A Guide to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum Permanent Exhibition A Guide to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum Permanent Exhibition Contents Title: Slovene Ethnographic Museum on the Map of World Museums 7 I, We, and Others: Images of My World Tanja Roženbergar A Guide to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum Permanent Exhibition Published by: Between Starting Points, Structure, Message, and Incentive 9 Slovene Ethnographic Museum, represented by Tanja Roženbergar Janja Žagar Authors: Andrej Dular, Marko Frelih, Daša Koprivec, Tanja Roženbergar, Polona Sketelj, Exhibition Chapters 31 Inja Smerdel, Nadja Valentinčič Furlan, Tjaša Zidarič, Janja Žagar, Nena Židov In Lieu of Introduction – A Welcome Area for Our Visitors 32 Janja Žagar Editor: Janja Žagar I – The Individual 35 Editorial Board: Janja Žagar Andrej Dular, Polona Sketelj, Nena Židov Translation: My Family – My Home 51 Nives Sulič Dular Polona Sketelj Design: My Community – My Birthplace 65 Eda Pavletič Nena Židov Printed by: Tiskarna Januš Beyond My Birthplace – My Departures 77 Ljubljana, 2019 Inja Smerdel Print Run: 1.000 My Nation – My Country 89 Andrej Dular The publication of this book was made possible by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia My Otherness and Foreign Otherness – The Wide World 103 Marko Frelih, Daša Koprivec, Tjaša Zidarič Me – My Personal World 121 Janja Žagar Exhibition Narrative Translated into Objects 137 Cohesive Threats of the Exhibition 167 An Individual’s Journey 168 Janja Žagar, Andrej Dular Vesna: A Mosaic Video Portrait 175 Nadja Valentinčič Furlan Reflections of Visitors 181 My Life, My World 182 Janja Žagar CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Univerzitetna knjižnica Maribor Gallery of Portraits and Gallery of Narrators 185 39(=163.6)(083.824) Nadja Valentinčič Furlan 069(497.4Ljubljana)SEM:39 Authors 189 SLOVENSKI etnografski muzej I, We, and others : images of my World : a guide to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum permanent exhibition / [authors Andrej Dular ... [et al.] ; editor Janja Žagar ; translation Nives Sulič Dular]. - Colophone of the Exhibition 190 Ljubljana : Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 2019 ISBN 978-961-7086-07-2 1. Dular, Andrej COBISS.SI-ID 97552129 Slovene Ethnographic Museum on the Map of World Museums 7 Tanja Roženbergar he publication of the English translation of the guide to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum permanent exhibition, titled I, We, and Others: Images of My World, comes with a slight delay. While there are several reasons for this it is far more important that the translated guide has Tbeen eagerly anticipated by our professional colleagues abroad. After learning about the concept of the exhibition, or else viewing it in person, many of them, along with the interested public, wished to explore the presented content in greater detail and enhance their knowledge about the related subjects. The exhibition, which was opened in 2009, convincingly put the Slovene Ethno- graphic Museum on the map of anthropological museums. Since its narrative is designed as an arc spanning from the beginning, the birth, to the end, the eternity, everyone can recognize in it their own personal story, the stories of other people, or those of their and many other families, and perceive connec- tions between the world, nature, culture, and the society - all of them on a common, universal journey. In the editorial of the Slovene edition of the guide (2013) the then director of the Museum, Bojana Rogelj-Škafar, wonders about the position of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum both at home and abroad. A decade after the opening of this exhibition and after its evaluation, it is possible to claim that our Mu- seum has established connections with similar institutions in Europe and on a global scale. It follows new professional tendencies in museology, which, at the onset of the 21st century, is marked by new theoretical paradigms adopted by cultural, ethnological, and ethnographic museums, and by their conceptual transformations. At the end of the second millennium, this type of museum is undergoing a complete transformation, and in order to establish balance in the world the modern urban society imposes on it the most responsible tasks. They include the search for transformed identities in the era of globalization and new sociopolitical integration and separation; establishment of cultural contacts; the search for the European character of ethnological material; and the concept of universality and world culture. All of the above creates new per- spectives for the understanding of culture. Conceptual changes and reorgani- zation of museums, and their consequent renaming, indicate a new era of cul- tural, ethnological, and ethnographic museums. With