The In-depth workshop activity on ‘Museum Interpretation and Audience Experience Management of Cultural Heritage’ for Indonesian and Afghanistan Museums Officials under the IFIT Programme
Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia, 15-28 November 2015
UNESCO initiates South-south cooperation between Indonesia and Afghanistan in the field of culture through the exchange of skills and knowledge and in capacity training that aims to increase greater cross cultural dialogue, cultural exchange, and initiatives between the two countries especially in the area of museum and exhibition development and capacity building. The two World Heritage sites featured in this project, such as Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan and Borobudur Temple Compounds in Indonesia, are crucial for this purpose, as information on the places and their significance is presented and interpreted at the sites and more widely through media such as international exhibitions and also through the establishment of a museum at the site.
Partnering with the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture a series of capacity building workshops are underway in October and November in Central Java, Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia. The workshops are part of a project entitled “Promoting Intercultural Dialogue through Capacity Building Training for Museum Development at UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Indonesia and Afghanistan” made possible by the support from the Government of Indonesia under the Indonesia Funds-in-Trust (IFIT) Programme.
The first introductory workshop took place in Yogyakarta from 18-22 October 2015. The workshop attended by 25 participants from a broad range of institutions consist of museum, archaeology and conservation office, and also university in Indonesia, include Papua, Bali, South Kalimantan, Jambi, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Blitar and Surabaya. The continuation workshop will be the similar introductory workshop which took place in Magelang and Yogyakarta from 10-15 November 2015. The workshop was attended by 5 Afghanistan representatives from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Herat National Museum and Bamiyan Cultural Office.
The final in-depth workshop hosted by UNESCO was held in Bali and Jakarta from 15-28 November 2015. Six selected Indonesian participants from the National Museum, Bali Subak Museum, Mpu Tantular Museum, Jambi Heritage Conservation Office, and Gajah Mada University, joined by their Afghanistan colleagues were involved in this workshop and will developed a joint exhibition of Borobudur and Bamiyan World Heritage Sites.
The workshop in Bali was commenced in 15 November 2015, where the participants conducted the first lecture on cross cultural dialogue and South-south cooperation, and heritage, which was facilitated by Mr. Max Meijer - TiMe Amsterdam under the team of Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) - (the Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands). The second day, the participants presented the topic that had been discussed by the team on cross cultural dialogue lecture from both team – Indonesia and Afghanistan. The session facilitated each team on the exchange of a clear pictures of the situation in Indonesia concerning basic information and future expectation concerning Borobudur World Heritage Site opportunities and threats, and also the same concern on Afghanistan’s Bamiyan.
The lecture, on the third day, was facilitated by Paul Ariese from Reinwardt Academy – Amsterdam University of the Arts, to discuss on introduction of theory, terminology and concepts of heritage communication and interpretation (museum and heritage sites). The session was continued by the lectures that aimed at exhibition’s theory and practice, and also storyline concept as a basic framework for exhibition to show different perspectives and messages of an exhibition and exhibits, use of information, and concept.
On the fourth day, the participants went to Subak Cultural Landscape Pakerisan for site visit and took up field research in exploring on how museum may contribute to a World Heritage site. In relation to the exhibition theory and practices, the participants were trained to analyse exhibition/museum presentation as to the professional eyes and able to formulate the report and recommendations. The session was continued to a visit to Museum Kain and the museum’s director, Annisa Gultom, conducted a short lecture on storyline development. The day was closed by a plenary group discussion to wrap up a series of lectures during the week’s lessons and reflections that might be used as inputs for an Afghanistan-Indonesia Panel Exhibition on Buddhist heritage.
On the last day, the participants had a chance to have a short presentation of the most important lessons learned to Arjen Kok who will moderate and direct the training in Jakarta. With the expert’s team, the participants decided on how the issues on South-south cooperation may be included in the exhibition and prepare to build and formulate a framework for practical implementation or elaboration during the training in Jakarta.
The In-Depth workshop was continued in Jakarta on the following day at The Museum Nasional. Workshop was commenced by a general introduction on the National Museum of Indonesia and lecture on the topic of exhibition design facilitated by Cecil Mariani, designer of the Jakarta Biennale 2015. The third day, session was continued with a lecture and creative workshop on creating an educational program, which was facilitated by Ajeng Arainikasih from Universitas Indonesia and founder of the Museum Ceria, and followed by exploration of educational programs at the National Museum. The lecture on Buddhism in Indonesia and Borobudur Temple by Prof. Dr. Noerhadi Magetsari from Universitas Indonesia was conducted on the fourth day. The participants had a chance to have an interesting discussion with the professor relating on Panel Exhibition on Buddhism Facts.
Participants were required to complete an assignment of each session and have a short presentation to reflect on what have been learned during the session, which was useful to be applied in practice. On the last day, the participants were expected to create a creative workshop, which was followed by last presentation of the project results. A team of reviewers, ranged from diverse background relating with museum exhibition, were engaged to provide comments and insights on the joint exhibition materials. Evaluation and feedback was given by this panel, consist of Amir Sidharta – curator of Museum of Universitas Pelita Harapan, Setiadi Sopandi – curator of Venice Biennale 2014 and Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, Ardi Yunanto – Ruang Rupa, and Ajeng Arainikasih – Universitas Indonesia. Closing ceremony with high officials was also conducted to officially end this series of workshop.
The final result of this collaboration is expected to be exhibited in Indonesia at The Museum Nasional, Borobudur Temple Area and Museum Benteng Vredeburg, Yogyakarta and also in Afghanistan at The Afghanistan National Museum and Bamiyan Cultural Centre in the first semester of 2016. In addition to this, the materials and outputs from these workshop will be compiled to produce a ‘training for trainers toolkit’ aims to be delivered and implemented to the audience of a wider institutions.
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