বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৫ নভেম্বর, ২০১০

MUSEOGRAPHY AT THE SERVICE OF ASIAN ART

Mankind's most authentic record is his art. Like Tom Thumb the wise little boy of the fairy-tale who threw pebbles to mark his path for those who would follow him later, so man of history and pre-history marked his path with the works of his art. Cataclysms struck, sweeping peoples together with their civilizations off the earth. But not all perished. Floods did not reach the mountaintops. Sandstroms did not penetrate into subterranean caves. And there, in these inaccessible places, careful hands concealed the precious memorials of the past. Fragments of lost civilizations did survive. The sands of the deserts, and the deep layers of the earth preserved them jealously in their recesses. If we look back to the history of Asian art particularly in the sub continent, we will find that the Buddhist artists for several centuries were prohibited from representing Buddha in human form. But gradually the desire "to see" the image of their beloved teacher gained the upper hand. By the first century of our era representations of Gautama Buddha and Buddhist saints in the guise of human beings began to appear.

We know that the existence in Asia of a Greco-Buddhist tradition and a school of art is usually connected with the campaigns -and conquests of Alexander the Great [334-327B.C.] although the road to India had been known by merchants and adventurers long before the conquests of Alexander.

Greco-Buddhist art shows less of purely decorative elements characteristic of the pictorial representations of the orient and more interest in the experience of human life.
The excavations in Taxila, Peshawar, and Hadda of Pakistan yielded rich material for the study of Greco-Buddhist art. The center of Greco-Buddhist art was in the northwestern province of Andhra, which occupied parts of the Punjab and Afghanistan. The influence of the Andhra School spread widely in Turkistan, China, and Japan.

Parallel with the Andhra school, another influential school of art existed in Mathura on the southern tip of the Kushana Empire. It flourished from the second century B.C.to the Sixth century A.D. It was based on popular national Non - Muslim tradition as represented by the art of Sanchi and Amaravati. Bound to it was the art of the Gupta Dynasty, [320 A.D.] One of the most brilliant epochs in the history and art of India.

To this epoch belong most of the frescoes of the cave-temples of Ajanta, which revealed clearly and tangibly to the western world the surprising heights attained by Indian painting. We must bore in mind that probably the painting in this extreme moist region of Bangladesh was not a great success. So, if we want to know anything about the art history of the sub-continent, we have to depend on the art history of India, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka, Japan and other important Asian countries.

Contemporary literature shows that painting was associated with virtually every phase of life. Frescoes covered the walls of temples and houses; manuscripts abounded in miniatures. The art of painting was as widespread as writing, if not more so. It represented a natural and convenient vehicle for the expression and transmission of thought.

Miniatures of the eleventh and twelfth centuries of our era, which have survived to present times as illustrations to texts of Buddhist manuscripts, were found in Bengal Of earlier miniatures nothing has been found as yet. However, according to ancient Indian literary evidence, the art of miniature painting like that of mural painting has existed in India since the dim past.

The chronicles of Indian art of the Mogul period contain many European names. Frenchman- Austin de Bordeaus, who served for a while at the court of Shah-Japan probably participated in decorating the famous Mausoleum of Taj Mahal.

It is rather astonishing that the modern school of art in India should have come into existence in Bengal, the province that adhered most conservatively to the ancient traditions. Popular rites and customs, with roots in the distant past, were preserved intact here through the course of the ages, and its folk art in particular are very rich. Folk art represents a deep mine for studying the origin of the art of a place as it is transmitted through the ages almost un-changed.

In the light of the above-mentioned discussion, we can now fix up the role of Museum and that of Museographer at the service of art. Naturally, a museum's principle activity is the use of the "language" peculiar to itself-that is, of presentation-to display the objects belonging to its collections or occasionally lent to it for temporary exhibition. The aim of presentation is to provoke and facilitate direct contact between the individual and the object, whether the individual be a child member of a school group or an adult alone, whether the object is a work of art, a specimen belonging to natural science, or a working model in a gallery of technology.
The science of the musiologist and the art of the museographer will convey the message simultaneously to diverse categories of persons. In the case of a work of art, the message of which is above all aesthic and therefore individual, contemplation and assimilation will be made easier by a layout whereby a significant number of persons may without mutual hindrance enter into intimate contact with the work and benefit from what have been called the "tactile values" by the art historian Bernard Berenson. Recollection of the content will thus be more pliant and more allusive.


