The Reimagining Heritage, Archives and Museums: Today/Tomorrow convening took place from 13th to 15th February 2024 at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.
The convening involved 95 speakers from 13 different countries (including South Africa, France, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Nigeria and Senegal) and saw over 450 delegates from 22 countries gather to share insights, best practices, and innovative approaches to preserve and promote our rich cultural heritage, archives, and museums in the face of contemporary challenges.
A digital art exhibition was also set up to run concurrently with the convening, showcasing seven immersive pieces in and around the Homecoming Centre.
This multi-stakeholder project, initiated by the Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud/French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and the Embassy of France, is co-constructed with South African partners and in wider consultation with African institutions. These included a curatorial committee composed of curators Ngaire Blankenberg (Founding Director of the Institute for Creative Repair), Emmanuel Kasarhérou (President of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris), and curatorial assistant Kefiloe Siwisa, as well as a steering committee comprising 28 stakeholders from across the African continent and Europe.
Day One
Day one kicked off with a design thinking workshop, led by the Hasso Plattner D-School Afrika (which is based at the University of Cape Town), to give convening delegates the tools to reframe how they approach sticky problems. By placing themselves in the shoes of their users, delegates were able to envision heritage institutions not as static repositories of artefacts, but as dynamic spaces for dialogue, discovery, and creativity. One possible solution posed was an interactive AI museum facilitator accessed through your mobile phone, which provides additional context for all exhibition items.
With the order of events presided over by the ever-dynamic MC Lebo Mashile, the official proceedings were opened with a welcome by the Ambassador of France to South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi, David Martinon. The Ambassador referenced the report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron, written by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, entitled Restituer le patrimoine africain: vers une nouvelle éthique relationnelle (Restoring African heritage: towards a new relational ethic) as an impelling force for the convening. “This impetus to establish a new relational ethic has birthed the Reimagining Heritage, Archives and Museums project, which is a multi-stakeholder initiative, developed in consultation with institutions across the whole of Africa. It is again an embodiment of our commitment to support heritage in Africa,” said Ambassador Martinon.
Many speakers highlighted the importance of the Homecoming Centre in District Six as a venue for these discussions, including Zeenat Patel-Kaskar (Executive Director of the District Six Museum) and Professor Ciraj Rassool (Senior Professor of History at the University of the Western Cape) who referred to his family’s history with the area. Rassool also played a role in shaping the District Six Museum, to which the Homecoming Centre belongs. He referred to it as an example of what a redefined, or reimagined museum could be: not as a building, series of displays, or exhibitions, but as a series of social exchanges.
The afternoon comprised two discussions, kicking off with “Reimagining Museums and Cultural Institutions for a New Era”, moderated by Ngaire Blankenberg, introduced by renowned activist, writer and former Judge of the Constitutional Court, Albie Sachs, and featuring a hard-hitting panel of Lekgetho Makola (Chief Executive Officer at Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria – South Africa), Professor Carolyn Hamilton (South African Research Chair in Archive and Public Culture Historical Studies, University of Cape Town), Sophia Sanan (Educator, Writer, Thinker, Research Consultant and Project Manager for Museum Futures Africa – South Africa), Steve Kwena Mokwena (Curator Robben Island Museum, Heritage Department, and Founder and Curator of the Afrikan Freedom Station) and Storm Janse van Rensburg (Senior Curator & Head of Curatorial Affairs at Zeitz MOCAA). This session delved into what the future of museums could look like globally and how we move in a direction that will result in relevant, human-centred and relevant cultural spaces.
The day wrapped with a celebration of heritage with a performance by uKhoiKhoi and a live visual experience by Inka Kendzia inside the Whale Well at the Iziko South African National Museum.
Day Two
Restitution was a central topic of the convening, with much of day two dedicated to advancing prior discussions or engagements. Molemo Moiloa (Artist, Director and Head of Research at Andani.Africa & Co-founder of Open Restitution Africa) started the day with “A Radical Commitment to Repair: Perspectives on Restitution”, in which she acknowledged that restitution is not meant to be comfortable and expressed a need for African voices not to be marginalised in the conversation.
“Restitution is effectively a collective call to our better selves,” Moiloa said. “It is the rigour not to settle for the mistakes our ancestors made. Working with restitution is to work in solidarity. It is a commitment to collective repair and a commitment to humanity.”
Poets Dr Diana Ferrus and Siphokazi Jonas gave a moving performance lecture titled “From Broken Bones to Healing Hearts: My Journey with Sarah Baartman”, which told how Ferrus came to write the poem “I’ve Come to Take You Home”, which contributed to the repatriation of Sarah Baartman’s remains to South Africa from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France in 2002.
