Museum Internship Experience / 博物館的實習經驗

Hi everyone. This is Ching Lam. I am from Hong Kong. I am studying Finnish language in Turku and an internship is required for the program. I tried to look for an internship at Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, because it is such a nice museum and luckily there was a project that I could join, called ‘A Thousand and One Interpretations on Collection Objects’.

So far I have worked on the project for 3 weeks. On the first day, I was given a short tour in Wäinö Aaltonen Museum. I also assisted with the photographing of project participants’ objects. It was interesting to see how people from different parts of the world choose and interpret objects that are meaningful to them. I look forward seeing how those objects will create interesting dialogue with the collection objects.

The most important part of my work is to interview other artists with immigrant background in Turku. As an artist and as an immigrant who has newly moved to Finland, I really have a lot of questions about the art world and practical issues. For example, how one can get contacts and help from art associations in Finland, and what the working situation is like for artists in Finland etc. I believe that I am not the only one who wants to know the answers to these questions. Therefore, I have used them as interview questions to be asked from other artists with immigrant background.

Also, I have found a lot of useful information with the help of my co-workers while researching for the project. The results of interviews and other useful information will be used for an event which will take place at Kansalaistila (Citizen Space) at the shopping centre Forum in March. I hope other artists with immigrant background will benefit from my work too.

Ching Lam

大家好，我是來自香港的清琳。我正在圖爾庫(Turku) 修讀芬蘭語課程，而這個課程其中一部分是需要找一份實習工作。而幸運地，博物館中心正進行一個有關多元文化的藝術計劃可讓我參加，這計劃正正是「館藏物件的一千零一種詮釋」(A Thousand and One Interpretations on Collection Objects)，於是我便參與了此計劃。　

 

目前為止，實習工作開始了三個星期。實習的第一天，我參觀了威諾‧阿爾托南藝術館(Wäinö Aaltonen Museum)，亦協助了計劃參加者所提供的物件之拍攝。看到來自世界各地的人如何選擇並詮釋各種對他們來說別具意義的物品，是一件很有趣的事。我很期待看到參加者所選的物件與博物館的收藏會產生怎樣的化學作用與對話。

 

而實習工作最重要的一部分，是訪問在芬蘭的移民藝術家。而我作為一位剛移居到芬蘭的藝術家，本身亦有很多關於芬蘭藝術界的問題，例如移民到芬蘭的藝術家可以如何連繫藝術團體及得到其支援？對於藝術家來說，芬蘭的工作環境如何？當我在準備有關的訪問問題時，同時亦是在問一些我自己很想知道答案的問題。希望透過其他移民到芬蘭的藝術家的經驗，可以了解更多。而在為此計劃查找資料的過程中，在同事的幫助下我亦找到了很多有用的資料。
藝術家的訪問會於三月在「市民空間」(Citizen Space )發佈，希望這些資料會對其他的移民藝術工作者會有幫助。

’Click’ – Objects into Images

DaisyPensioners’ objects were photographed in the Museum Centre’s studio, both for archival purposes and for the coming exhibition. We assisted photographer Aleks Talve with preparing the objects for being photographed. Here you can see some photos that were taken at the time.

Aleks is attaching colour and greyscale targets onto the wall. This way the right tones of colour for the objects can be recalled during the editing process. This image features a Vietnamese national outfit which includes trousers with wide legs, and a long-hemmed top.

Information about the objects presented in this blog post have come from the volunteers themselves. This Vietnamese hat is worn by women. The ribbon may be changed according to the colour of one’s outfit. In the country people wear the hat on the rice fields, and female high school students wear it together with their school uniform, protecting the wearer from the rain and the sun. Against light, one can detect patterns on the inside of the hat. This one is decorated with an image of a famous pagoda. The hat is handcrafted from leaves, and the thinner and lighter the leaves are, the more valuable the hat is.

This is a national outfit for an Iranian boy, similar to adult men’s outfit. This one is worn by Kurdish people in Iran and Iraq, and they vary a little in different cities. The outfit consists of a shirt, trousers, a cloth belt, and a vest made of camel’s wool. It is traditionally worn by shepherds, the wide shoulders making him look bigger and more threatening to the animals.


The outfit is worn together with a pair of Kalash shoes, handmade by women. The sole is made of leather, wood, and sheep’s intestine. The rest of the shoe is crocheted out of rug yarn.

These spoons are from Tartu, Estonia. The small one is used as a sugar spoon and the larger for salad. The spiral-stemmed spoons have been in the family for three generations.

