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Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The Cook/ Forster Collection of the George August University of Göttingen (review)

Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The Cook/ Forster Collection of the George August University of... the contemporary pacific · 19:1 (2007) Göttingen University in the eighteenth century, the Honolulu Academy of Arts oversaw the construction of exhibit cases and the conservation treatment of objects in Germany, produced a three-volume catalog with extensive color plates and informative essays by indigenous and nonindigenous scholars, sent a Hawaiian kupuna (elder) to Germany to conduct appropriate protocol, organized two parallel exhibitions (the photographic project mentioned above and engravings by the artist John Webber), hosted a scholarly symposium, and offered free admission to the exhibition. The Cook / Forster exhibition was an unmitigated success for many visitors, and their enthusiastic comments filled the guest book. Local reviewers were equally impressed. One reviewer explained that the "text-free strategy" limited the academy's curatorial voice and allowed the objects to tell their own stories (Marie Carvalho, "Objects Tell Pacific Peoples' Stories," Honolulu Advertiser, 9 April 2006). As a nonindigenous museum studies educator, however, I believe the academy's strategy undermined the potential for the objects to tell crucial stories about Pacific cultures. This is especially troubling in light of criticisms of art museums for fetishizing the appearances of non-Western objects over other qualities (see, eg, Hal Foster, "The `Primitive' Unconscious of Modern http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Contemporary Pacific University of Hawai'I Press

Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The Cook/ Forster Collection of the George August University of Göttingen (review)

Kosasa, Karen K.
The Contemporary Pacific , Volume 19 (1) – Jan 17, 2007
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-9464
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Abstract

the contemporary pacific · 19:1 (2007) Göttingen University in the eighteenth century, the Honolulu Academy of Arts oversaw the construction of exhibit cases and the conservation treatment of objects in Germany, produced a three-volume catalog with extensive color plates and informative essays by indigenous and nonindigenous scholars, sent a Hawaiian kupuna (elder) to Germany to conduct appropriate protocol, organized two parallel exhibitions (the photographic project mentioned above and engravings by the artist John Webber), hosted a scholarly symposium, and offered free admission to the exhibition. The Cook / Forster exhibition was an unmitigated success for many visitors, and their enthusiastic comments filled the guest book. Local reviewers were equally impressed. One reviewer explained that the "text-free strategy" limited the academy's curatorial voice and allowed the objects to tell their own stories (Marie Carvalho, "Objects Tell Pacific Peoples' Stories," Honolulu Advertiser, 9 April 2006). As a nonindigenous museum studies educator, however, I believe the academy's strategy undermined the potential for the objects to tell crucial stories about Pacific cultures. This is especially troubling in light of criticisms of art museums for fetishizing the appearances of non-Western objects over other qualities (see, eg, Hal Foster, "The `Primitive' Unconscious of Modern

Journal

The Contemporary Pacific – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Jan 17, 2007

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