndevelopment.Therecentdefinitionof these ideas.ThisnewinterestencouragedcountriesoftheSouthtoraisetheir achieved independencesincetheSecondWorld War hadlongbeendiscussing discoveries, theywerenotsonewintheSouth,wheremostcountriesthathad more responsibility. WhileWestern donorspresentedtheseconceptsasnew countries oftheSouthtohavemoresayintheirowndevelopmentandtake promoted theconceptofownershipandgoodgovernance.Theywanted South question.TheWorld BankandbilateraldonorssuchastheNetherlands At thesametime,achangeoccurredingeneraldiscussionaboutNorth- beneficial. own expertisetoothers,today, theserelationshipsaremoremutually potentials ofthoseinvolvedhavebecomeapparent.WhileTMusedtopassits and needs new partnermuseumshavematured.Strengths,weaknesses, gained fromtheintroductionofObjectID.Intime,relationshipswithseveral role ininternationalcooperation.Oneisthewealthofexperienceandcontacts Since 2000,twofactorshaveinducedTMtobecomemorepreciseindefiningits Defining TM’s role 108 107 The ideasofgoodgovernance, no. 2,2001. Entwicklung –DieRollederMuseen’, in: P. Voogt, ‘Cultureand Development–TheRoleofMuseums’:publishedas‘Kulturund new atall.Nevertheless,theycan behelpfultools. mentioned heresinceindependence. Althoughsometimespresentedasnew, they arenot Most countriesoftheSouthhavebeendiscussinggoodgovernance andotherconcepts 108 107 ownership andpartnership,supportedby Museumskunde , DeutscherMuseumbund,vol.66, 55 INCREASING MUSEUMS’ CHOICES: OTHER ACTIVITIES 56 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE satisfied, someextremelyso,especiallyregardingthesecondweek. to manageamuseumanddevelopvision.Ingeneral,theparticipantswere the firstweekincollectionmanagement,whilesecondtheystudiedhow professionals fromfivedifferentBurkinaFasomuseumsweretrainedduring Africaine ofBenin,whileTMhadtakencarethefinances.Ten museum Management Workshop inOuagadougou,givenbytheÉcoleduPatrimoine January 2001thecountry’s NationalMuseumorganisedaStrategic participated intheworkshop. institutional developmentforthecomingfiveyears.ThreeTMstaffers learnt fromeachother’s solutions.Theydiscussedcommonprioritiesfor country, whichitselfprovidednewinsights. lack ofsupportbytheDirectorateCulturalPatrimony.’ problems regardingcommunication(notelephone,faxore-mail),aswella the trainingcourseleftmuchtobedesired,dueatotallackoffunds, spent muchtimeonthechecklistofmusicalinstruments...Theorganisation very fewspecialistsonmusicalinstrumentsinWest Africa...theparticipants report showshowdifficultconditionscanbeintheSouth.‘Sincetherewere Ethnomusicology curator, ElisabethdenOtter, ledthetrainingcourse.Her Instruments, whohadalsoattendedtheearlierworkshop,whileTM’s It wasorganisedbyZiboParfaitBambara,curatoroftheMuseumMusical December 2001aworkshopwasheldonmusicalinstrumentsinOuagadougou. 112 111 110 109 At twoBurkinaFasoworkshopsTM’s rolewasthatofbrokerandexpert.In organisation ofajointexhibitionon Minh City. Acourseforconservatorsandcollectionregistrarsfollowedin1995.Thisledtothe In 1992TMorganisedamuseologycourseforVietnamese museumdirectorsinHanoiandHoChi asexample Vietnam National HistoryMuseum,inHanoi. In 2001TMintroducedObjectIDtostaff membersoftheVietnam MuseumofEthnologyandthe visited severalethnologicalandhistoricalmuseumslaboratories,depotsnationalarchives. training onvariousconservationtechniquesformaterialswidelyusedinVietnam. Theparticipants invited totheNetherlandsforintensiveon-the-jobtraining.Infourweekstheyreceivedbasic Amsterdam. Priortotheopening,sevenVietnamese conservatorsfromdifferent museums were documentation ofmusicalinstruments, Ouagadougou,18-22December2001’. E. denOtter, ‘MissionReportTraining courseonthecollection,classification,and janvier 2001’. Anne AmbourouèAvaro, ‘Gestionstratégique desressources,Ouagadougou,du8au19 Museums’, 9November2000. KIT CulturalHeritage,‘ReporttoTMBoardonConferenceInstitutional Developmentof training areneeded,theydonotinvolveWesterners. Seeconferencereport (Dutch). museums. Thesemuseumshavedevelopmentpresentationtechniques. Unlessmoneyand Asian andLatinAmericancolleagues.Young visitors aregivenpriorityinAfrican African museumsandmuseumprofessionalsmaintaincloseties. Thisimpressedtheir 110 Village LifeintheRedRiverDelta 109 They sharedexperiencesand 112 Yet theworkshop , firstinHanoi,then 111 In we havethecontacts(andaccesstomoney).’ workshops formuseumsintropicalzones.