These Cambodian dress fabrics are made of raw silk. The blue fabric has been embroidered with silver-coloured thread. The cloth is several metres long, and it is worn by draping and pleating it appropriately. The fabrics go by many different names, including phamokng and chorbat.

These Iraqi jewellery are decorated with pearls and semi-precious stones. The silver ring bears two oval-shaped stones. The green is called feroza, and the red is a yaquut. There are beliefs attached to the stones. Feroza is good for the eyes and eyesight, whereas yaquut brings good fortune, a happy life and a good husband. The owner of the ring got it as a present from her grandmother when she was a child.

Kalash and Bast Shoes

During the project 'A Thousand and One Interpretations on Collection Objects', workshops have been arranged for groups of international students and DaisyPensioners group of migrant women. Discussions have been fruitful in all groups, and we have got fascinating information about associations on objects and their uses in different cultures.

 

Over a dozen ladies of different ages and nationalities made up our DaisyPensioners group. The chosen theme for this group was every-day life, and for this reason we arranged for the first meeting to take place in Iso-Kohmo building of Kylämäki Village. Many were surprised to hear that the buildings belong to a museum and that nobody lives there anymore. In the drawing room of Iso-Kohmo house we examined a boxful of embroidered scarves and other traditional handicrafts. Thick fabric and coarse yarn caught the attention of group members, because for example Vietnamese scarves are characterised by the lightness of fabric and fineness of thread.

Every-day objects can be very different in different cultures. A Somalian woman in our group uses her prayer beads on a daily basis. This particular one has a hundred beads.

 

In the chamber behind drawing room interest and even laughter were elicited by objects from the museum’s educational collection – items such as woollen dresses and trousers, and a rocking chair which a few ladies tried out. In the porch chamber, a heteka bed, its cover, and duvet got an Iranian woman to tell us how they use very similar equivalents also in Iran. Another Iranian lady told us how her acquaintance makes these kind of duvets: sheep’s wool is placed between two fabrics and sown together in order to set the wool in place. In the kitchen, cooking equipment were closely examined. We, the project researchers, were surprised to discover that in Iran a mortar is used not only to grind spices but to manufacture home-made eye make-up, kohl. Using the educational collection in the workshop was particularly useful. Objects were excellent tools for illustrating own experiences, even when it was not possible to express everything verbally.

A Vietnamese volunteer quizzed us about the purpose of this object. Nobody in the workshop guessed right, and she revealed that it was a coconut grate! It is used to grate the inside of a coconut half so that the half is rotated around the blade. The grated material falls into a bowl placed below the grate.

 

We also met up in Muistojen Koti, belonging the Daisy Ladies association. Volunteers presented objects that they had brought along, including national costumes or traditional clothing, accessories and cooking equipment. Our last meeting was arranged in Turku Castle where we compared the personal objects with objects from the museum collections. Examining objects side by side sparked various associations. A pair of traditional, hand-made kalash shoes had been brought to our previous meeting. The kalash shoes are worn for example as part of the national costume for Kurdish people in Iran and Iraq. We compared the kalash shoes with a pair of Finnish bast or birch bark shoes (tuohivirsut) from the cultural historical objects collection. The birch bark shoes reminded of similar shoes used in Iran, albeit they were woven out of leather. A Vietnamese group member was reminded of the communist army sandals that were made from car tyres.

 

The discussions of our workshops will be used as a basis for constructing our exhibition, opening in Brinkkala Gallery in the spring of 2017.

Kalash shoes from Iran.

 

Bast or birch bark shoes (tuohivirsut) from the cultural historical objects collection of the Museum Centre of Turku.

Whose Stories Get Told?

The first workshops were arranged for high school and university students. All volunteers had some kind of an international background, and many had lived in a number of different countries. High school students were from the International Baccalaureate school of Turun Normaalikoulu, and the university group consisted of exchange students and international Master’s program students. They came from many different degree programs. Among the volunteers there were, for instance, students of culture, history, economics, and translation.

Both groups met up on four occasions.  We started off by getting to know one another and by getting acquainted with the museums of the Museum Centre of Turku, the different collections, and services provided by the museum. During the workshops we visited the Museum Centre’s art storages and storages for cultural historical objects. This way students got an idea of how museum collection objects were appropriately handled and preserved.

Good questions about collection and exhibition practices came up during the workshops. For example, we talked about what is the purpose of a museum, and whose histories and interpretations get displayed. The volunteers also got familiar with the different collections through online services. A great number of collection objects from the Museum Centre are available for viewing on Finna.fi, a website which showcases materials from various Finnish museums, libraries and archives. On Flickr there are images of artworks and historical photographs belonging to the museum collection. The oldest photographs in the collections have been uploaded onto Daguerrobase website. The Museum Centre of Turku has in its collection approximately one hundred outdoor sculptures which have been placed on a map in Citynomadi.

