REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SA NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS (ICOM-SA) TO A MEETING OF THE
EXECUTIVE BOARD OF ICOM-SA ON MY PARTICIPATION IN ICOM 2010
SHANGHAI CHINA FROM 6 TO 11 NOVEMBER 2010
1
Purpose
To participate in a series of meetings and events related to the above:
 as the chairperson of ICOM-SA;
 as board member of the International Committee for Museums of Ethnography
(ICME); and
 as an appointee of the Executive Council of ICOM;
o to the Ethics Standing Committee representing Anglophone Africa;
o to the Resolutions Committee of ICOM 2010 Shanghai China; and
o to the working group for International Museum Day 2011 (IMD)
representing the presidents of National Committees of ICOM
2
Highlights and own contribution
2.1
The 22nd General Conference of ICOM 2010 Shanghai China
The 22nd triennial General Conference and 25th General Assembly of ICOM in Shanghai
was a far more glamorous occasion than the one in Vienna held three years before.
Keynote speakers at the opening and closing sessions of the Shanghai conference
included statesmen like former President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali and former
President Jacques Chirac of France.
The venue and turnout of delegates at ICOM 2010 Shanghai China was equally
impressive compared to ICOM 2007 Vienna Austria. In Shanghai more than 3,600
museum professionals representing 122 countries, regions and international
organisations were registered for this major event of the world museum community
whereas 2 631 delegates attended the event in Vienna.
The general theme for ICOM 2010 Shanghai China – Museums for Social
Harmony – sounded also social politically more correct than the one for the Vienna
Conference, which was about museums and universal heritage. Above all, to crown the
splendour of the Shanghai General Conference experience for all delegates, a
professionally bound 340 pages bilingual colourfull illustrated coffee table (in
Chinese/English) which captured the events of the past week were placed in the hands
of all the guests leaving the gala farewell reception the evening of Friday 12th
November,.1
The main message conveyed by keynote speakers and other closely associated
with the mega event was, on the one hand, the promotion of ICOM 2010 Shanghai as
platform for participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds sharing
and critiquing innovative ideas. And on the other a forum of multiple voices echoing the
importance of museums as agents for promoting social harmony in a dynamic and
changing global environment.
The opening ceremony in the Red Hall of the Expo Centre the Sunday evening
was a glamourous highlight starting with among others a welcome speech and
declaration of the opening by a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of
China followed by an exquisite cultural programme in which the youth with their artistic
skills featured most prominently. The evening concluded with an exotic banquet in the
Golden Hall of the Expo Centre where over 4000 guests were served with the best of
Chinese hospitality and cuisine.
The 22nd General Conference continued the following morning with a brief
opening session, included a speech by the Deputy Minister of Culture from Russia and
an address by the President of ICOM, Alissandra Cummins. Both emphasized the
context of the theme of ICOM 2010 Shanghai amid rapid global changes.
A keynote speeches session then followed with six distinguished scholars from
China, Mexico, USA, Europe and Africa addressing a range of contemporary
museological issues. For me the most inspiring and stimulating address was the one
presented by Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali, whose title “The Increasing Enrichment
of Museology”, differed from the one indicated on the programme. For him the
conference theme reflected the spiritual value of the museum from an Asian perspective
and signified the entry of China innovatively into the museological debate on inter alia
the New Museology dating back to the early 1970s. China’s profound presence at the
Conference as host, represented for this former first black president of ICOM the
opening of a museological concept related to Confusius’s idea of Man so different from
the European one. He was also of the view that for the notion of social harmony to take
root acceptance of both difference and mutual respect for the other (and oneself) was a
given that will take time to be realized.
The latter part of his presentation dealt with a projection of the African continent
by 2050, when that part of the globe will be populated by more young people (± 2 billion)
than that of China and India with consequences too ghastly to contemplate if ignored.
Thus, in a museum debate on Museums for Social Harmony beyond 2010 the African
continent cannot be left out, he conclude.
After the presentations and a brief question and answer session the President of
ICOM took the chair to introduce the two candidates for the ICOM presidency over the
next three years, namely Dr. Hand-Martin Hinz of Germany and Mr. Rick West of the
USA. Both were given an opportunity to make each a five minutes presentation on their
vision for ICOM if elected electronically before the Friday’s General Assembly.
