UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMME 2020 SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS JAPAN IN THE MEIJI ERA The collection Heinrich von Siebold February 13 - May 10, 2020 AZTEC June 25, 2020 - January 6, 2021 NEW EDUCATION & OUTREACH PROGRAMME FRIDAY FOR CULTURE New event series celebrates cultural diversity RESEARCH AT WELTMUSEUM WIEN BENIN DIALOGUE Weltmuseum Wien participates since 2010 TAKING CARE Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care A short introduction to the international research project hosted by the Weltmuseum Wien JAPAN IN THE MEIJI ERA The collection Heinrich von Siebold February 13 - May 10, 2020 Heinrich von Siebold (1852-1908), son of the doctor and famous researcher on Japan Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), came to Japan as a teenager and spent most of his life there. He was hired as an interpreter at the newly founded Austro-Hungarian embassy in Tōkyō. This was during the transition from the Shogunate to the Meiji period (1868–1912) and a new policy of opening up the country. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan's formerly military-oriented society changed from a feudal state to a modern superpower, with the Tennō as the head of the state. The social upheaval meant that many of the cult and everyday objects of the previous Shogun period were no longer needed and thus passed into the possession of collectors like Heinrich von Siebold. He wanted to sell his extensive collection, but in the end left it to Emperor Franz Joseph for the k. u. k. Natural History Museum in 1888. There, the collection was inventoried in the anthropology and ethnography department. Heinrich von Siebold received a title of nobility for the donation. The exhibition follows the collection's journey to the Weltmuseum Wien. It will present the results of a joint research project with the National Museum of Japanese History. The exhibition is based on three historical photographs from the 19th century, which show how the collection was set-up at the family's private residence. A film shows how this set-up was reconstructed using the object mapping technique and thus gives an impression of the original installation. At the same time, the objects will be displayed in five exhibition rooms and presented with a current assessment of the historical value of a Meiji-era collection. A catalogue and an accompanying book in German and Japanese will be published for the exhibition. A symposium on Heinrich von Siebold and his collection will take place in March 2020. AZTEC June 25, 2020 - January 6, 2021 In 2020, the Weltmuseum Wien will present an exhibition on the legendary art and culture of the Aztecs (ca. 1430 - 1521 AD). This highlight exhibition focuses on tributes and sacrifices that played an important role in the Aztecs' religious and economic life. Particular attention is also paid to the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, which served as a hub as well as the religious and cultural centre of the empire. The special exhibition The Aztecs was conceived by the Linden-Museum Stuttgart in cooperation with the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen in the Netherlands. It will take place for the 500th anniversary of the conquistador Hernán Cortés' landing off the coast of Mexico. The Aztecs dominated a large part of Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. As a nomadic people, the Aztecs finally settled on several small islands in Lake Texcoco, where they founded the city of Tenochtitlán, present-day Mexico City, in 1325. In the 15th century, they created an empire surpassed in the Americas only by the Incas in Peru. The Aztecs are among the most well-documented of all Indian civilizations in the 16th century. Visitors retrace Cortés footsteps: starting with the periphery of the Aztec empire and the cultural diversity of Mexico, the exhibition leads to the sacred precinct of the capital Tenochtitlán. The exhibition features more than 200 objects and items on loan from Mexican and European museums, including the Museo del Templo Mayor and the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. The world-famous feather headdress exhibited in the permanent exhibition will - among other objects from the Weltmuseum Wien collection - supplement the special exhibition Aztecs. As part of a collaboration between Mexico and Austria, the last existing Aztec feather headdress has now been comprehensively cleaned and conserved. Thanks to this measure, the iridescent splendour of the feathers' green and blue tones and over 1500 gold leaves once again come into their own. Friday for Culture As part of our new event series Friday for Culture, we cordially invite visitors, communities and friends of Weltmuseum Wien to celebrate and cherish cultural diversity! Once a month on Friday, the museum remains open until 9 p.m. On this occasion, in cooperation with cultural associations and civil society initiatives, we offer a varied programme focussing on different regions and relevant topics. In a relaxed atmosphere, you can enjoy