Trans ethnography in the context of unrealised future

PRESENT VISUALITY AND THINGNESS OF TRANS-ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF UNREALISED FUTURE IN THE PAST by Liva Dudareva (METASITU) Denis Maksimov (Avenir Institute) Rana Ozturk

Moscow, 2016

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Avenir Institute is a post-disciplinary think tank with a focus on forensic research of possible futures. Its activities are clustered across contemporary art, design, political theory and philosophy. Theoretical and practical methodologies of the Institute are influenced by critical theory and poststructural philosophy.

Deconstructive, critical and forensic analysis among other strategies are employed in various combinations to produce post-disciplinary synergies. The research teams of the specific departments develop continuous projects often in collaboration with external partners from various backgrounds of expertise. The processes and results of the investigations are presented in variety of mediums - performance lecture, installation, text, publication, digital art, visual art, design, etc. The Institute codirectors are Denis Maksimov and Timo Tuominen.

METASITU is a collective for developing future urban strategies, and their projects are directed towards innovating strategies for resilience through building a body of knowledge and understanding about the way we inhabit urban territories.

It was founded in 2014 by Eduardo Cassina and Liva Dudareva, at the time urban researchers at the Strelka Institute in Moscow. Born with the goal of expanding the discussions surrounding the inhabitation of the territory to different and wider audiences, at METASITU they look for means of storytelling that reveal the results of our urban investigation through different prisms. Their practice is research-based, highly mobile and trans-disciplinary, relying on the transnational networks, virtual and physical, where they draw our inspiration and fascination from. They often find solutions by shifting existing paradigms and subverting existing behaviors; redirecting existing systems towards other ends, rather than direct physical or design interventions of colossal scales.

Dr. Rana Ozturk is a researcher, writer and scholar of contemporary art and exhibition studies. Her current research interests are transcultural curating, internationalization of art discourse, theories of global art and the contemporary, and exhibitions as tools for historicizing world art. Until now she has also worked as a translator, editor, curator, and coordinator for different organizations and art events. She curated We All Live on the Same Sea at Sirius Art Centre, Ireland (2014), Temporarily Shelved as part of the 3rd International Sinop Biennial in Turkey (2010) (co-curated with Vaari Claffey), and Slow Space Fast Pace as part of Cork Art Trail, Ireland (2007). She has been contributing to various art magazines, catalogues and publications since 2001.

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

We would like to thank v-a-c foundation for creation of the context and the support of the project.

We extend special thanks to Beartice von Bismark, Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Wayne Modest, Bill Brown, Sarah Pierce among others for insightful conversations about thingness, which in one way or another influenced the methodology and contents of this publication.

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Trans-ethnographic: mapping unrealised future in the past In 1922, the Soviet Union was established on the basis of the principle of national self-identification for nationalities within its borders. The borders that were drawn by Bolsheviks for the new Soviet socialist republics created new geopolitical entities, that required symbols and ethnographic history for legitimization. Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow was founded in 1918, right after the October revolution, and was gradually expanding collections of the artefacts of the cultures of the Eurasian region since its inception. The excavation expeditions of the Soviet archeologists and ethnographers were working in the context of gradually transforming Soviet ideology, where the initial decision of national self-identification of new republics of the Soviet Union was dictated by the strategic intention of the group of Bolsheviks, led by Joseph Stalin with support of Vladimir Lenin, to fight ‘Russian chauvinism’. The decision implied necessity to accelerate transition of bureaucratic documentation, school education, etc. into national languages of ethoses in the areas, which in many cases had no writing culture appropriate for Bolshevik methods of possible conversion. The objects and things of ethnographic significance were appropriated as symbols of national self-identification.

Between 1918 and 1922, in anticipation of the World revolution, the Bolsheviks were divided on the issue of how administrative borders within the future Soviet Union (as a part of new Socialist and later Communist world) would look like.

One of the strongest positions implied lining out the map of the country in sectors disregarding historical, ethnographic, geopolitical, etc. cartography. If that scenario have been implemented in reality, organisation of Moscow Museum of Oriental Art collection and its appropriation would reveal a different set of narratives behind the things that matter.

Today we are living at a time when notions of disparate nations, cultural identities and borders have become even more problematic and ambiguous as a result of a greater economic, cultural, political and technological interconnectedness across the globe. As a result of a process of globalization that denies time, space and place, today there is a “disturbance of our notions of the past” which also results in a “crisis in our imagination of alternative futures” (Andreas Huyssen, 2003, p.2) Yet, while the original dream of a united Communist world has not been realised, it is even more necessary to acknowledge the interrelations across the world and rethink the existing narratives reinforced by old-fashioned museological approaches to be able to imagine the future ethnography of our material world.

The current display of the Oriental Art Museum which is based on the distinctiveness of separate places is in fact a product of the modernist project and observes cultural specificity only in spatial isolation while neglecting interactions with the beyond.

