The Role of a Local Museum in Building the Local Identity

 

1. Introduction

In the modern society a lot of thinking concentrates on the future. In the present paper we ask the question about the need and reasons for local museums in the modern society - Does the modern society need such places, and why? We focus on local museums in opposition to the big ones that as wealthy institutions can afford famous art exhibitions and attract a lot of visitors every day. Huge and famed museums find their legitimization in the number of people visiting them, but  what could legitimize the existence of the small and not very famous ones? In this paper we are trying to find the key to understanding the position of local museums in the modern society. Our research is anchored in Upper Silesia - an industrial region in the south of Poland. The region is known for its remarkable history of multiculturalism as over centuries it has been under cultural, societal, political and economic influence of Poland, Germany, Czech and Austria, although after World War II it was included in the territory of Poland – however, traces of various cultures can be seen here today, too. Upper Silesia is famous for its industry, coal mines and steelworks deeply inscribed in the Silesian socio-cultural landscape. After years of inappropriate and wasteful exploitation the region experienced huge devastation, but nowadays it seems to be undergoing a process of gradual revival, which is not restricted to ecology. Upper Silesia is generally  undergoing a process of transformation to the modern way of life.  Local museums not only remain the mainstay of tradition but also play a much more important role. First of all, they are temples of art which are an important segment of social life. Art is created by people and could be analyzed as a mirror in which a human examines him/her–self.

 

Museums, but particularly local museums, have a big role to play in the process of creation of social identity. Another very important role is education. A museum is nowadays also an institution responsible for cultural activity. Organizing concerts and exhibitions not only allows people to experience the culture but also creates cultural background of their local society.

 

 

2. Museum as a temple of art

Culture can be compared to a mirror in which a human being can examine him/her-self in  his/her products: literature, music, painting, theatre, dance, customs, morality, religion, science, etc. The anthropocentric principle of culture contains an evaluating element at the same time. The status of culture based on the affirmation of humanity does not justify all of its axiological realms but only those that are, according to Roman Ingarden, “highly valuable, beautiful, spiritually rich, noble and wise”. Thanks to them a human gets wiser, more beautiful and better; and culture contributes to the integrated development of his/her personality.  However, if human works contain “traces of evil, ugliness and incapacity, disease and insanity”, they make people worse, weaker and ill (Ingarden, 1987, p. 36). They turn against the human being and lose their axiological legitimacy. Thus, Culture as a universal category appears to be an axiological one at the same time. “The evaluating understanding of culture” does not stand in opposition to the principle of the universal view of culture (Kłoskowska, 1987) but it emphasizes its personal character.

 

Local museum in Rybnik

 

 

 

Krąpiec in his reflections on cultural elements of social life discerns four “cultural motifs” present in “the life of every individual human being and the crucial domains of the individual’s cognitive life”. All the four “motifs”, namely: the heuristic-scientific, artistic-creational or scientific-creational, moral and religious, shape various forms of social life connected with the very development of human culture. Art is vocation, improvisation, spontaneity, metamorphosis and inspiration; “The Platonian concept of inspiration allows us to take a step further – as Stróżewski said – and see in art a mystical experience and the gift of divine grace descending on the chosen in rare but happiest moments of their life. An artist is not only a tool through which God speaks, but also a conscious participant in the dialogue between God and him/her-self  - the witness and  bearer of the deepest secrets. True art comes into being exclusively in such a mystic communion” (Stróżewski, 1983, p. 305). 

 