Art museums are those whose collections are conceived and displayed essentially for their aesthetic value even if the objects they enclose are not all xvorks of art in the intention of their creator. In this way, in addition to the museums of painting, sculpture, decorative arts, applied and industrial arts, one may include most museums of antiquties, of folklore, and of primitive arts. As has been said above, the work of art is displayed for its own sake in order that a direct and intimate contact between the visitor and the object may be established.

The most important reason for preserving things in museums is to ensure that they will be available for study and study means handling.

Museums are the repositories of our cultural heritage and have the responsibility of interpreting this for us now and of conserving it for future generations. It is through museums that an important part of ourselves, our very roots, is revealed to us. We must remember that the things we preserve have not been destroyed by age because age of it is rarely destructive. By one miraculous accident or another they have survived of ten for hundreds of years, sometimes for thousands, the hazards of fire, tempest and war, theft, vandalism, and Most of all, our own negligence. They are often in greater danger in a modern building than at any other time in their lives; fluctuating temperatures, too much or too little moisture, ultraviolet radiation, insects, atmospheric gassed and bad handling may destroy what nature spared.

The general condition of most collections in Asia does not indicate that the responsibility for conservation is either properly appreciated or suitably carried out. The observant critic might even see beautiful stone sculptures and carvings being used by visitors and sometimes by museum staff as replacement for seats in the garden. Equally widespread is the accumulation of dust on wooden objects, paintings, ethnographical pieces and other types of materials.

In truth, if we see the problem in a wider context, the responsibility of conservation, particularly that of Museographer starts with the citizens themselves. We can often see graffiti on the walls of monuments, on mural paintings and sometimes on museum objects too, people cut carvings, heads of sculptures or Architectural pieces simply to decorate their drawing rooms. This type of vandalism might be attributed to the lack of awareness and of feeling for art on the part of the people.

It should be noted very clearly that even when objects are acquired and taken into a museum collection, they aren't preserved automatically. There are definite techniques and principles to be followed for their safeguard and care. Very often, whenever the words 'preservation' or 'conservation' are mentioned it is assumed by the curator that these matters are the concern of the conservation laboratory- and not of the curatorial staff. How we overcome this problem and create better consciousness of art objects are questions very much related to the ultimate preservation of our heritage.

To have national treasures to display at all means, we must maintain and restore them. There is an immense and urgent need for the establishment of conservation and restoration laboratories throughout the country. Lastly, I must say that as a whole the national cultural heritage is in such a state of neglect that if remedial action is not taken quickly, the value of the collections will diminish greatly in the next ten years, particularly in the small and medium-sized museums.




Cultural Diversity in the framework of international cooperation

The protection of the right to cultural diversity requires the development of international cooperation in the fields of education, science and culture within the framework of the existing treaties, covenants and agreements that govem the work of international and regional organizations and institutions. However, it must be stressed that the exercise of the right to cultural diversity throughout the world cannot blossom fully unless dialogue among religions, cultures and civilizations be enhanced and further developed till it entrenches the values of concord, cooperation and coexistence among the followers of the different civilizations, and consolidates international cooperation within the framework of the existing international and regional organizations, which constitute, in their own ite right, an international system that rallies peoples, nations, States and f governments alike, regardless of their religion, culture and civilization.
However, to be constructive, efficient and purposeful, dialogue and interaction among civilizations and cultures must be founded on the basis of mutual respect in the highest ethical sense. In addition, it must rest on a set of sound and credible rules agreed by all peoples and regarded as the legal code governing the international community. Civilizational dialogue and interaction will be, in this context, grounded on the international legitimacy as well as on the rules of international law, which not only constitute common denominators for
peoples and governments of the contemporary epoch, but are also, and more importantly, the chief conceptual framework generally acquiesced by each and everybody, unlike the religious, cultural and civilizational frameworks, which are a point of discord, indeed a source of struggle, which we, the heirs of the Islamic culture and civilization, view as a manifestation of the competition raging among peoples and nations, and thereby among cultures and civilizations.
Dialogue leading to civilizational interaction becomes, thus, a human act that has a direct impact on the course of history, as well as an efficient instrument that helps--n7eintain Viand security in the world, and a driving force that promotes stability and prosperity.
Being eager to maintain close ties with our civilizational identity and to safeguard the cultural personality of our peoples, we cannot accept the type of dialogue and interaction among cultures and civilizations which is no more than intellectual luxury, with no tangible impact on the contemporary reality, or on the decision-making circles. Nor do we want a type of dialogue and interaction that originates from a feeling of racial superiority and civilizational haughtiness, grounded on cultural hegemony.
In seeking to establish a type of dialogue conducive to civilizational interaction among cultures and civilizations, we are, in fact, aspiring to disseminate the values of tolerance, in
the purest sense of the term, as understood by the Believers in God, those who have faith in the unity of the human origin and destiny (Dr. Aidulazu Othmaan Altwafjri, on Building the Civilizational Edifice of the Islamic World, Vol. 2, in the press.). We are 'seeking to affirm, by the same token, the cultural and civilizational identities.