This concluded the 22nd General Conference of ICOM.
2.2
Annual Meetings and Events of International Committees
The following two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, were devoted to meetings and
activities of the various ICOM International Committees, Regional Alliances and affiliated
International organizations with the Thursday dedicated for day excursions to museums
and cultural heritage sites in and around Shanghai.
The highlight of my participation in the Shanghai annual conference of the
International Committee for Museums of Ethnography (ICME) on the theme “The
Challenging Museum/Challenging the Museum and other subjects” was the opening
session, which I chaired as also board member of ICME. The ICME conference was a
collaborative venture with the Cultural Palace of Nationalities, State Ethnic Affairs
Commission based in Beijing China. Of the four speakers of the general papers session
I chaired three were Chinese speakers unfamiliar with English and the fourth speaker
was from Estonia which made my facilitation of the scholarly discourse quite
challenging. As I’ve done at the SAMA Conference in Durban earlier that year I again
seized the opportunity as chair and facilitator to emphasise the theoretical purpose with
a conference session where papers are presented: to open up a dynamic dialogue
between speaker and participants.
An innovative arrangement of our Chinese colleagues presenting papers was to
have an English text rolling on the screen while the speaker was reading his paper. The
audience seemed however to have enjoyed the unorthodox manner the session was
being conducted to overcome the interpretation dilemma in the absence of a competent
translator. A common thread through all five papers was an emphasis on the work done
in ethnic oriented museums in China and Estonia while alluding to the importance of
broadening the notion of ethnic culture among different groups in a contemporary
national state to promote social harmony.
Away from the ICME conference sessions I found the Three Countries Forum of
ICOM-China, South Africa and The Netherlands of the 9th November most interesting
with its focus on sensitive museological issues relevant to the National Committees of
the three countries. ICOM-SA’s Helene Vollgraaff made a favourable impression on the
audience with her presentation, “Cultural Diversity in the Process of Social Transition”.
The subsequent debate on the sensitive issues contributed to the Shanghai Declaration
on Museums for Harmonious Social Development, initiated by China and compiled in
cooperation with the three participating countries of the Forum and the Chairperson of
ICOM Ethics Committee in her personal capacity. In the course of the Forum meeting all
participants received a complimentary copy of The Netherlands ICOM publication Sense
and Sensitivity: The Dutch and delicate heritage issues (Rotterdam, 2010).
A peculiar session I was invited to by Paula Assunção do Santos, vice-president
of the International Movement for a New Museology (MINOM), whom I had met
Reinward Academy in Amsterdam while on an official mission with DAC directors in
2008, was the meeting of MINOM. It was a stimulating session where the leadership of
MINONM encouraged their small group of participants to reflect and engage from a
museological perspective on practises relating to the use of heritage as a tool for social
transformation. For them, issues such as community action, emancipation and solidarity
was paramount to achieving the objective of the theme of ICOM 2010 Shanghai: social
harmony. Seemingly inspired by some of Prof. Amareswar Galla’s views they came to
Shanghai in the believe that “Harmony should look in the direction of equality rather than
that of conformism”2; in other words, the political aspects of interaction in heritage and
museum work should be paramount.
Amidst a hectic schedule, as also member of the General Assembly’s
Resolutions Committee, I was called upon to co-chair the briefing session on
International Museum Day 2011 at ICOM 2010 Shanghai. Communication material was
also handed out there on the collaborative initiative for IMD 2011 (18 May), being a joint
venture of mainly ICOM, ICOMOS, ICA, IFLA and CCAAA. The IMD Workshop of ICOMSA in mid-February 2011 is being planned against this backdrop.
2.3
The Advisory Committee (ADCOM) meetings
This report also has to highlight the functioning of two critically important ICOM advisory
substructures integral to the success of ICOM 2010 Shanghai. The more important of
the two is ADCOM and the more active and hands-on one is the Ethics Standing
Committee. The first-mentioned committee comprises mainly of chairpersons of National
and the International committees of ICOM. In terms of the Statutes of the organization it
is ICOM’s most important counseling and recommendation body. In Shanghai two
meetings were held, the 73rd ADCOM meeting on Sunday, 7th November, and the 74th
meeting at the end of the Conference the following Friday, 12th November.
