Monuments should not be trusted exhibition

Monuments Should Not Be Trusted brings together over 30 leading artists and groups from the “golden years” of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - the period between the early 1960s and the mid 1980s. Over 100 artworks and artefacts illuminate the key contradictions of this single party state – built after WWII on socialist principles, yet immersed in “utopian consumerism.” This is the first time in the UK that the art of this period, which has attracted increasing attention, has been shown in the context of the social, economic and political conditions that gave rise to it. It draws on new and innovative research on this period, and features many of its most celebrated artists. The exhibition begins with the rise of consumerism, midway through President Josip Broz Tito’s 37 year presidency, and ends a few years after his death in 1980. As well as artists’ works in moving image, collage, photography, sculpture and painting, the exhibition encompasses music, TV clips and fascinating artefacts, such as gifts made by workers for President Tito’s birthday, and relay batons which were carried across the country and ceremonially presented to him.

Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of a pre-Columbian funerary gold mask from the Museum of Sican, Peru

A funerary gold mask from the Museum of Sican, Ferranafe, Peru was analyzed in 30 different areas using a portable equipment using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence. It was deduced from the measurements that the main sheet of the mask and the majority of the pendants have a similar composition and are made of tumbaga, which means a poor gold alloy enriched at the surface by depletion gilding, and have a similar `equivalent` gilding thickness of about 5 mu m. The nose, also on tumbaga, has different composition and a thickness of about 8 mu m. The clamps are on gilded or on silvered copper. The red pigment dispersed on the surface of the mask is cinnabar. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Are the earliest field monuments of the pacific landscape serial sites?

Explanations of the origin and genesis of Pacific field monuments commonly assume they reflect local social change in islands or island groups which were increasingly isolated following colonization. A recent review of early West Polynesian archaeology suggests that the penecontemporaneous appearance of various kinds of field monuments from eastern Melanesia to Polynesia may be better explained as evidence of interaction and the movement of people and/or ideas, possibly associated with the colonization of East Polynesia.

Developing a collections management policy for the Ethnology Division of the National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery of Botswana

The culture and political environments of Botswana influence the collections management policy of its' National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery. The emphasis of this research is to make the museum relevent to the needs of the local people by developing more suitable ideas. The developed policy is intended to reflect these unique needs.

Public Monuments and the Development of Siamese Nationalism, 1908-1945

A careful study of Siam's public monuments is the key to understanding the development of the Siamese nation in its formative period, from 1908 to 1945. As Siam's elites attempted to modernize the state in order to compete with the more developed powers of the West, they recognized that nationalism could potentially be used as a force to increase popular unity, consolidate modernization programs, legitimize their own authority, and protect the country from foreign conquest. The problem they faced, however, was how best to communicate nationalism to the people. Different factions throughout this era had their own idea of what it meant to be Siamese, and all of them wanted to control the national image. But literacy in Siam was extremely low, and art too expensive for most individuals to possess. Public political monuments, the focus of this thesis, therefore became the primary means of manifesting and propagating the underlying tenets of the new Siamese nation. Public monuments express the changing imaginings of the Siamese nation in this period of enormous transformations and turbulence, through the motives behind their commissioning, the political messages they convey, and popular reactions to the monuments. Three primary strains of Siamese nationalism emerged during this period: royalist nationalism, republican nationalism, and military nationalism. These three imaginings of the nation continually developed and interacted with each other, but each was particularly dominant at a given time in Siamese history. Monuments of the royalist period (1908-1925) embody the desire of Siam's kings to not only promote national pride amongst the Siamese people, but also advocate an image of nation and king as one. Monuments of the republican period (1925-1939) express the changing and sometimes contradictory events of their times, as they demonstrate new national values based on the sovereignty of the people, the value of the constitution, and the growing power of the military. And monuments of the military period (1939-1945) espouse an assertive and militaristic national image of warfare, patriotism, authority, and vigor. This thesis explores the nationalistic themes expressed in these monuments, and how these themes played out in the course of Siam's wider history.

«Von Menschen und Göttern verlassene Leichname». Totenkult im 'Musée des Monuments Français' (1791-1816)?

Das 'Musée des Monuments Français' ging 1793 aus der Revolution hervor. Das ehemalige Kloster, in dem enteignete Kirchengüter gelagert wurden, mutierte unter Alexandre Lenoir zu einer chronologisch geordneten Ruhmesstätte der französischen Geschichte. Grabmäler und Monumente erinnern an verschiedene Personen dieser Geschichte – von Héloïse über viele Könige bis hin zu Descartes. Allerdings war das 'Musée des Monuments Français' weniger ein Ort des royalen Totenkults als vielmehr ein Museum, in dem auch die königlichen Grabmäler als Exponate innerhalb der Präsentation der französischen Geschichte fungierten. Daher führte es unter Zeitgenossen zu einer Polarisierung in Anhänger und Gegner: So waren zum Beispiel Michelet und Wilhelm von Humboldt vom 'Musée des Monuments Français' begeistert, während Chateaubriand es strikt ablehnte. Im 'Musée des Monuments Français’ waren die Grabstätten und Skulpturen permanente Zeugnisse der Niederlage des Königtums. In der Restauration wurde das Museum Ende 1816 geschlossen, die königlichen Grabmäler wurden zurück in die Kirche von Saint Denis überführt.