discussion with zoumana and lionell
disstopia vs. dystopia
creating a future where the present is different

prototyping decolonization of the museum (should the goal be decolonization or re-colonization)

if we think of the DB as a mold, can we imagine its shape?
it has a politics of reproduction of the museum
if you replace all the objects with a mold
you leave behind a void: the object leaves but there is a trace, it keeps the contours of the work

can we make different categories
the attributes in the entry
it changes the way we archive: what kind of actions we take when we archive
there is the name, the number, it is one after the other, separate, specific way to think of objects

there is a sort of progression, top collection, inventory, name, location (manageability)
side point: decolonization. 
colonization is a kind of machine that creates limits between objects, to localize and attribute, this is mine, this is yours
to know the ownership
the same with class: you are a worker, you live here. there is this continuous delimitation.

morphotypology: is a science
i see your face and you are a thief
your eyes are like that etc.
colonization is the same: take random things, cluster them, and put a hierarchy.
same with mapping: one eye to see all, the same way to organize/rule the world

the fields in these records:
is a way to manage the object
it is a plan to manage the object

we were thinking about making new categories
to change this way of classiying and managing
because the categories are author, country,

we were thinking about rotation
instead of name or owner, we put a system of rotation
this object has to go in this place


care is not just a field but it is a way
if the archive way is to keep and to manage and conserve
this way, to care, is different

pre-conisation: recommendation
what you must do to take care of the project
that it is not in a place that is humid, or subject to sun light


there is a vision of care that functions through the database
the database itself sets the parameters of care, what matters in relationship to the object
and to take care of the objects includes taking care of the database
we need to understand how this care is shaped and governed
in order to be able to change it
we judge or evaluate the state of the museum by looking at whether they fulfill their duty to care

who should care about what?
is the what the object?
to focus on the objects reproduces

what "care" does the museum represent or see in itself?
diplomatic relations
royal family history
inter-european power relationships
making of the young belgian state
presenting science
curators as gatekeepers
growth
king leopold and his legacy
archeologists/donators and confirmation of their role in society
taking care of the museum/museumification
        becoming a resource for more research, which helps with the growth
        legitimizing and normalizing collection acitivites

surviving disasters: war, fire (of 1946)
creating collective knowledge and imaginary through exhibitions
        the imaginary of the state, the nation, the kingdom
        the imaginary of the others
        "we can facilitate better access by maori"

documentation as a primary tool of colonization

online catalogues;
        no statement of care
        the website is a statement itself
                it makes concrete that there is this cataloguing care and provides the specifics


screenshots following care through the online catalogue:
        statement about the online catalogue: it is work in progress, more information here
        more information in french (2012)
        information in english is just about how to use the catalogue


who is carmentis? why is the catalogue called carmentis/carmenta? importance for holding symbolicism of (western) civilization.
        Wikipedia(screenshot): "Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children, and a patron of midwives. She was also said to have invented the Latin alphabet."


we take part in the current cilivation project of technological innovation:
        "À l'instar de la déesse romaine Carmentis et grâce à ce catalogue en ligne, les MRAH prennent le parti de l'innovation technologique."

the romans, after war would use the newly grabbed objects to make a stage and stage a play
        create an instant to idealize the entire thing
        the power of the roman state is the things that they do, war, capture, it is packaged and celebrated
        to change the point of view
        it is not just a war, massacre and plunder, just change the paradigm of what they do
        the museum has  similar role
        we don't see the war behind the museum, the massacre
        they just put the object and a set up, a frame
        this frame tells something about the object and the nation (its pride)

        technology has a similar ability to stage a shiny present and erased past of violence
        the more databases are scientific and precise, the more it valorizes the owner or the nation
        this is the high tech catalogue
        all things behind this are totally erased

        the resistance towards the database can also be seen through the way it makes local labor invisible
        the labor of the curators in reentering the data again and again into new systems
        as well as the further making invisible of the labor of reproduction of the museum and its systems by the workers/cleaners/security etc.

toujour++
        "L'épanouissement digital des collections via internet permet de montrer un plus grand nombre d'objets que l'espace d'exposition le permet.
        Et cela pour le plus grand plaisir des spécialistes et des amateurs d'art!"

care for quality of representation
        in the database
        the photography


should we be thinking about an exit?

how about decomposition, it is really important in the ecological system

there is something around the dynamic of this
the main part is how to still remember this museum
the funny part of decomposition is that it is not for nothing
you take a part and you use this part
maybe we can imagine that
one typical part of decomposition is
we don't know how and why, but if the museum becomes empty
we use it for something else
school or squat
don't know much about the different composition of the museum
who needs this composition to be decomposed in a different way
without forgetting

this kind of memory is to not forget things
there is two ways
the first way is to conserve the museum with all of its functionality
or make a memorial of the museum
it is about collective memory
we build a memorial of the museum
the question of the not forgetting is solved
to think mainly about decomposition

there is something tricky about the memorial 
the shoah: it became a ritual, it was full of imaginary in the beginning, but as it becomes further ritual the feelings disappear

like mother's day
there is something about involving people in the decomposition


this institution claims to be the memory of something
it is a division of labor
you don't need to think about this, we got it covered
even though it is a very specific memory


how do we distribute that task of remembering, and make that part of organizations, groups, communities
how do we make that
in the digital age, we are told that we don't have to worry about a big project that saves everything, but we can do it distributedly
how to embed archival and memory into many different thousands of organizations and communities

make them, interoperable is the wrong word, so that the memory can be accessed elsewhere

the care for memory can be collectivized
how to keep and acknowledge the tensions
i don't want to solve them, they are the history of oppression and equality
which you want to enter the production flows of an institution
it cannot be discconnected from the political economic frame that it is set in
what are forms that is neither feeding into and not atomization
what are collective processes that can be in tension with the institution
not collaborating but not ignoring it


decompose the museum by sending percentage of the building to the origin of the objects
the dome goes to congo
the bourse pieces to egypt
where does metal go to?


how do you decompose a database?
decomposing the different collections

they need to feed the next thing
as things decompose in a forest, fungi grow on them
if you distribute the pieces, or if it becomes a squat or a school
not just dismantling but repurposing

decomposing in computing
there is materiality of the museum
but there is also a representation of the museum
how you set up things
all the imaginary of the different countries
how to decompose that and make it useful
if it can be useful, then the memory persists
lionell's work is beautiful in that 
the object becomes alive
through of what force
it is not a question of destruction
but make it follow

so we want a finissage without a finitude?
death is the fundamental act of decomposing
funeral of transformation

how do some of the cultures imagine death
some people think there is reincarnation

bad idea
maybe we can let this die
but the source code of the museification is still alive
i was thinking of a virus specifically for museums
unleash a virus on the museum culture


Statue représentant peut-être la déesse Xochiquetzal ou une Tzitzimime

Xochiquetzal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xochiquetzal
"By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess, appearing also as patroness of artisans involved in the manufacture of luxury items.[2]"

Tzitzimimeh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzitzimitl
The Tzitzimimeh were also feared during other ominous periods of the Aztec world, such as during the five unlucky days called Nemontemi which marked an unstable period of the year count, and during the New Fire ceremony marking the beginning of a new calendar round - both were periods associated with the fear of change. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Fire_ceremony

http://diversions.lan/pad/p/new_fire_ceremony