“To ensure the preservation of our artefacts, a series of conservation measures are taken in our museum. Visitors play an important part in these conservation efforts too! You can help us by:· Avoid using flash during photography to prevent the fading of pigments on artefacts;
· Avoid touching artefacts to prevent the surface being corroded by sweat;
· Avoid touching panels to prevent any accident;
· Dim lighting is used in our museum to protect the artefacts, so your understanding is much appreciated!”
(Taken from the entrance welcome text of the BTRTM Buddhist Culture Museum)
Today’s topic is “Artefact Conservation”
Yawn.
Continues yawning.
Conservation, you say, is the job of the museum expert ? (“er.. called conservator, is it? You were saying?”)
Period
Affirmative? Negative?
*Buzz* Negative!!
Contrary to some unknown-sourced popular beliefs, artefact conservation IS everybody’s business. Every visitor plays a role in artefact conservation in a museum, in one way or another.
Be it the BTRTM Buddhist Culture Museum, ACM, National Museum of Singapore, British Museum, Musée du Louvre, National Palace Museum in Taipei, the general mission of a museum is the same, and that is to conserve and preserve history, culture, heritage on behalf of the public for future generations.
Here’s a definition of a “museum” as defined by International Council of Museums.
A museum is a "non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment, as defined by the International Council of Museums.(Source: http://icom.museum/definition.html)
Note Key words: "non-profit making", "permanent institution", "open to the public", "acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment"
(In short, every word is a keyword)
Non-profit making
In general, all museums are supposed to be non-profit making. That is not to say that museums that collect meager entrance fees are cheaters. In fact, the puny sum collected is probably merely enough to cover the sky-rocket operational and maintenance costs.
In BTRTM Buddhist Culture Museum’s case, we really really do appreciate donations, whatever the amount, that is dropped into the donation box. It shows that visitors appreciate our efforts and we are truly grateful for it! Besides monetary support granted to us, we are equally mortally grateful when visitors take pains to abide by the museum regulations such as “No Flash Photography” and “No Touching”.
Lesser funds directed into repairing damaged artefacts means we will have more funds to channel towards improving the exhibition!
Permanent institution
Yes, life is impermanent, as what Buddha has preached for aeons. However, the responsibility of us museum curators and workers are such to safeguard and preserve the Buddhist history, culture and heritage of the museum, on behalf of the devotees and donors who “own” BTRTM in one way or another, as long as the temple stands erect in Chinatown.
Open to public
Hence, it is everybody’s business to play their role in conservation. Enough said.
Acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of Humanity and its environment
Tangible = All stone Buddha steles, bas relief, statues, exhibition panels, caption stands etc…
Intangible = Dharma teachings, cultural and history knowledge, invaluable aesthetic value of Buddhist art
Case study:
Venue: Relic Chamber @ lvl 3
Argument: "Rhetorical" debate over the “No Photography Please” sign (negative gadfly-ism involved)
Sides involved: BTRTM security vs tourist man
“You know ah, got one tourist ang mo came in and took video of the Relic Chamber...”
“Huh? Did you show him the sign”, I pointed to the “No Photography Please” sign erected in both entrance and exits of the Relic Chamber housed within the museum.
“Yeah, he did see the sign. But then he yaya said ‘No Photography Please’, didn’t say ‘No video allowed’ mah…”
Yeah... can vomit blood. Isn't this obvious enough?
Conclusion: Not so much of conservation issue here though, but as a mark of respect for Buddha’s Relics. As much as we endeavour to conserve tangible Buddhist artefacts to show our respect for Buddhism, shouldn't we do show the same, if not more respect to Buddha's relic remains?
It’s not as if Buddha is haunted by glaring flashes of paparazzi or terribly camera shy, nor did we deliberately create dim museum lighting for romantic ambience or a deliberate eerie experience but it is a known fact that light will result in discoloration on artefacts. It is not as if Buddha is unwilling to do a “high 5” with you, but perspiration on our hands will react with the material and result in rust in metal artefacts and erosion in stone and wood materials.
high5 with Buddha brings about corrosion
Running about within the museum premise is also strongly discouraged, especially young children, for we worry they might accidentally fall down or knock onto our artefact showcases and exhibition panels. The panels might look sturdy, but it is in fact hollow to facilitate mobility and recycling.
In short, you can play a part by observe the regulations in museums. They exist for good reasons. Safety and conservation. Enough said.
*Yawn*
End of June's lecture.
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