SPECIAL PROJECT OF THE RIJKSMUSEUM VOOR VOLKENMKUNDE (LEIDEN) AND THE ARTS COUNCIL OF IRIAN JAYA; TRIP TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA
Dirk A.M. Smidt
From March until October 1992 Dirk Smidt, Curator of the Oceanic Department of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, was responsible for the coordination of a museum programme designed for four Fellows of the Arts Council of Irian Jaya (West New Guinea) in cooperation with Leiden University, Nuffic (Netherlands Universities Fund for International Cooperation), The Arts Council of Irian Jaya, Jayapura and the Indonesian Embassy, The Hague. At Leiden University the Fellows followed intensive courses in visual anthropology, organized by the audio-visual section of the Department of Cultural and Social Studies.
In the context of the museum programme the four Fellows, Hendrik Wamea, Philipus Ramandei Thamo, Irene Wambrauw and Marlina Flassy, familiarised themselves with Irian Jaya material in Dutch museum collections, the documentation pertaining to those collections, relevant literature, photographs of historical and cultural interest, and cine- films. Ethnographical museums in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Utrecht, Nijmegen and Steyl were visited. Several scholars (including Professor Adrian Gerbrands and Dr. Simon Kooijman) presented lectures on a wide range of topics, ranging from a survey and history of the Irian Jaya collection in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, via results of field research into aspects of material culture and art (particularly with regard to New Guinea), to problems involved with the development of cultural centres.
The Fellows also familiarised themselves with methods of archiving and documenting pictorial material and, through the cooperation of the Central Laboratory for the Preservation of Works of Art in Amsterdam, with the physical conditions required for long-term preservation of photographs and slides.
At the conclusion of the museum programme a trip was made to Germany and Switzerland to visit museums of Ethnography at Cologne, Heidelberg, Stuttgart and Basel. At Basel a visit was also made to the Ethnological Department (Ethnologisches Seminar) of Basel University and to the Basler Mission. At the latter institution information was obtained about advanced systems of preserving and retrieving photographic material.
The Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde and several other museums donated books and copies of photographs in accordance with one of the main aims of the Arts Council: the development of a recently established documentation centre which would, apart from having a research purpose, serve as a frame of reference and source of inspiration for artists involved in the High School for the Arts, another main institution recently established under the auspices of the Arts Council.
This project would not have been possible without the cooperation of many colleagues, museum curators and directors of the museums visited. At a farewell reception hoisted at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde the fellows of the Art Council of Irian Jaya expressed their heartfelt thanks and gratitude for the help received by so many people during their stay in Europe. The cooperation between the Arts Council of Irian Jaya and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, initiated in 1992, was continued in 1993, in particular through a visit by Dirk Smidt to Irian Jaya (see below).
Trip to Australia and New Guinea
From 8 April to 3 June 1993 Dirk Smidt made a trip to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya. The aim of this trip was to attend the Pacific Arts Association's 5th International Symposium at Adelaide, visit museums in the countries mentioned (to be further acquainted with Pacific collections while focussing on areas of particular research interest), renew contact with the staff of the Arts Council of Irian Jaya, and undertake fieldwork in Irian Jaya. In Australia, museums were visited in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin. In Papua New Guinea the National Museum at Port Moresby was visited to held discussions about a joint project in the context of cultural development. For the trip to Irian Jaya Smidt was joined by Gábor Vargyas of the Ethnographical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, who had also attended the PAA Symposium in Adelaide. In Irian Jaya museums were visited in Jayapura and in Agats, Asmat area, and discussions were held with representatives of The Arts Council of Irian Jaya. Short orientation trips were made to Yotefa Bay and Lake Sentani as well. Some field research was done in the Asmat area focussing on changes in the art of woodcarving. The time spent was divided between one village in the Northwest Asmat area (Sawa Erma) and one in the Central Asmat area (Amanamkai). The latter village is known from Adrian Gerbrands research into the individuality of the woodcarver in 1960-61. A memorable event was meeting Matjemos (famous from Gerbrands book 'Wow-Ipits' and his film 'Matjemos') in Amanamkai. He still proved to be capable of making woodcarvings. In Amanamkai the process of manufacture of shields was recorded in detail. Some 100 Asmat artefacts were collected for the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. This fieldwork was much facilitated by the cooperation received from Bishop Alphonse Sowada OSC of the Crosier Missions and Yufen Biakai, the curator of the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress, both in Agats and the people encountered in the villages visited.
Symposiums
(a) Dirk Smidt attended the Pacific Arts Association's 5th International Symposium 'Art, Performance and Society' at the South Australian Museum, Adelaide, from 12-17 April 1993. In the session on 'The Record and the Remainder' he presented a paper on 'Tiam: masks, performance and prestige in a Gamei community, Lower Ramu, Papua New Guinea'.
(b) On 10 October 1993, he attended the symposium 'Showing how you see it: The exhibiting of traditional non-Western art' ('Laten zien hoe je het ziet: Het tentoonstellen van traditionele niet-westerse kunst') at the Ethnographical Museum, Antwerp, Belgium. This symposium was organized as a manifestation in the context of 'Antwerp, the cultural capital of Europe' ('Antwerpen de culturele hoofdstad van Europa'). During this symposium he read a lecture 'Can non- Western art live after the alienation of context?' ('Is er leven na de vervreemding van andermans kunst?') This lecture was illustrated with colour slides of examples of continuity and change in New Guinea art and presentation of this art in museums.
Publications
Dirk A.M. Smidt (ed.), Asmat Art: Woodcarvings of Southwest New Guinea. Singapore-Leiden-Amsterdam: Periplus Editions and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, in association with C. Zwartenkot, Amsterdam, 1993.
Dirk A.M. Smidt, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden. In: Suzanne Greub (ed.), Art of Northwest New Guinea: From Geelvink Bay, Humboldt Bay, and Lake Sentani, pp. 191- 209. New York: Rizzoli, 1992.
Dirk Smidt and Noel Mc Guigan, An Emic and Etic Role for Abelam Art (Papua New Guinea): The Context of a Collecting Trip on behalf of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden. In: Philip J.C. Dark and Roger G. Rose (eds.), Artistic Heritage in a Changing Pacific, pp. 121-142. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, and Bathurst (NSW): Crawford House Press Pty Ltd, 1993.
D.A.M. Smidt, Van baarmoeder tot mannenhuis (Nieuw Guinea) [From womb to men's house (New Guinea)] and Techniek in Nieuw Guinea, Gehalveerde bladeren als instrument [Technique in New Guinea; leaves divided into halves as instruments]. In: I. van Hout (ed.), Lieve Lasten: Hoe kinderen gedragen worden (Beloved Burdens: How children are carried), pp. 131-121; 152-155. Amsterdam: Tropenmuseum, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, 1993.
Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Christian Kaufmann & Douglas Newton, L'Art Océanien. Citadelles & Mazenod. Paris 1993. ISBN-2- 95088-061-2. (No.23, L'Art et le grandes civilisations).