Today, the right to cultural diversity has become one of the rules of international law, corroborated by the Charter of the United Nations Organization, in addition to the many treaties and conventions governing cultural cooperation relations within the international community. To guarantee this human right is tantamount to affirming the specificity of the culture of each single people in the world. By the same token, it would highlight the national identities and their civilizational features, which conglomerate into the global human identity based on the unity of the human species and the similitude of the human traits as bestowed upon humans by the Almighty Creator.

In the first article of the declaration on the principles of international cultural cooperation (Issued by the General Conference of UNESCO, at its 14th Session, 4 November 1996.), it is said that

1/ each culture has a dignity and a value which must be respected and preserved ;
2/ each people shall have the right and the duty to develop its own culture ;
3/ all cultures, with their rich diversity, differences and mutual influence, constitute part of the heritage owned in common by all mankind.
The diversity of identities and specificities is not inconsistent in the least with the mutual interest of peoples and nations, provided it is allowed to unfold in the context of a human cooperation based on mutual acquaintance and coexistence. Such diversity embodies, indeed, the ingredients that stimulate the natural disposition of humans to work for the attainment of progress and prosperity, driven spontaneously by the force of competition and civilizational emulation.

Since identity is so inveterate in the life of peoples and nations, it cannot be overstepped, blotted out or fused in the crucible of a single, hegemonic identity, whatever be the motive. The attempt to mop up the identities of peoples by insidious, coercive means would not only be a deviation from the natural course of things and a rebellion against the laws of the universe and the essence of life, but it would also be a violation of the very laws agreed by humans, a dangerous encroachment upon the rules of international law and a threat to peace, security and stability in the world.

Heritage and perception of Identity

Our perception of the identity is based on our civilizational heritage. In the Arab-Islamic culture, "identity" means to be distinct from others in all concerns. The term takes on three meanings : the personification, the person himself and the external existence (Abu AI-Baga AI-Kafoui (d. 1094 H), AlKuiliyat, p. 961, authenticated by Dr. Adnan Darwish and Muhamed Al-Masri, Al-Risala Institution, Beirut, First Edition, 1992..

In the AI-Taarifat, by AI-Jurjani, identity is defined as the absolute truth that enshrines facts amidst its folds like the nucleus that embodies the future tree (AI-Sharif Ali Ben Muhamed Al-Jurjani, Kitabu AI-Taarifat, Dar Al-Kutub AlIlmiyah, Beirut, 1995, p. 257.).

In the contemporary literature, the term "identity" designates the fact of being the same in all respects, either to oneself or to a similar entity (The Arab Philosophical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 821, First Edition, Arab Development Institute, Beirut, 1986.). The same definition is given in the modern dictionaries, in which "identity" stands for the absolute essence of an entity, the essence which embodies its intrinsic qualities, distinguishing it from the others. It is also called the "unity of the self."
Whether we adopt the linguistic or modern philosophical acceptation of the term "identity," the general sense does not change for that matter, as it will always connote the fact of being distinct from others or of being the same in all respects, that is to say to have specific characteristics, values and constituents that distinguish the individual and society from others.

In short, the cultural and civilizational identity of a given nation represents the immutable and essential body of general characteristics and traits peculiar to the civilization of a nation,
which confer upon the national personality a patina that distinguishes it from the other national personalities (Dr. Muhamed Imara, Al-Hilal magazine, February 1997, Cairo.).

But how can the cultural and civilizational identity be safeguarded in the context of a far-reaching globalization, whose leverage stretches out to the entire international community ? More importantly, how can the requirements of national sovereignty tally with those of globalization ?

The trend taken by globalization portends an adverse impact on both identity and sovereignty. The Western stance vis-a-vis the identity of peoples is conspicuously contradictory.

While, on the one hand, the West takes great pride in its identity, to which it clings staunchly by the way, it refuses, on the other, to recognize the national identities of non-Western peoples, as it feels that globalization might lead to further awareness about cultural and civilizational specificity. In the view of the Western thinkers, in general, this is the thorniest problem with which they are confronted. Their intellectual perplexity vis-a-vis this problem is voiced with incomparable clarity.