As the cultural geographer Doreen Massey explains,

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

“‘Cultures’, ‘societies’ and ‘nations’ were all imagined as having an integral relation to bounded spaces, internally coherent and differentiated from each other by separation. ‘Places’ came to be seen as bounded, with their own internally generated authenticities, and defined by their difference from other places which lay outside, beyond their borders.” (Massey, 2005, p.64) Massey’s proposition of a ‘relational geography’, on the other hand, necessitates seeing cultural identities as interrelated, as well as sharing the same time and space. Her claim that “identities/entities, the relations ‘between’ them, and the spatiality which is part of them, are all co-constitutive”, challenges the modern conceptualisation of difference that was based on distinctiveness of places as reflected in culture. (Massey, 2005, p.10) Here, we would also like to refer to Peter Osborne, who discusses the contemporary “as the time of the globally transnational”. Accordingly, the concept of the contemporary refers to the present as a world-historical moment, not only defined by one place and time but shaped within a relational geography of co-existing places and times. Osborne specifically highlights ‘con-temporaneity’ as what best expresses the temporal quality of the historical present, meaning “a coming together not simply ‘in’ time, but of times: we do not only just live or exist together ‘in time’ with our contemporaries – as if time itself is indifferent to this existing together – but rather the present is increasingly characterized by a coming together of different but equally ‘present’ temporalities or ‘times’.”

(Osborne, 2013a, p.17) Based on these ideas around the spatial and temporal reconfiguration of the present, we would like to propose a trans-ethnographic approach to the existing objects in the museum, which interweaves temporalities and expands into other times that include not only our present but also the future.

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Trans-ethnographic Buddha case studies Birth of Buddha Shakjamuni (Mongolia, 19 century, canvas, silk, mineral pigments)

Head of Buddha (Afganistan, 3-5 centuries AD, ganch, cast, thread)

Buddha Shakjamuni (Tibet, 20 century, bronze, cast, stamping, gilding)

Head of Buddha (sculpture, fragment, clay, printing with different stamps, assemblage, polychrome colouring and gilding)

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

Buddhas’ scupltures (Thailand, 19 century, metall, laquer, gilding, inlay with mirrors)

Buddha candle holder (China, 21 century, plastic, wood, glass)

Buddha plate (China, 21 century, plastic, paint)

Buddha sculpture (Afghanistan, 21 century, light projection)

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Methodology We have selected several objects from the collection of Moscow Museum of Oriental Art and beyond for illustration of the trans-ethnographic narratives hidden in the dominant discourse of ethnographic representation. The visual and material appearance of Buddha as a subject of visual culture in history of what is approached by the museum as ‘Orient’ presents one of the richest narratives.

Buddha’s trans-historical, trans-cultural and trans-ethnographic reincarnation in fine art, popular and visual culture makes it a perfect case-study for testing the limits of critical deconstruction of the museum’s political and cultural discourse at meta-level. Turning our attention to materiality, relations of exchange, signification and re-appropriation in the context of visual and popular culture, we emphasize the fluid dynamics of materiality behind the idea of ‘thingness’ within the particular objects of specific significance. Demystification of the object through revealing a set of characteristics that define its mobility and contextualisation is a crucial step towards enhancement of building the bridge between the museum as a ‘the tomb of objects’ in the world of bordered nation states to ‘laboratories of thingness’ in possible post-nation state future. The power of verification of significance and cultural value, accumulated in specific institutions as a consequence of historical monumentalisation of inequality, can and should be challenged by questioning the validity and importance of monolithic ‘realness’ or inherently subjective political ‘reality’ asserted by those institutions.

Apart from the objects from the collection of Oriental Art Museum, we have selected objects that are present in the museum shop, objects from everyday life and popular consumerist culture, as well as monuments of cultural history that were forever lost but preserved in the memory through reconstructive visual technologies, and even an object of material culture that travelled outside of the Solar system.

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Colour

Material(s)

Technique

Made in

Utilized in (nationstate)

