Page 28 - Expotime10_11_2017

From the newsdesk

► In 2014, the sale of a shrunken head failed in Munich, Stanton Williams under the project manager Patrick
Germany. The authorities had argued that it fell under Richard.
the funeral law "as a human body part". Only body parts They renovated the existing „Palais“ building and the
th
for medical or scientific purposes or as forensic evidence links to the 17 cent. Chapelle de l'Oratoire, both located
are exempted from legislation. The shrunken head was in the heart of an urban, residential quarter in the city,
returned to its owner. and part of the existing museum complex. Two new build-
As the age of a skulls for laymen is not verifiable, and ings have also been designed: the mentioned Cube, an
"age" is not an important category for several cultures, extension to the Palais with four levels of galleries for
such sales recently get more attention than in the past. contemporary art; and the Archive building, a new docu-
On October 31, a large private collection of human head mentation and graphic arts centre. In addition, a new
specimens from Borneo, New Guinea, Nigeria and the basement has been excavated under the museum, creat-
Philippines was scheduled at the Dorotheum in Vienna as ing new teaching spaces, an auditorium, restoration and
part of the "Tribal & Curiosity Sale" auction. They were conservation workshops, and an exhibition room known
already shown in 2004 at an exhibition in the Parisian as the Salle Blanche. The old and new buildings all sit
Maison Rouge and should now generate between 3000 around a new a sculpture garden and the "Cours Jules
and 12,000 €. each. "The auction of human ancestor and Dupré" walkway. The architects intended to transform
trophy heads and so-called shrunken heads was "irrever- the image of the quarter itself and open up the Museum
ent and a transgression," the Vienna Greens criticized. In to the public, and to create a coherent cultural and archi-
front of the building and online activists demonstrated tectural journey, that would fulfil the need to unify sev-
against the auction. One hour before the start of the eral disparate buildings. The architectural design for the
auction, the auction house decided to withdraw the ob- gallery spaces is intended to highlight the artworks while
jects in question and regretted to hurt people in their providing the best possible conditions for their conserva-
feelings. Nevertheless, there is currently no convention tion. The design both serves the artworks and interacts
or rule prohibiting trade in human remains. They are not with them, rather than dominating them with overpower-
considered cultural assets, although they have been col- ing architecture. As such, the new architecture has been
lected in many ethnological collections as historical reli- designed from the "inside – out", expressing its architec-
gious objects of worship and are often shown there. But ture as the result of dealing attentively with the gallery
even in the Catholic Church it is customary to exhibit and circulating spaces. New technology allows better con-
body parts of so-called catacomb saints and skulls and trol of natural light within the galleries, and improved
bones from abandoned tombs (for example, in ossuaries artificial lighting provides the flexibility required for light-
or Italian monastery collections). ing contemporary art. Stanton Williams has brought a
unique sense of architectural coherence to this project,
► The Musée d'arts de Nantes re-opened to the public through a single, holistic design process, which included
on 23 June 2017. It had received a new extension, called museum layout, architecture, landscaping, and graphic
„the cube“, which was built by the architectural group identity in collaboration with Cartlidge Levene.

The appendix, crossing and, to the right, the old rusticated The appendix is purpose-built and surprises in the inside
Musée d'arts in Nantes. with noble views.

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EXPOTIME!, issue October / November 2017