Can you rewrite a museum?

December 18, 2019 5:39 AM

"Welcome to the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Although one of the largest museums anywhere devoted exclusively to Africa, it is thousands of miles from the continent itself. The tall windows, pillared facade, rooftop balustrade, and 90-foot-high rotunda of the main building give it the look of a chateau. That impression is only enhanced by an inner courtyard and a surrounding park: formal French gardens, a reflecting pool and fountain, ponds with ducks and geese, wide lawns laced with hedges, and carefully groomed paths that sweep away to majestic trees in the distance. A visitor here is a long way from Africa, but not from the fruits of the continent’s colonization." Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost, revisits Belgium's "newly decolonized" Royal Museum of Central Africa for the Atlantic.
posted by ChuraChura (6 comments total)

An excellent article which makes it clear that the folks at the museum are trying really hard, but it's still not good enough.
I'd be very interested to see the reaction of people in the DRC to the revamping - their opinions are the ones that should really matter here.
(It's Hochschild btw, not Hothschild)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:33 AM on December 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

Mod note: Fixed spelling
posted by taz (staff) at 6:41 AM on December 18, 2019

thatwhichfalls, I recommend @mrbasabose on twitter - he's a Congolese (from Eastern DRC iirc) designer with offices in Kinshasa and Johannesburg, and publishes for the DRC diaspora
posted by Mrs Potato at 6:57 AM on December 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

He once told me, in a way that I got goosepimples, that all that people on turmoil roiled eastern border wanted was peace. Just a few years of peace.
posted by Mrs Potato at 7:45 AM on December 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

If you finished the article and immediately went to look for a picture of the incredible artwork described at the end, here is a photo.

This is the artist's website.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:50 AM on December 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

If you finished the article and immediately went to look for a picture of the incredible artwork described at the end, here is a photo.

Wow, that is something. Thanks for finding the photo
posted by PMdixon at 10:06 AM on December 18, 2019