‘Theyaskourcooperation,since select participants’.NRLCinformedTMafterwardsitwouldliketoholdmore definitely takessixmonths,whilestrictercriteriashouldhavebeenusedto could havebeenassessedbetter’and‘preparationforsuchaworkshop museums’, thepreparationofworkshopcouldhavebeenbetter. ‘Theneeds ‘based uponthetypeofcollectionwithwhichparticipantshadtodointheir several subjects,‘whichhadbeendeterminedbeforetheworkshop’andwere conservation ofvariousobjectsandmaterials.Whiletheprogrammedealtwith Vietnam andEthiopiaweregivenanoverviewofdifferentaspects many institutesintheWest. ParticipantsfromIndia,Bangladesh,SriLanka the institutehasmoreexpertiseaboutconservationintropicalclimatesthan Although manymuseumprofessionalsoutsideIndiahaveneverheardofNRLC, participating partnermuseums,securedfundsandmonitoredtheworkshop. were providedbytheIndianinstitute.TMhadassessedneedsof broker andbridge-builder, whiletrainers,teachingsmaterialsandworkshop Cultural Property(NRLC)inLucknow, India,TMlimiteditsroletothatof Feedback drafted athree-yearactionplan,whichhassofaryettomaterialise. was asuccess,thanks‘totheenthusiasmandeffortsofparticipants’.They relations. TMseesitselfas anactivepartnerintheglobalvillageandhopesto in acquiringandmanaginginternationalculturalprojects.’ to actintheNetherlands,andperhapsalsoEuropean Union,asapioneer together andwheremoneyfromtheNorthischannelled totheSouth.TMhopes other institutions,inwhichsupplyanddemandthe Southarebrought NRLC, haveotherexpertise.We wanttoencourageSouth-South networkswith large publicandourchildren’s museum.Otherplayers,such astheIndian particularly usefulforothers.Forinstance,ourability tomakeexhibitionsfora best andatareasonableprice.We havelearnedwhichaspect ofourexpertiseis As PaulVoogt noted,‘Inthenewset up,theworkisdonebythosewhocandoit role toexpertiseandorganisationalcapacityinthecultural sectorintheSouth. efforts atbreakingdownthetraditionaldominanceof theNorthandgivinga immediately afterthesegatheringsexpressedageneralappreciationforTM’s Participants writinginevaluationsurveysandspeakinginterviews the Dutchconservators. circumstances. Thisprovedafruitfulexchangeofexperiences,especiallyfor with thesametypeoftropicalmetalcollections,itwasindifferentclimatic from otherAsiancountriesandsometheNetherlands.Whileallworked in December2002LucknowwithmetalconservatorsfromIndia,oneortwo countries. Thisresultedinatwo-weekseminarontheCultureofConservation possibility ofholdingaNRLCworkshopforDutchcuratorsworkingintropical 114 113 In itsrelationswiththeNationalResearchLaboratoryforConservationof This definitionofTM’s rolegoes beyondthepromotionofSouth-South P. Kal, ‘ReportWorkshop PreventieveConservering27Nov-2Dec2000inLucknow, India’. Communication withE.denOtter, 18March2004. 114 In turnTMdiscussedthe 113 57 INCREASING MUSEUMS’ CHOICES: OTHER ACTIVITIES 58 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE 2004. input intermsofstaffing.’ Itisuncertainwhether itwillbepossibletofinancetheprojectafter electricity themselves.PaulVoogt: ‘Itisawonderfulproject.Itworkswell,butrequireslotof switchboard, booksandflyersfascinatechildrenfromremotevillages,whichoftenhaveno turned intoamobileexhibitionroomandsincemid-2002ithasbeentouringthecountry. Films,a mobile exhibitionaboutenvironmentalissuesforprimaryschoolchildreninBenin.Abuswas see theexhibition In 1999agovernmentdelegationfromBeninvisitedtheRoyalTropical Instituteandwasinvitedto Beninese mobileexhibition (Man andEnvironment),May2003.(Photo:Paul Faber) Schoolchildren inKafali,nearCotonou,Benin,visitthemobileexhibition Man andEnvironment in theTropenmuseum. Thisresultedinanideafora L’homme etsonenvironnement anthropological museum.’ and intensifyingthosepartnershipsisthatithelpsustobecomeabetter known interestinpromotingthesepartnerships.‘Ourmaintaining access tocollections,funds,informationandnetworks.TMitselfhasawell- achieve seriouspartnershipswithmuseumsintheSouth,howeverunequal 115 Communication withP. Voogt, 16December2003. 115 59 INCREASING MUSEUMS’ CHOICES: OTHER ACTIVITIES

