Fetish Modernity

(8 April – 4 September 2011)

The exhibition Fetish Modernity is an invitation to think about the notion of modernity in all its facets. In the West we have the tendency to divide the world up into ‘Us’ and ‘Them’. We are often quick to think that we have a monopoly on all things modern.

Fetish Modernity demonstrates that, in the past, ethnography museums were responsible for the spreading of an awful lot of clichés as regards who or what is modern. Reality, however, is much more complex. The exhibition shows how modernity is a dynamic process that is at work at all times and in all places.

Our fascination with all things modern leads to a kind of cross fertilization resulting in numerous new objects and uses. On visiting this exhibition you will discover the hybrid objects which have arisen from this longing for modernity.

Fetish Modernity is the result of a collaboration between eleven ethnography museums within the context of the European project Ethnography Museums and World Cultures (RIME). The exhibition brings together several choice pieces from the different museums, along with works by contemporary artists and audio-visual installations.

		A parody of the ethnography museum ‘Si ton musée est mort, essaye le mien !’. © Jean-François Boclé
		In the south of Ghana coffins have been made according to the wishes of the deceased for around eighty years now and often indicate the profession or social status of the departed. These days this practice is seen as a real tradition. This coffin in the form of a mobile phone was specially created for the exhibition and is not destined for burial (Ghana). Photo J.-M. Vandyck, © RMCA Tervuren
		This dancing devil, the personification of evil, reconciles pre-Columbian and indigenous influences with the Christian concept of Satan (Bolivia). Photo Photostudio © Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
		In Mount Hagen an indigenous Papuan wears a CD-ROM as a nose ornament (Papua New Guinea). © Eric Lafforgue
		This Mpungu statuette bears a striking resemblance to the famous Congolese nail fetish statues. During the ritual nails are pushed into the statue in order to form a binding contract between man and spirit. Padlocks imported from China fulfil the same function (DR Congo). Photo R. Asselberghs © RMCA Tervuren
		This stool was created by the Italian designer Matteo Thun who found his inspiration in the wooden stools of the Ashanti people (Ghana); does this make it Italian or Ghanaian? Photo Tony Sandin © Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm
		These baskets are made from telephone cables. With the arrival of mobile telephones it has become harder and harder to find telephone cables in South Africa. These might end up being the last ever baskets of their kind. Photo Tony Sandin © Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm
		A group of Navajos on their arrival at a boarding school for Indians and the same Navajos several months later with short hair and in uniform (USA). © S-mnpe ‘Luigi Pigorini’, Roma Eur. Courtesy of Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities

Practical information
You can visit the temporary exhibition Fetish Modernity in the RMCA between 8 April and 4 September 2011. It will then go on tour to the Museo de America (Madrid), the Nàprstek’s Muzeum (Prague), the Museum für Völkerkunde (Vienna), the Museum Volkenkunde (Leiden) and the Etnografiska Museet (Stockholm).

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the entry fee for the permanent exhibition.

Guided tour Fetish Modernity: every last Sunday of the month a guide takes you on an enthralling tour of the exhibition.