88 Dossier Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya December 2017 Núm. 42 Iñaki Arrieta Urtizberea Iñaki Díaz Mathieu UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAÍS VASCO/EUSKAL Balerdi Viau-Courville HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA UNIVERSITY OF EAST UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAÍS ANGLIA Professor at the Department of VASCO/EUSKAL HERRIKO Philosophy of Values and Social UNIBERTSITATEA Research and Anthropology, Universidad del Professor of the Scientific Outreach País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Department of History Advisor at the Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU). of Art and Music of Musée de la Member of the research group “Cultural and natural the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal civilisation, Québec, Canada. PhD in heritage in times of crisis: challenges, adaptations Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU. Art History from the School of World and strategies in local contexts” (CSO2015-68611-R, Member of the research group “Built Art Studies and Museology, University Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad). Heritage (GPAC) of the UPV / EHU. of East Anglia, UK. In the Shadow of the Guggenheim-Bilbao: legislation and museum policy in the Basque Country useums shape identity that is expressed and constructed Keywords: Guggenheim, dominant through heritage can be assumed as being a Basque Country, identity, understand- fixed one (Smith, 2008:159). Indeed, muse- museum policy ingsof a nation; umsare products of their times as well as the Paraules clau: Guggenheim, they connect increasingly complex and plural societies País Basc, identitat, política museística individuals with in which they are asked to play an increas- Palabras clave: Guggenheim, the nation as an “imagined community” ingly greater role. Their processes of identity País Vasco, identidad, política M(Anderson, 1993). As public sites of culture building and museological forms in identity museística and memory, they make use of histories and work are constantly renewed and reinvented collective memories to promote and renovate (Macdonald, 2003). After the French Revo- collective identities and social consciousness lution, for example, museums reflected the (Bouquet, 2012:122; Crooke, 2007:119), new Republic, exhibiting patriotism and and in doing so,also become powerful shaping a national heritage and identity in a agents in legitimizing identity and enact- manner which departed from museum poli- ing national values (Roigé, Boya, Alcalde, cies under the Ancien Regime (Díaz Balerdi, 2010:168). However, as Sharon Macdonald 2008a: 109-110; Duncan, 2007: 46-47; (2003) argued, while museums have aimed Poulot, 2005:61-63). In the 1960s, the first to construct and reinforce national narratives ecomuseums were an alternative to national and identities, they have not always suc- museums and with the aim to promoting ceeded in doing so. This is in part because the development and safeguarding of local the links between collective identity and the and regional identities (Chaumier, 2005: cultural heritage that is exhibited in muse- 23; Duclos, Veillard, 1992: 129). Since the ums cannot be taken for granted, nor is the end of the twentieth century, source com- Current challenges for local ethnological museums Dossier 89 munities and anti-colonial activists have the memory of a given social group. It signi- been advocating for greater reflexivity and fies that museums seek to produce “exposées” the inclusion of diverse voices in exhibition and to develop greater communication tools narratives toward a more ethically respon- for the public’(Davallon, 1992:12).A great sible museum practice (Bouquet, 2012: 98; number of cultural policies today have sub- Harris, O’Hanlon, 2013: 10; Phillips, 2011; ordinated economic models to museological Sandell, 2006: 184; Van Geert, 2016: 28-29; ones, with most public funds programmes Van Geert, Arrieta Urtizberea, Roigé, 2016: favouring those museums expectedto boost 354). the local touristic economy (Mairesse, 2010:105) or to the promotion of a coherent Likewise, museums are products of local and territorial branding (Aronsson and Elgenius, national economic realities and territorial 2011:16; Drouguet, 2015:219), in addition management strategies, and the integra- to generating positive externalities for the tion of marketplace models to museums economy and society. A known example has received a great deal of attention since of such cultural policies to valuing heritage the 1990s. Such models have been seen both is the so-called Guggenheim-Bilbao effect as a way to ensure the financial sustainability (Asensio and Pol, 2012: 165; Esteban, 2007: of museums, namely through highly-attrac- 143; Holo, 2002. 