Prof Rassool moderated a panel discussion titled “Repatriation and Restitution: From Conversation to Action”, which included panellists Rasoarifetra Bako (President of ICOM Madagasikara – Madagascar), Emmanuel Kasarhérou (President of The Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac – France), Zakhele Ndlovu (Heritage Officer at the South African Heritage Resources Agency), Simbayi Cogen Qwasira (Chief of Makoni District – Zimbabwe), Dr Rudo Sithole (Founding Director AFRIMUHERE (African Museums and Heritage Restitution) and Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe). The discussion included an introduction by Veronika Châtelain (Senior Programme Officer; Culture and Art Open Society Foundation/African Restitution Fund (AReF)) that discussed the role of philanthropy in restitution.
To end the day, internationally lauded South African contemporary dancer, Gregory Maqoma delivered an awe-inspiring performance. The electrifying staging, entitled Genesis 1, was an interpretation of the human body as a museum of spirit, and aptly set the tone for the final panel discussion of the day: Heritage and Spirit.
This panel was made up of traditional healers, Gogo Khanyakude and Azah Mphago, senior lecturer at UCT, Jay Pather, and Motsane G. Seabela (Curator: Anthropology at Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History), with theatremaker, performer, educator Mwenya Kabwe as moderator. The panel explored indigenous knowledge systems and African spiritualities as a means of understanding heritage.
Interspersed throughout the day were demonstrations, pecha kucha-style talks and presentations.
The day concluded with a walkabout of Seismography of Struggle at Zeitz MOCAA led by curator Zahia Rahmani.
Day Three
The role of the community in building museums and furthering heritage conversations was centred on the final day of the convening.
Curators and cultural managers from several organisations, including Eric Itzkin (Deputy Director: Immovable Heritage, City of Johannesburg), Goabaone Montsho (Secretary General Botswana Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, Curator Botswana National Museum & Chairperson of the International Council of Museums Botswana), Puleng Plessie (Curator: Education Mediation at Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria), Bridget Ulalo Shumba (Cultural Manager at Music Crossroads Malawi), and Andrew Lamprecht (Curator of Historical Paintings and Sculpture, Iziko South African National Gallery), discussed the role of museums in community. Montsho highlighted the need for museums to take into account those from the community who are disabled, highlighting how the “no touch” rule in many museums can exclude blind people (who use their sense of touch to explore) from experiencing museums.
“The sense of community is really embedded into the Lukhanyo Mdingi brand, which comes from my own personal upbringing and understanding of the power the collective holds,” fashion designer Lukhanyo Mdingi explained. Expanding further on this theme of community, the panel discussion on “Contemporary Design as Heritage Preservation and Engagement” explored the role communities have in the process of creation. The talk featured some of South Africa’s best fashion designers from Thebe Magugu, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Mbali Mthethwa from The Herd, Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg from The Ninevites, researcher Dr Erica de Greef, and moderated by Emilie Gambade, editor of Maverick Life.
Another notable talk examined the role of private and corporate collectors in preserving African heritage. With several figures from the art world, such as curators Genevieve Ray (Absa Money Museum) and Dr Same Mdluli (Standard Bank Art Gallery), FNB Art Joburg director Mandla Sibeko, international art lawyer Benjamin Fellous, Louis Norval (Founder Norval Foundation, Co-Founder Attfund Ltd and Green Create Group) and moderated by Michelle Constant (CEO American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa and Weekend Broadcaster on SAFM). The discussion explored tensions between the private and public art sectors, and the need for democratising private art institutions.
The day featured two interactive workshops, “The Urgency of Preserving and Archiving African Languages Through Storytelling” facilitated by Tsosheletso Chidi and “The Present as an Archive: Intergenerational Dialogue Through Folklore” facilitated by Mpumi Mayisa, both of which drew engaged and animated participation.
The convening closed off with remarks from curators Blankenberg and Kasarhérou. “We need to stop importing these Western ways of doing,” said Blankenberg. “In order for us to heal, in order for us to continue to create, we need our ancestors back. But more than that, we need African forms of collection and archive management, devised by and for the people of the African continent.”
Kasarhérou noted, “To come alive, the cultural heritage that archives and museums preserve for future generations requires contemporary generations to be able to reappropriate and reformulate it in today’s language, taking into account the issues of the present”.
PARTNERS
Sponsors: Absa, Memorist, Groot Constantia.
Venue Partners: The Homecoming Centre of the District Six Museum, Iziko Museums of South Africa and Zeitz MOCAA.
Government entity/ Private organisations: Department of Sports, Art and Culture (DSAC), the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO), the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), the South African Museums Association (SAMA), the International Council of Museums South Africa (ICOM), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Innovation Foundation for Democracy
Corporate/Other: Investec Cape Town Art Fair, the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika*