None of these meetings, chaired by Knut Wik of Norway, were as exciting as the
previous ones I attended since 2006. A highlight of the 73rd meeting of the Sunday was,
nonetheless, a briefing by the President of ICOM, Alissandra Cummins, on the
Memorandum of Understanding signed by herself on behalf of ICOM with ICOMOS in
October 2010. This was immediately followed by a presentation of the President of the
World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM), Daniel Ben-Natan of Israel, on the
MoU signed in May of the same year with ICOM to formalize the relationship of
cooperation between the two autonomous international NGO bodies.
Another highlight worth mentioning was the short presentation on the Key
Concepts of Museology publication, defining the main museology-related ideas used by
museum professionals today. The publication was the outcome of a project conceived
after the launch of the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) in 1993 and
was but a preview edition of the larger Dictionary of Museology to be published in course
of 2011.
As member of the working group who had conceptualised the Strategic Plan
2008 – 2010 before ICOM 2007 Vienna it was gratifying to see and hear “2007 – 2010
Triennial Report of ICOM” having been structured in accordance with the Plan; specially
with regard to ICOM achievements in the development areas of ICOM’s international
presence, promotion of heritage, development of standards of excellence in museums
and development of ICOM’s resources and member services.
A relatively sensitive item on the Agenda of the 73rd ADCOM meeting was the
work of the Resolutions Committee which had to be completed before the 25th General
Assembly scheduled for the Friday, 12th November. As an ad hoc committee who had
held a few teleconference meetings prior to our arrival in Shanghai we were by then
already aware of discontent among ICOM members about the manner in which
resolutions were processed at ICOM 2007 Vienna.
Under the appropriate Agenda item the Chairperson of the Resolutions
Committee, Robert Spickler, explained to ADCOM that the function of the committee,
comprising of six members, was to facilitate the transmission and presentation of the
resolutions to the General Assembly. He explained that the committee’s role was to
receive and regroup recommendations when need be, and to rewrite and translate. He
also announced that unlike previously an Open Forum for resolutions would be held, on
the Wednesday, and that the deadline for receiving any requests for amendments had
been shifted from mid-October to the Monday, 9th November at 5pm. After constructive
discussion the ADCOM approved the arrangements initiated by the Resolutions
Committee for greater transparency.
Another item of special interest was, because of my personal involvement in the
international workshop in Berlin in September 2010, the briefing of ADCOM by
Secretariat of ICOM and the Chairperson of the International Committee for Literary
Museums (ICLM), Lothar Jordan, on preparations for the International Museum Day
2011. ADCOM accepted the theme, “Museums and Memory”, and noted with
appreciation how ICOM had developed for the first time a unique partnership with
UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, ICA, ICOMOS, IFLA and others NGOs for
IMD 2011. Different tools and strategies had already been developed by ICOM to help
museums to include the event in their agenda. Members of the meeting were invited to
participate in the workshop scheduled during the Conference on the Wednesday, which I
co-chaired.
The 73rd ADCOM meeting adjourned after the chair had indicated that an
announcement of who had been elected as new chair would be made either in the
course of the evening or the next morning.
The 74th ADCOM meeting of the Friday (12th November) started with the
announcement that Knut Wik of Norway had again been elected as the chair for the next
three years and the meeting was scheduled for only an hour due to the Executive
Council meeting which had to start at 4pm.
The session was mainly devoted to a presentation on the 5th volume of the
International Journal of Intangible Heritage (2010) of which I am a member of the
Editorial Board, and a vote on the Adoption of the International Museum Day theme
for 2012 – “Museums in a changing world” – and the election of a new Deputy Chair for
ADCAM. In the second round Kwame Sarpong of Ghana won the ballot.
The meeting adjourned with the announcement that the next ADCOM meeting
will be held in Paris during the period 6 - 8 June 2011.