lectures, children's programme, concerts, performances, film screenings, workshops and much more! In short: Friday for Future unites events that fascinate, inspire and broaden your mind! Friday for Culture #1: The Majlis! Fr., 31st of January, 2-9 p.m. In January, Friday for Culture celebrates the Majlis, a place for hospitality, cosiness and discussion in the Arab Gulf region. Join us for a stimulating guided tour while your children listen to oriental fairy tales! Also do not miss the Dialogue in the Majlis: Collecting Islamic Art. The programme is finished off with a musical performance that awaits you in our stunning hall of columns! Friday for Culture #2: Japan! Fr., 28th of February, 2-9 p.m. The second Friday for Culture focusses on our new special exhibition Japan in the Meiji Era. For our youngsters we offer an exciting program in which we embark on an imaginary journey to the samurai in ancient Japan. At the same time, curator Bettina Zorn guides us through the special exhibition. A Shakuhachi concert in our hall of columns will round off the evening! RESEARCH AT WELTMUSEUM WIEN PARTICIPATION IN THE BENIN DIALOGUE Already in 2002, the intensive preparations for the exhibition Benin – Kings and Rituals. Court Arts from Nigeria, shown 2007 in Vienna, laid the foundations for the collaboration with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria (NCMM). In 2010, the NCCM, together with the Weltmuseum Wien, initiated an open dialogue to examine new joint perspectives on the difficult heritage of the art treasures from the Benin Kingdom dispersed throughout the world due to a colonial war in the 19th century. An official press statement from the latest meeting 2019 in Benin City (Nigeria) and further information can be found on our website https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/science-research/participation-in-the- benin-dialogue/. The next Benin Dialogue Meeting will take place in London in 2020 at the British Museum. TAKING CARE Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care A short introduction to the international research project hosted by the Weltmuseum Wien This October, the Weltmuseum Wien inaugurated the new EU project “TAKING CARE. Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care”. In the course of the last few years, collaborating with representatives of indigenous groups and diaspora communities has become established practice at ethnographic and world cultures museums. Museums today realise that they are not only responsible for their collections but also for the people connected to them. Today, the museum’s core aims comprise more than collecting, preservation, research and education. We also focus on sharing cultural heritage, communicating knowledge, creating new approaches and healing colonial trauma, which may at times include returning artefacts. Comprising all these aims, the expression “taking care” functions as the title of a new EU project, which started on October 1, 2019 at the Weltmuseum Wien. TAKING CARE is a cooperation project led by the Weltmuseum Wien; scheduled to run for four years, it brings together fourteen partner organisations and is co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, which has contributed two million euro. Possible Solutions and Strategies to Overcome the Global Crisis? TAKING CARE was born of the alarming environmental shifts and crises we are witnessing today, which have raised public awareness and anxieties about the future of our planet. Causes and extent are global but the negative effects of this global crisis are unequally distributed, affecting most intensely those whose positions are already most fragile, including indigenous and formerly colonised peoples. The project TAKING CARE focuses on the connection between ethnographic collections and questions regarding the Anthropocene and the climate crisis, and places ethnographic and world cultures museums at the centre of a search for viable strategies to overcome these challenges. Many artefacts in ethnographic collections recall landscapes that no longer exist, or contain ecological knowledge that can be made available in the context of joint research with communities of origin, designers, activists and artists, and used to create a sustainable future. One highly topical subject is the unjust distribution of cultural heritage and the possible restitution of artefacts. How best to collaborate to come up with just solutions? Participatory and Artistic Research The project’s topics will be discussed and examined at workshops, creative residencies and exhibitions, through artistic research, small lab meetings and in joint publications. We will develop a number of participatory practices, from hands-on sessions in small groups to large public events. We will creatively study the unused potential of our museums to look critically at the global past and at possibilities to shape a sustainable future. World cultures museums no longer regard themselves primarily as depositories but as places of encounters, discussion and experience, of social innovation and experiments.