long-term mutuallysupportive relationships. North showanincreasingsensitivity. Greaterequalityimpliestheneedfor are learninghowtohandle theinequalityissue,whiletheircolleaguesin institutions. Fortunately, professionalsandprofessional institutionsintheSouth balance orequalityareoftenunderconditionssetby donorsandNorthern from theSouthorNorth,onanequallevel.Yet today, attemptstoachieve aid andwithoutforeignconditions.Theyprefertodeal withexperts,whether the developmentsectorandculturalwould lovetodowithoutforeign game. IknowfromnumerousconversationsintheSouth thatprofessionalsin confronted bytheinequalitiesinfinance,capacityand scale.Itspoilstheir and thewebsitehaveneverfunctionedasplanned. group thatwouldneverhaveformedofitsownaccord. Asaresult,thehelpdesk three continents,withcommunicationstakingplacein fourlanguages.Itwasa partner museumshadtakenplaceatthestart.Thewerespreadover while othersmightwellhavebeenincludedifmoreseriousconsultationswith benefit andwhichmuseumswouldbeselected–somelaterprovedunsuitable demand intheSouth.ThedonorsdecidedwhichcountriesSouthwould by acountryintheNorth.ItwaspromptedasmuchfundingNorth unavoidable atfirst.TheObjectIDprojectisaclearexample.Itwasinitiated inequalities, developingpartnershipsisdifficultandcomplicated.Imbalance institutions intheNorthandSouth,betweenpartieswithbuilt-in international activities,representanewphaseinthehistoryofmuseum. to professionalisethemuseum’s performancebothinitsnationaland especially withthepost-colonialdevelopmentapproach,andpresenteffort countries andotherinternationalwork.Thisconceptualbreakwiththepast, the Netherlands,ofmuseum’s relationshipwithpartnermuseumsinsource of thecollectionsandacquisitionpolicies,aredefinitionmuseum’s rolein times. Inrecentyears,however, therehasbeenareinterpretationofthecontext on alonghistoryofcollection,reflectinginternationalrelationssincecolonial Royal Tropical Institute,ofwhichthemuseumisapart.Itsholdingsarebased TM’s identityiscloselylinkedtothecolonial-stylebuildingthathouses continuity. Certainly, thereisconsiderablecontinuityinthemuseum’s history. international policiesandactivitiesraisesseveralquestions.Oneisrelatedto This sketchoftherecentdevelopmentKITTropenmuseum’s home-basedand Conclusion 116 Most institutionsintheadvantagedcountriesofNorth resentbeing Partnership isoneofTM’s centralconcerns.Asisinallrelationshipsbetween Other factorshavecausedthisas well. 116 61 CONCLUSION 62 PARTNERSHIPS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE based onpracticalexperiencesintheinternationalheritage sector. should nothesitatetodevelopabroaderperspective, togetherwithitspartners, difficult totranslateintobilateralormultilateralprogrammes: themuseum identity politics,migrationandremittances.‘Culture anddevelopment’canbe of culturalprojectsinissuessuchasconflictprevention, povertyalleviation, Similarly, themuseumshouldworkoutmoreexplicit viewsregardingtherole government onimprovingthecoherenceofitsinternationalculturalpolicy. ethics hasyettoleadthemuseumintoseriousdiscussionwithDutch project. Itssupportfortherelevantinternationalconventionsandcodesof preservation ofendangeredculturalheritageisexpressedintheObjectID debates inthefieldofcultureanddevelopment.Itsseriousinterest development oftheserelationships. policies, inwhichpartnershaveastrongsay, willbecrucialinthefuture Thorough andindependentevaluationsofitsinternationalactivities accepted bothwithintheframeworkofCultureandDevelopmentHGIS. Tropenmuseum hasbeenabletoidentifyandformulateprojectsthathave Ministry forEducation,CultureandScienceworkswell.SofarKIT donor. South toreceivetrainingandadvice.Inthisitisdependantononemajor museum’s roleshasbeentoraisemoneyenablepartnermuseumsinthe It isherethatKITTropenmuseum facesitsbiggestchallenge.Oneofthe involves mutualheritage. The DutchHGISbudgetismoregenerous.Oneinsevencommitments operationalisation, aswellchangesinpoliticalpreferencesbypolicymakers. characterised byweakpolicyformulation,agapbetweenand Programme arethemarginalprojectsofDutchforeignaid.They Foreign Ministry/DevelopmentCooperation’s CultureandDevelopment set policyframeworksandbudgets.Culturalactivities,fundedbytheDutch transparency. with membersfromtheSouthisafirststepincreatingrequired recent RoyalTropical Instituteinitiativeforaninternationaladvisoryboard vital forthemuseumtoorganiseitsownqualitycontrolandcritique.The be involved?Orwouldtheyselectanotherpartner, forwhateverreason?Itis freedom tospenditastheydeemedfit?Would theywantKITTropenmuseum to What wouldhappen,ifpartnermuseumsweresimplygiventhefundsand training coursesplacesthemuseumbydefinitionatcentreofaproject. 118 117 At thesametime,KITTropenmuseum mustplayastrongerroleinpolitical Yet TMclearlyhastheskillsandgoodcontactstoensurethatprojectsfitinto Evaluatie 1997-2000 Ministerie vanBuitenlandseZaken/IOB, So far, TMhasscarcelybeenabletobuildupafinancialreservefor internationalactivities. 117 At thesametime,identifyingneeds,formulatingpolicies,organising , TheHague,IOBEvaluatie287, p.289. 118 Cooperation betweentheForeignMinistryand De KunstvanhetInternationaal Cultuurbeleid.