{"id":116254,"date":"2016-01-29T23:39:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T23:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/01\/29\/dutch-museum-renaming-art-for-cultural-sensitivity\/"},"modified":"2016-01-29T23:39:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T23:39:51","slug":"dutch-museum-renaming-art-for-cultural-sensitivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/01\/29\/dutch-museum-renaming-art-for-cultural-sensitivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch Museum renaming art for cultural sensitivity – CNN.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch Museum renaming art for cultural sensitivity – CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

medievalpoc<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

medievalpoc<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

loveriche<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

medievalpoc<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Shifting a white-only perspective<\/h2>\n
\n

The initiative started six years ago, but took a back seat until Rijksmuseum\u2019s mammoth 10-year renovation project <\/a>was
\n completed in 2013. Gosselink says that the museum had in the past
\nreceived complaints that artwork descriptions, some which date as far
\nback as 1910, were written from a purely white perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe
\n had a text saying that Australia was discovered by a European man, but
\nwe all know that obviously Australia had existed for millions of years
\nbefore any Europeans went there,\u201d says Gosselink. <\/p>\n

However,
\n far from erasing all traces of original titles and descriptions,
\nRijksmuseum will archive them so that the public can still access them
\nif they wanted to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of whitewashing our Dutch history, we do think that old colonial terms are also part of it,\u201d says Gosselink.<\/p>\n

The
\n Rijksmuseum, which is one of the world\u2019s leading art institutions, is
\nworking with representatives of indigenous groups and civil society
\norganizations to come up with the most appropriate terms to use. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not want to change anything without their permission,\u201d says Gosselink. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is something I\u2019ve been pushing for since I began this project, and I\u2019m glad to see that it\u2019s finally starting to catch on with influential institutions like the Rijksmuseum, whose immense online collection and digital archives have helped bring amazing content to MPoC. <\/p>\n

The language used in the article leaves a bit to be desired, since titling artworks with racial slurs should never have been a thing in the first place. But I do think that leaving the former titles archived as evidence of institutional racism encourages accountability and helps show a changing narrative, rather than erasing all traces of the changes.<\/p>\n

The way artworks are indexed and the terms attached to them in databases heavily influence the way we think about them, and the way we process information and context. Hopefully this will not only be a more accurate way to organize these works, but will also make them easier to find for those who\u2019ve been searching for them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Art is suppose to piss people off no matter out insensitive it is. Changing works up like this is some weak sauce.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First of all, I find it very debatable that art is \u201csupposed to piss people off\u201d. Art does a lot more than that, and saying that art\u2019s only value is to cause discomfort is devaluing and oversimplifying to an absurd degree.<\/p>\n

Secondly, thousands of works were created without titles, or the original titles were lost.\u00a0 The Rijksmuseum was founded in 1885<\/b>. For the overwhelmingly most part, the \u201coriginal\u201d titles they\u2019re talking about are those given in 1885, by the museum<\/b>. <\/p>\n

And lastly, not only are many of those titles full of racial slurs, they\u2019re inaccurate and do nothing to tell someone what the painting is actually of, where or when it was created, if it\u2019s a portrait or a still life, or really anything about it at all. <\/p>\n

Like honestly, how are people pissy that the museum is providing MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ART? Earlier titles and information, all of that is STILL THERE. <\/p>\n

Considering how much slur-laden, awful, dehumanizing crap I\u2019ve had to wade through over the last 3 years to find these artworks to share with you all, the fact that literally anyone is finally willing to take another look at how these works are indexed and categories is a blessing. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s like people are pissed off that a less-racist OPTION is being added. I mean, I shouldn\u2019t even be surprised at this behavior after all this time, but shame on me I guess for believing in better from people. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve got an update here, if anyone\u2019s curious about how this actually works <\/i>instead of wringing their hands about somehow not respecting history\u2019s racism enough. Check out this painting at the Rijksmuseum (it\u2019s also currently on view!!):<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

This is what you see when you click the link<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

the description text for the painting reads as follows:<\/p>\n

\n

\n Young Woman with a Fan, Simon Maris, c. 1906
\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

oil on canvas, h 41cm \u00d7 w 29cm. <\/p>\n

\n Simon Maris painted this woman on various occasions, holding
\n a cigarette or a red fan. Perhaps she was a model, yet this painting
\ncould also be an actual portrait. For want of information,<\/b> in the past
\nit was variously titled as The Negress, Portrait of a Mulatto,
\nEast-Indian Type, The Little Negress. These terms are now considered
\nderogatory. Until her name is known, the painting will bear a neutral
\ntitle.
\n \u00a0\u00a0
<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

UNTIL HER NAME IS KNOWN.<\/p>\n

Notice that none of those former titles were given by the artist<\/b>. All of them were given because of racism and a lack of information, and lack of interest in further research about the subject of this painting. The title \u201cYoung Woman with a Fan\u201d tells us more or less exactly what is in the image, and now we know that she was painted by the same artist multiple times. And more than that, the text implies that more information and research is needed to better understand the young woman depicted in this painting, including the need to know her name, and recognize her life, her worth, and her individuality. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dutch Museum renaming art for cultural sensitivity – CNN.com medievalpoc: medievalpoc: loveriche: medievalpoc: Shifting a white-only perspective The initiative started six years ago, but took a back seat until Rijksmuseum\u2019s mammoth 10-year renovation project was completed in 2013. Gosselink says that the museum had in the past received complaints that artwork descriptions, some which date … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Dutch Museum renaming art for cultural sensitivity – CNN.com”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[109,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}