their updated content, they critically examine their activities in the past and present and raise ques- tions about past ways of object acquisition; decolonizing processes within mu- seums; modern approaches to collecting museum material; connections with the artefacts’ countries of origin; and the ethics of exhibiting sacred objects of individual cultures. They wonder how museums may contribute to the de- velopment and processes of the movement of people and goods, and which objects should be selected to represent the world of today. The exhibited ma- terial raises questions about the impact of globalization on our lives and the consequences of the present rapid globalization. Between Starting Points, Structure, 8 Message, and Incentive 9 Janja Žagar The process of the transformation of cultural, ethnological, and ethnographic he basic design of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum’s permanent museums is still underway. While some of them are presently in the process exhibition, which consists of several parts, was created in the mid- of designing new permanent exhibitions those that have already been mod- 1990s (Smerdel 1996, Dular 1996, Žagar 1996). Its concept included ernized all emphasize that their mission is to convey the role of humankind a thorough consideration of the museum as an institution – of the and cultural diversity. Since it is precisely this topic that represents the cen- Tprinciples of its operation, ways of communication, and the museum’s objec- tral recurrent theme of the exhibition I, We, and Others: Images of My World it tives in the modern multicultural society. After our museum had moved to its comes as no surprise that some museums regard this exhibition concept as a current location in 1997, we presented to the public its outline in the form of Banners on the side precedent for the evaluation of conceptual changes. smaller sample exhibitions. One of these concerned the structure of the mu- façade of the Museum. Graphic representations seum fund (Smerdel et. Al. 1997), another was a thematic exhibition concep- of the two permanent The period between the 2009 opening of the exhibition and the present, when tualized on the basis of the collection of missionary F. Baraga (Terčelj 1997); exhibitions and their the project, which is naturally constantly updated, is being crowned with the both of them indicated the course of the first part of the permanent exhibition. diverse principles publication of the guide in the English language, has confirmed the lucidity Adopting the theme of birth and childhood in Slovenia, the third one symboli- converge in a unified symbolic depiction of the of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum and has firmly installed it on the map cally presented a model for the later second part of the permanent exhibition of world museums. It can be argued that the exhibition I, We, and Others: Im- tree, with the title and (Žagar 1997). logo of each exhibition ages of My World is also part of the development process of the installment of on either side (photo by museum institutions in an urbanized modern society, and that it considerably All integral parts of the permanent exhibition were not realized simultane- J. Žagar). contributes to a better understanding of our multicultural world. Such insights ously. They were presented for critical are the most we can give, and the most we all need. And the need for them still evaluation both to the professional and increases. the lay public over several years. Titled Between Nature and Culture, the first one welcomed its first visitors in 2006. The following year saw the realization of the introductory film to the exhibition, Images of Daily Life in Slovenia’s Past. The film and its specific media language complements both exhibitions, especial- ly when dealing with issues that are dif- ficult, or indeed virtually impossible, to present due to the absence of artefacts Title screen of the and other sources. At the end of 2009, introductory film Images the museum inaugurated the second part of Daily Life in Slovenia’s of its permanent exhibition under the title Past. I, We, and Others: Images of My World. Film script and text Each of these three parts is distinguished by Gorazd Makarovič, illustrations and by a broad scope of interest, research, col- animation by Irena Romih, lecting, and exhibition interpretation, all directing and editing by of which determine museum work. Amir Muratović, camera by Bojan Kastelic, Nadja The two parts of the permanent exhibi- Valentinčič Furlan, and tion, which complement yet to a certain Robert Doplihar, film tricks by Rasto Novakovič, extent even contradict each other, invoke music author and a comparison with a coin. Each side of this performer Tomaž Rauch. coin shows a different image, conveys a Produced by the Slovene different message, and has its own distinct Ethnographic