Symposium and Oration Bambi Ceuppens | 10 April (new date)

Symposium Kunstmusea en kunsthistorische musea versus etnografische musea of musea van wereldculturen: onbestendig product van het koloniale verleden

Datum: Thursday 10 April, 13.00 – 14.45
Locatie: Aula Radboud Universiteit, Senaatszaal, Comeniuslaan 2, 6525 HP Nijmegen

At the basis of this symposium is prof. dr. Bambi Ceuppens’ research into the colonial distinction between so-called traditional or ethnographic art—which was (and according to many still is) more authentic and African—and art forms that developed after colonization and made exclusive use of materials imported by colonisers, such as watercolor and oil paint. Concomitantly, the development of the art concept from the 18th century onwards limited art to expressions related to the so-called higher senses (sight, sound, vision), created by people who were identified as white and civilised. The related distinction between art museums and art history museums on the one hand and ethnographic museums on the other continues to this day.

Recent approaches to the analysis of visual arts on a global scale continue to rely on a distinction between visual and performative arts, which does not necessarily apply worldwide. Evolutionary explanations of the development of art among human beings across the globe take into account both visual and performative arts, but fail to explain cultural differences within and among different human groups.

Starting from the premise that art is inextricably linked to the condition humaine everywhere in the world, the symposium asks what this means for the distinction between art and art history museums on the one hand and ethnographic museums or museums of world culture, as they are now often called, on the other: should this distinction be made at all?; should ethnographic collections be included in art museums and vice versa?; or should the distinction be maintained, as a reminder of the context in which the collections of these museums were initially constituted?

Confirmed speakers:

Mirjam Shatanawi (Reinwardt Academie en Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde)
Arthur Crucq (Universiteit Leiden)

Free entrance. Register by emailing: mette.gieskes@ru.nl

Oratie Bambi Ceuppens

Date: Thursday 10 April, 15.45 – 17.00
Location: Aula Radboud Universiteit, academiezaal, Comeniuslaan 2, 6525 HP Nijmegen

(How) Art Works and Works of Art

In the context of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, from the 17^th century onwards, the Portuguese started using the term feitiço (Port., from Lat. facticius = artificial, from facere, to do, make, produce) to refer to African material objects that, in their eyes, were worshipped as gods by Africans who thought that the objects possessed mysterious powers. The ‘fetish’ became symptomatic of the alleged irrationality of Africans, who were seen to fail to distinguish between humans, objects, and superhumans. The fetish became, by extension, a symbol of the radical alterity of Africans.

This lecture develops two arguments: first, that westerners tend to consider art works as human beings and, second, that ritual power objects (as ‘fetishes’ are now called) can help us to consider art as an essential, universal element of the condition humaine.

Participating universities and sister institutions