2.4
The Ethics Standing Committee meeting
The main mandate of this prestigious standing committee of ICOM since its inception in
the 1940s was to provide advice and recommendations to the Executive Council of
ICOM. Within this context the committee met on the Saturday, 6th November, being a
day before the opening of ICOM 2010 Shangha at the Expo Centre to deliberate on a
range of sensitive ethical matters relating to the safeguarding of heritage.
Some of the items tabled for recommendation to the Executive Council by the
Monday included a revised draft of the International Committee for April 2010 but poorly
attended at the time due to the closing of European airports as a result of the volcanic
eruption in Iceland. These cases and issues included the contested ownership of a
Tiepolo painting [Cesare Ferrari di Valbona versus Niedersächsischen Langesmuseum];
the restitution issue of the severed head of a Ghanain king and the subsequent saga
referred to ICOM by Prof Breedveld of Leiden University Medical Centre (LMUC) for an
opinion; illicit trafficking of Argentinian fossils to Germany with a request from ICOM
Argentina for assistance; the Supreme Council of Antiquities Egypt requesting
representation on the ICOM Ethics Committee; and a Holocaust-related spoliation claim
[Regina Elkan versus Musée Carnavalet (Paris)]. Due to administrative and technical
challenges all matters were eventually deferred to the next Ethics Committee meeting
scheduled for April 2011 in Paris.
Considerable time was devoted to deliberations on a strategic review and
development of the Ethics Committee in the context of the status and recognition of the
ICOM Code of Ethics by UNESCO, a matter apparently also dealt with at the April 2010
meeting. A case in point was that UNESCO surprisingly made no mention of the ICOM
Code in the report processes for monitoring state parties’ implementation of the 1970
UNESCO Convention (concerning illicit trafficking and illegal export/import of cultural
property) which was currently under review by UNESCO. It was also noted that the
Secretariat of UNESCO had produced an initial draft of “framework guidelines” to be
used by States Parties for their individual reporting before October 2011 on the progress
they’ve achieved in the implementation of particularly the 1970 UNESCO Convention.
National Committees should follow the example set by ICOM Korea by urging its
national government to recognise the ICOM Code and permanent delegations of State
Parties to UNESCO should be approached to assist in UNESCO’s recognition of the
Code. A meeting on the matter is being scheduled by me with the new Minister of Arts
and Culture.
Another strategic matter discussed was the idea of a an Ethics Committee
publication on “Ethics over four decades, 1970 – 2010” with a possible contribution on
repatriation and ethics by Dr Abdoulaye Camara of Senegal and myself. The framework
for such a publication will hopefully be finalized at the April meeting in Paris.
2.5
The 25th General Assembly
The General Assembly took place the morning of Friday 12th November before the
closing ceremony of ICOM 2010 Shanghai China and the 74th ADCOM meeting.
The session represented a strictly business-type meeting of ICOM’s highest
decision-making organ. At this session the voting members of ICOM as mandated by
their constituencies affiliated to ICOM were more strictly separated from the rest of the
participants attending ICOM 2010 Shanghai. The highlights of the session included
acceptance the President’s Report to the Assembly detailing the main activities of ICOM
up to the end of 2009 and the financial report; ratification of membership fee policies for
2011 and 2012 and the 18 consolidated resolutions prepared by the Resolutions
Committee, including the ICOM China-Netherlands-South Africa initiated Shanghai
Declaration.3 It concluded with the announcement of the newly elected Executive
Council for the period 2010 -2013 up to ICOM 2013 Rio de Janeiro Brazil .
3
Thanks
I thank the National Heritage Council for funding my participation in ICOM 2010
Shanghai China via the good office of ICOM-SA for Council in the final year of my
working career in the heritage sector of South Africa and the world.
Henry C (Jatti) Bredekamp
February 2011
1
22nd General Conference & 25th General Assembly of the International Council of Museums Souvenir
Album (ICOM 2010 Shanghai China). A copy is available for the NHC of SA on request.
2
See P. Assunção dos Santos & J. Primo (Eds.): Sociomuseology 4: To think Sociomuseologically (Lisbon,
2010)
3
All relevant documents are available on http://icom.museum