167; Mairesse, 2010: 17; tive blockbuster exhibitions, andthat they Moix, 2010: 255; Pezzini, 2014: 51; Poulot, also remain socially embedded organiza- 2005: 93; Yúdice, 2002: 16), although the tions, through more flexible andcommuni- 2008 economic crisis has since revealed some ty-driven curatorial redistributionsdesigned vulnerabilities to such a model (Bergeron, to narrow the gap between museums and 2012: 66-68, Chaumier, 2011: 87-88). society(Boylan, 2011; McCall, Gray, 2013; Viau-Courville, 2016). As argued by Jean In this paper, we trace both the social and Davalon in 1992: ‘The entry of museums economic contexts that contributed to shap- into a marketplace logic’, he wrote, ‘actually ingthe development museums in the Basque means something else: it signals the muse- Country. We pay particular attention to um’s commitment to acting as a mediator those created since the 1970s and in relation between the public and the display–that is, to changes in legislation and cultural and the objects and sets of knowledge, whether heritage policies. Following a brief review of artwork, scientific knowledge, artefacts or the history of museums in the Basque Coun- The aim of this article is to analyze the Aquest article pretén analitzar l’evolució El objetivo de este artículo es analizar evolution of the creation of museums in de la creació de museus al País Basc des la evolución de la creación de museos the Basque Country since the 1970s. dels anys setanta. Per fer aquesta anàlisi, en el País Vasco desde los años setenta Two criteria will be taken into account es tindran en compte dos criteris. Per teniendo en cuenta dos criterios. Por un in this analysis. On the one hand, the una banda, el criteri de la identitat i, per lado, el criterio de identidad y, por el otro, criterion of identity and, on the other hand, l’altra, el criteri econòmic. Un cop mort el el criterio económico. Tras la muerte del the economic criterion. After the death of dictador Franco l’any 1975, van aparèixer dictador Franco en 1975, surgieron con the dictator Franco in 1975, sociocultural amb força tot de moviments sociocultu- fuerza movimientos socioculturales y and political movements emerged with rals i polítics que defensaven una identitat políticos a favor de una identidad negada force in favor of an identity denied during negada durant la dictadura. És en aquest durante la dictadura. Es en este contexto the Dictatorship. In this context, the first context que apareixen els primers museus que se crearon los primeros museos contemporary museums emerged. Later, contemporanis. Més endavant, a finals del de arte contemporáneo. Más adelante, at the end of the 20th century, the causes segle XX, la creació de noves institucions a finales del siglo XX, las causas de la for the creation of new institutions were va obeir bàsicament a causes econòmi- creación de nuevas instituciones fueron mainly economic. Because of the Gug- ques. L’efecte Guggenheim va fer que principalmente económicas. El efecto genheim effect, many Basque institutions moltes institucions basques donessin Guggenheim hizo que muchas institu- supported the opening of new museums suport a l’obertura de nous museus al ciones vascas apoyaran la apertura de to the public. However, the economic públic. Tanmateix la crisi econòmica de nuevos museos al público. No obstante, crisis of 2008 significantly altered this l’any 2008 va afectar de manera impor- la crisis económica de 2008 alteró de evolution. tant aquesta evolució. manera significativa esta evolución. 90 Dossier Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya December 2017 Núm. 42 try, we examine the impact of the return opment was also in keeping with different 1 In this paper we focus on the Auto- to democracy on Basque museums at the folk movements also taking place in Europe nomous Community of the Basque end of the Francoist dictatorship (1939- at the time (Rivière, 1936: 61-63). On the Country (Comunidad Autónoma 1975). We describe how the reinstating of other hand, and by sharp contrast, the many del País Vasco) which encompas- ses the territories and provinces democracy in the Basque Country after the fine art museums also being inaugurated of Araba/Álava, Bizkaia and centralistdictatorship produced a series of in the Basque Country during the same Gipuzkoa. These three territories new cultural policies prioritizing intimate period, particularly those in Bilbao such as are administered by the Basque government and each is part of and relations to identity and ‘regional cultures’ the Museo de Bellas Artes and the Museo depends on their corresponding alongside other attempts to reproduce the de Arte Moderno (which today form the Provincial Council (Diputación Guggenheim-Bilbao model. Finally, wealso current Museo de Bellas Artes) reveal efforts Foral). take a sociological and economic approach to highlight a new bourgeois class looking 2 It is worth noting that all these to describethesome financial and manage- to establish social