During our visit to the furniture storages with high school students we examined an empire-style sofa from the beginning of 19th century which bore motifs alluding to the ancient Egypt.

Archiving Own Memories

Volunteers were each asked to bring an object to the workshop which somehow had to do with their international background, moving from one culture to another, or important memories. The chosen objects ended up emphasising different events and phases in life which had been integral to the development of one’s identity, in addition to objects which have to do with friends and family, family history, or gifts. Students shared stories about their objects and talked about them with one another.

During another meeting we compared the students’ own objects with museum collection objects selected by project researchers. We got to hear what kind of associations and relationships the volunteers saw between their personal objects and museum collections: what was striking, what was common, and what was different about the objects. We discussed the types of information that the volunteers saw relevant when considering their own objects in particular.

Students familiarised themselves with museum’s cataloging practices. They got to know museum databases and cataloged their own objects in the way of a collection object.

A Thousand and One Interpretations on Collection Objects

‘A Thousand and One Interpretations on Collection Objects’ is a project begun in summer 2016, kicking off in autumn with workshops arranged for groups of volunteers – all of whom have some kind of international or immigrant backgrounds. The project and the workshops focus on examining museum collection objects and the volunteers’ personal objects. The results of these workshops will be on display in an exhibition held in Brinkkala Gallery in spring 2017. This project is experimental and it will develop over the course of its duration. The project is funded by the National Board of Antiquities in Finland with funds aimed for innovative museum projects.

The aim of the workshops is to examine the diversity of interpretations and stories pertaining to different objects, and to utilise shared specialist knowledge on material cultural heritage. The purpose of this interactive approach in collection work is to identify the needs of customers and audiences of different backgrounds, enabling the collections to better serve the modern society.

The aim is to develop practices of collection work in a way that takes into account cultural diversity. Collection databases contain information based on museum professionals’ expertise and sources pertaining to the objects. However, objects may open up possibilities for entirely different levels of information, sto-ries and interpretations.

Wall doll, ca. 1980s–beginning of 1990s, height 29 cm.

Given to Maija-Liisa Schoultz from her husband possibly as a souvenir from Romania in 1992.

Cultural historical object collection of the Museum Centre of Turku.

1001 حكاية لعناصر

مشروع فنّي لِلمجتَمَع

في مشروع متحف مدينة توركو المركزي, "۱۰۰۱ تفسير لمجموعة عناصر" تَمَّ دَعوة عدد من المشاركين من مجموعة طلاب مدارس و جامعات, للمشاركة في ورش عمل للمتحف. لِجَميع المشتركين في المشروع خَلفيّة حضاريّة و دوليّة. خلال ورش العمل تَعرّف الحاضرون على  العناصر مِن مَجموعة المتحف, كما أحضروا عناصر من مُمتَلكاِتهم ذات أهمّية و قصّة شَخصيّة ذات اتِّصال للعنصر. قام المُشتركين باختيار استناداً لفكرة رئيسيّة مِن تأسيس المسؤولين لِلمشروع, مثل الانتقال من موطِنهم, حياتهم اليوميّة و العمليّة. المَعرض الفنّي للمشروع مُؤسَّس استناداً إلى المواضيع التي تمّت مناقشتها في ورش العمل.

العناصِر الّتي أحضرها المشتركين للمشروع تَمَّ تَصويرها, و تَمَّ تسجيل قصصهم الخاصة بهذه العناصر. في هذا المعرض الفنّي, تَمَّ تَجميع صورالعناصِر وفق مواضيع مُشتَركة للقصص الّتي أخبرها المشتركون. العناصِر المعروضة أُعطِيَت عناصر أخرى مِن مَجموعة مُمتلكات المَتحَف ذات اتّصال موضوعي و مَضموني مِن دَرَجات تفسيريّة مختلفة. على سبيل المثال, ممكن الربط بين عنصر المشارك و عنصر المتحف من نواحي طريقة الاستعمال, أو ما هي مواد التصنيع, أو ما يُمَثِّلون, أو تاريخ مَنشأهم.

بالإضافة إلى القُصّة التي رواها مالِك العنصر و التفسير المقترح مِن المتحف, هناك طرق غير مَحدودة يمكن للمشاهد في المعرض أن يجد وِجهات نظر مختلفة خاصة في العناصر المعروضة و نظرائها. القصص الخاصّة بالعناصر المَعروضة يمكن إكمالها و مشاركتها لمرّات متعدّدة.