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May 11, 2020
Who Includes
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Listening,
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ANNA CHIARA
CIMOLI
ABCittà |
Università degli
Studi di Milano,
Italy
Keywords: listening; migration; cultural diversity; intercultural dialogue;
mediation
Listening as a tool for intercultural and social dialogue
The art of listening seems to be a key skill for our times, in response to a
dominant ‘us and them’ narrative which fails to take into account human
diversity.
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Experiments carried out in the last decade focusing on the relationship between
museums and immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers have shown great
potential despite their imperfections. When assessing the representation of the
‘other’, which sums up migration, it is important to analyse the work of
institutional or independent structures which place the act of listening within a
broader framework of post-colonial, gender and queer studies, and accessibility
measures among others.
Projects initiated by museums to stimulate intercultural and social dialogue to
include minorities – migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, today, can be drawn
from cultural fields such as music, performance, literature, blogging, language
teaching, public history, and so forth.
Diversifying dialogue at Museum Rotterdam
An example of a cultural institution that has chosen to build intercultural and
social connections through listening is the Museum Rotterdam. When it was
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revealed that a construction site was being opened in front of its headquarters,
the Museum Rotterdam agreed to place a prefabricated building next to it to
house a canteen: the museum curators therefore had lunch for some time with
the builders, mostly Bulgarians, and even hired a cook for this purpose. The
premise was, if your mission as a museum is to be a ‘city museum’, then you
better meet with the city’s residents. Ask, and listen to the answers.
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The Multaqa Project
Another example is the award-winning Multaqa project, promoted in the
aftermath of the Syrian war by five state museums in Berlin, and later adopted
by other international institutions. The Multaqa project aims to encourage
intercultural dialogue between Germany and Syria by training refugees to
become museum guides. These guides set up discourses and tours focussed on
the artefacts interpreted through their own professional lenses. Again, listening
is paramount here: the project is based on a profound inter-exchange process in
which knowledge and perceptions of both German and Middle-Eastern cultures
and histories are shared and discussed between all participants, in an ongoing
process of mutual understanding.
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Factories of Stories project, © Gallerie degli Uffizi
Can the museum be a homeland?
If museums fail to listen to their different audiences’ needs, their agency will be
weakened, and in the end, will appear irrelevant. On the contrary, museums that
get involved with their communities can be temporary homes for many: for
caregivers who work in private or retirement homes and who could benefit
greatly from tailored programmes during rest hours; for those who aspire to
obtain citizenship of the country they live in – as demonstrated at the Tenement
Museum and the New York Historical Society, which organised naturalisation
ceremonies for its employees; and for international students, as seen in the
Musei Civici di Venezia and the Museo Popoli e Culture in Milan, where they
propose language courses for non-native speakers.
Museums can also act as ‘neighbourhood museums’, promoting local
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communication and cohesion on the model of local libraries, which often play
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the role of social ‘outposts’ facilitating cohesion among different generations and
needs. They can tackle the themes of prejudice
and stereotypes, which are
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designed by ABCittà with the contribution of the Cariplo Foundation as part of
international
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critical research on the most common stereotypes in museums: it consists of a
series of activities aimed at favouring critical observation and socialisation
within working, training and professional groups.
The Factories of Stories project
Can only art historians provide interpretation? When somebody else takes the
floor, under which conditions can he/she provide a different angle? The recent
experience, Factories of Stories, at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence aims to
enhance and open up interpretations rather than selecting segments from an
‘imagined public’. Through a series of podcasts written by Italian and
international citizens of Florence from the old and new generations, 12 works
from the collection are re-interpreted. The texts give the opportunity to explore
possible meanings that would not have been identified otherwise. Read in their
native language by the participants and in Italian by famous actors, these
interpretations constitute technical tests for a ‘universal vision’, in which the
idea
of being located in time
and space melts into aSearch
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In the present times, characterized by a growing emphasis on the role of
frontiers and walls – both physical and metaphorical – as the only means for a
misunderstood form of “self-defence”, museums can play a role in fostering
greater intercultural comprehension, going beyond the mere issue of security.
When the right to citizenship is often transformed into an electoral weapon,
listening can represent a powerful antidote to populism. In times of economic
crisis, where museums’ budgets are dramatically reduced, it is important to
focus on the only practice that might enable us to design better, more relevant
programmes in the future, starting from a stronger social connection.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:
Original article “Chi include chi? Il museo come spazio disponibile all’ascolto”
published online on AgCult.it on February 5th, 2020
More information about the Museum Rotterdam
More information about the Multaqa Project
More information about the Museums and Stereotypes project
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More information about Factories of Stories, at Uffizi Galleries, Florence (Italy)
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Photo credits: © Gallerie degli Uffizi
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