Erschließen von Museumsbeständen in Koproduktion mit indigenen Gemeinschaften

Abstract

During museum research for another project, Dr. Erich Kasten came across three Even and Koryak garments by chance, which appeared familiar to him from earlier research on Kamchatka. Thereupon he proposed to further investigate them in co-production1 with indigenous communities. After an introduction to the objects in question based on the collection files by Henriette Lavaulx-Vrécourt, Erich Kasten presents the results of his documentation. The comments on the objects recorded in the indigenous language were analyzed and interpreted by Erich Kasten against the background of earlier recordings on similar objects or on their meanings and manufacturing processes. Presenting these films with Russian subtitles in the Internet provide indigenous communities where the objects originated with access to remote museum collections. In this way, indigenous artists in particular can make use of their cultural heritage in order to develop it further. At the same time, these documentations are incorporated in local learning programs to sustain endangered indigenous knowledge. The English translation of this documentation serves to share this knowledge with other peoples of the North and to contribute to international (museum) research. A similar more extensive further research is planned in spring 2022 on the Nanai collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

[Festive clothing, decorative art, museum&indigenous communities coproductions, Koryak, Even, Russian Far East]