fu

IMG_2016 Buddha

multi-colour

clay

sculpture

Qing Dynasty

Mongolia

ido

IMG_0742 Buddha

gold

bronze

sculpture

Silla

Korea

am

IMG_0749 Buddha

black

bronze

sculpture

Sui Dynasty

China

am

IMG_2016 Buddha

beige

ivory

carving

Mughal Empire

India

de

IMG_0423 Buddha

metal

bronze

cast

Siam

Thailand

am

IMG_0421 Buddha

gold

wood

sculpture

Vietnam

Vietnam

ido

IMG_0420 Buddha

multi-colour

wood

carving

Japan

Japan

alt

IMG_0419 Buddha

gold

wood

sculpture

Japan

Japan

am

IMG_0415 Buddha

metal

wood

carving

Japan

Japan

ido

IMG_0414 Buddha

bronze

wood

carving

Japan

Japan

ido

IMG_0413 Buddha

metal

wood

carving

Japan

Japan

am

IMG_0411 Buddha

multi-colour

silk

tapestry

Qing Dynasty

Mongolia

de

IMG_0409 Buddha

multi-colour

silk

tapestry

Qing Dynasty

Mongolia

de

IMG_0407 Buddha

multi-colour

canvas

tapestry

Buryatia

Russia

de

IMG_0405 Buddha

metal

bronze

sculpture

Tibet

Tibet

ido

IMG_0403 Buddha

metal

golden paste

sculpture

Regional Kingdoms of India

India

ido

IMG_0402 Buddha

grey

stucco

cast

Kushan Empire

Pakistan

ido

IMG_0401 Buddha

rust

gypsum

cast

Sasanian Empire

Afghanistan

ido

IMG_0400 Buddha

beige

gypsum

cast

Sasanian Empire

Afghanistan

ido

IMG_0398 Buddha

multi-colour

clay

sculpture

Kushan Empire

Uzbekistan

ido

IMG_0397 Buddha

multi-colour

clay

sculpture

Kushan Empire

Uzbekistan

ido

IMG_0395 Buddha

multi-colour

paint

painting

Kushan Empire

Uzbekistan

de

IMG_0394 Buddha

multi-colour

plastic

cast

China

Russia

de

IMG_0393 Buddha

multi-colour

plastic

cast

China

Russia

de

IMG_0392 Buddha

white

plastic

cast

China

Russia

ca

IMG_0391 Buddha

black

plastic

cast

China

Russia

ca

Buddha

black

ink

needle work

Ukraine

Ukraine

tat

buddha_lu Buddha

green

glass

cast

China

Global

bo

Buddha

white

fruit

cast

China

Global

foo

bamiyan-b Buddha

light yellow

light

projection

China

Afghanistan

po

il_fullxfull.6 Buddha

gold

plastic

3-D prints

USA

Global

ac

il_fullxfull.6 Buddha

black

plastic

3-D prints

USA

Global

ac

IMG_0426 Buddha

multi-colour

plastic

cast

China

Global

pa

Buddha_lit Buddha

white

resin

cast

USA

USA

pu

Image nr

Description

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

unction

ol

Insurance Alternative value (USD) value

of Monetary Period value (USD) making (century)

Estimated amortisation period (y)

Usage in the present

Usage in futures

Acquired

80 spiritual

7000

19

200 exhibit

amulet

1937

mulet

540 spiritual

100000

8

10000 exhibit

amulet

1970

mulet

700 spiritual

150000

6

10000 exhibit

amulet

1950

ecoration

350 spiritual

27000

16

5000 exhibit

decoration

1918

mulet

415 spiritual

50000

19

10000 exhibit

amulet

1970

ol

50 spiritual

6000

19

100 exhibit

idol

1980

tar

650 utilitarian

130000

19

100 exhibit

cabinet

1980

33 spiritual

42000

14

100 exhibit

decoration

1918

ol

370 spiritual

35000

15

100 present

idol

1980

ol

370 spiritual

35000

13

100 present

idol

1980

mulet

390 spiritual

40000

13

100 exhibit

idol

1918

ecoration

100 utilitarian

12000

19

50 exhibit

decoration

1937

ecoration

100 utilitarian

12000

19

50 exhibit

decoration

1937

ecoration

35 utilitarian

5000

19

30 exhibit

education

1930

idol

1980

decoration

1950

mulet

500

20

10000 exhibit

ol

ol

130 spiritual

15000

9

5000 exhibit

ol

440 spiritual

60000

4

200 exhibit

exhibit

1950

ol

490 spiritual

80000

3

400 present

exhibit

1956

ol

490 spiritual

80000

3

400 present

exhibit

1956

ol

540 spiritual

100000

2

200 exhibit

exhibit

1960

ol

540 spiritual

100000

2

200 exhibit

exhibit

1960

1000 spiritual

300000

2

60 exhibit

exhibit

1960

ecoration

0 spiritual

ecoration

0 utilitarian

5

21

700 souvenir

exhibit

2016

ecoration

0 utilitarian

5

21

700 souvenir

exhibit

2016

andle holder

0 utilitarian

7

21

1000 souvenir

exhibit

2016

andle holder

0 utilitarian

7

21

1000 souvenir

exhibit

2016

ttoo

0 spiritual

70

21

45 amulet

ottle

0 utilitarian

4

21

od

0 nutritional

8

21

180000

21

10000 exhibit

olitical

5000 spiritual

200 packaging 0 food

decoration decoration

2050

none none

2015

ccessory

0 utilitarian

27

21

700 toy

exhibit

2037

ccessory

0 utilitarian

27

21

700 toy

exhibit

2047

ackaging

0 utilitarian

3

21

400 packaging

none

2020

7000

21

100 exhibit

exhibit

2016

ublic art

2000 communal

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Buddha functions based on the monetary value (USD)

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Alternative value of Buddha throughout the time

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Relationship between the Buddha’s materiality and value based on its amortization period

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

Distribution of Buddha according to place of utilization and amortization period

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Usage of Buddha today and in the future

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Links between the Buddha functions and place of utilization based on the century of production

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

To be continued or future ethnography In August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and became the first spacecraft to enter the interstellar space. It contains a gold-plated audio visual disc, that carries among other things photos of the Earth’s lifeforms, cultural artifacts, etc.

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past

by Avenir Institute, METASITU and Dr. Rana Ozturk

Present Visuality And Thingness Of Trans-Ethnography In The Context Of Unrealised Future In The Past