When my son was 4 years old, he loved to dress in skirts. Reactions from the surroundings varied a lot: from the daycare assistant who laughed and said he was funny, to his great grandfather who exclaimed that skirts were for girls only. Not to […]
All posts tagged: museum
An impermanent artefact: The sand mandala
These days, a splash of colour has been added to the view from the railing around the central staircase at Moesgaard Museum. Looking down, our visitors will be met with the splendid colours and intricate details of a Buddhist sand mandala. During a week in […]
A rock! Arguably the dullest ethnographic artefact ever?
Looking through our database, I came across collection EA355. Where other collections have names such as ‘EA365 Greenlandic dog sled’, ‘EA484 Bushman artefacts’, or ‘EA544 Thai Amulets’, this one went under the simple and mysterious name ‘EA355 Rock’. Clicking on the collection, the description page […]
Woven fabric: Does this REALLY qualify as an ethnographic artefact?
A woven fabric. It could be purchased in IKEA for pocket change. But it was not. It is an ethnographic artefact collected in Egypt in 2002, more specifically in Luxor in Upper Egypt. The question is; does it qualify as a museum artefact? Often, ethnographic […]
Order and Chaos: Building an exhibition
Do you know what one of my favourite things about working at a museum is? It is sneaking into the new exhibitions as they are being constructed… Somehow, it seems impossible that they will ever be ready in time; that the half-finished sets will ever […]
Resting in the shade…
Uhmmm… vacation. The annual break from the hectic normal life. Days to be spent under a blue sky with a cool drink and a good book within reach – in a hammock. This is the recipe – at least for me – for a perfect […]
A Museum Tale: Samurai Garbs
The readers will have to excuse the author for being even more of a nerd than usual. But in museum ethnography and some part of anthropology, the explanatory powers of objects are being explored these years. I just read a book a couple of weeks […]
Strange tourism: Fake shrunken head
The objects in our museum collections have often travelled far to get here. They have made their way to Denmark in the luggage of Arctic explorers, khaki clad adventurers, inquisitive anthropologists, devout missionaries, and curious tourists. But once in a while, they just show up […]
Tales of the ordinary: Bolivian comb
In the galleries of museums – the almost holy institutions of Knowledge – audiences expect to see treasures, exotic objects, and curiosities from around the world. Objects that can excite, create fear, joy, and admiration. But, how does this comb fit into that picture? An […]
Museum of Trash – USA
Nelson Molina, retired New York sanitation worker, took the phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” to the next level! For decades Nelson collected treasures from New York city trash, putting them on display at the Sanitation Garage at 99th Street in Manhattan, New […]
Bird Mask – Chad
We know – it’s too late for Halloween inspiration! Nevertheless, this mask deserves some attention, not least because of the effort it must have taken to wear it. Made to resemble a bird’s head – more specifically the head of a large Ground Hornbil […]
ethnographica 