        
 Society -and its various forms- is a process of continuous creation. It begins, when people initiate mutual interactions in which they start influencing one another exchanging their experience, emotions and knowledge. A poet shares his/her experience of existential anxieties, a painter – his/her interpretation of the beauty of an object, a scientist – his/her discovery of scientific laws, and an ordinary person – his/her personal emotions. This stage of the process of creation of society is called externalization .[1] Externalization is thus preceded by an existential experience of values such as good, truth and beauty. Externalization is also a consequence of the social aspect of humanity conditioned by the need for affiliation and acceptance as the attributive properties of human being. Some results of human intellectual and emotional activity get objectivated, i.e. they become social beings which are able to exist in time and space. Objectivation means that the results of subjective activity are becoming intersubjectively available - they depart from the subject of their creator, enter relations of confrontation with him/her, live their own life according to their own rules. As a result they become reality sui generis, they belong to the structure of culture. Czarnowski described culture as the whole of objectivated elements of social heritage, which due to their objectivation are able to spread in time and space. They last through time measured in centuries of history and space separated by oceans and continents. A medium of objectivation can be, for instance, a spoken language, a tradition of customs, a musical notation, a painted picture, a sculpted figurine, an artistic installation, architecture of a gothic cathedral, an urban plan of a medieval city, or an internet blog.  Objectivation is a record of  “feasibility” and “potentiality” immanent in the products of culture, which determine the qualities of being and which are actualized in the complicated processes of internalization. Internalization can be defined as a process of transformation of the structures of the objectivated world into structures of subjective awareness. The objectivated world of symbols, norms, evaluation rules, artistic values and patterns of behaviour, characterized by immanent imperativeness , as a result of the processes of internalization turns into the subjective reality of an individual that is experiences it. The world becomes his/her world – his/her language, morality, knowledge, custom, religion, sense of ugliness or beauty. Internalization occurs in the processes of socialization (primary and secondary), upbringing and acculturation. Socialization is defined as the whole of actions (intentional and unintentional, positive and negative) of the society and culture through example and education thanks to which an individual becomes a rightful participant of the society’s life as well as understands and respects its open and hidden patterns of cultural behaviour and value orientations. Upbringing is a directed process based on the rule of “common intentions”. Through methodologically planned stages it steadily aims to reaching a clearly set goal which is shaping the child’s personality in accordance with the commonly accepted values. Acculturation can be described as a form of “absorption” of the globalized world of culture “irrespective of the proxemic contacts and the structurally defined life situation” (Kłoskowska, 1996, p. 111) in the intimacy of the individual contact with cultural text by means of mass media, including the Internet.

 

Center of art "Sielecki Castle” in Sosnowiec

 

 

The world of art participates in the process of creation of society and is subject to its rules. Thus, the human factor in the development of societies becomes a crucial element of the  discussion of artistic values – the discussion that is being initiated over and over again, here and now and never definitely concluded because society does not exist in a definite pure form but is always in the process of creation. “It never exists but is being created. It does not constitute an object or state but a process” (Sztompka, 2003, p. 537).  

 

    
A work of art comes into being in the process of externalization in order to become intersubjectively available in its artistic forms. It stems from personal, intimate, joyous and sometimes painful experiences. I becomes the objectivated reality of the world of culture marked by axiological elements and semantic references. The symbolism of a work of art can be intentional - when it faithfully reflects the presented reality as in realistic painting or illustrative music, but it can also be in the process of creation as a certain “added value” created independently of the artist and even against his/her intentions in the complex psycho-social processes of its reception by the audience. A work of art in a way is always a symbolic message whose meaning is created and stated by both the author and the recipient with an active role of the latter. The concept of stating meaning in art denotes “an assumption that works of art or at least their elements perform the function of a sign, gaining a relational character in reference to the non-artistic reality /…/ works of visual arts can be treated as certain iconic messages (cultural texts) that perform a certain range of functions determined by the set of interaction relationships with their recipients and the cultural context” (Solik, 1996, p. 54). A work of art is a symbolic sign – an object with meaning obtained from those with whom it is connected by the relations of creation and reception. To meaning it is transparent, although artistic or religious values sometimes constituting its core can dim or even completely suspend this transparency. Such an ontological status can be attributed to a canonical icon, which not only “means” but is “the meaning itself”; not only depicts holiness but is holiness itself. Each true icon is a miraculous icon and constitutes a reflection of the divine pre-picture.

 

Ingarden’s theory of re-production of the work of art stresses the fact that the ontological status and esthetic value of art are defined in the processes of perception, which is a process of actualization of the artistic “feasibilities” and a “creative” re-composition of the work of art. Ingarden also pointed out the multiplicity and variety of the possibilities of such a “definition”. “Works abounding in representational elements coming from different sensual fields (e.g. The Cinnamon Shops by Bruno Schulz) can be falsely represented by a reader who might impoverish the variety of their original representations” (Ingarden, 1966, p. 48). Szczepańska in her comment on the theory presented above adds: “The recipient activity is subject to the impact of cultural concretization norms as its forms are determined by the modes of perception reflected in norms and values characteristic of a particular epoch” (Szczepański, 1992, p. 21). Every time they are transmitted, created and modified in the processes of socialization, upbringing and acculturation.  

 

                                         
In sociology of symbolic culture it is emphasized that understanding art requires placing it in social context. “The process of reception, even if it takes place with a sense of complete freedom of reconstructive reactions, is dependant on a complex structure of social and psycho-social factors, and its results perform various functions present in real, as opposed to fictional and only imaginary, social activity”(Kłoskowska, 1981, 426 – 427). Berger in his Invitation to Sociology (Berger, 1988, p.30) formulated the principles of the research in the field of sociology, which can prove useful in the reflection on the social world of art: “The first great wisdom of sociology is: things are not the way they appear to be. /…/ It turns out that the social reality has a lot of layers of meaning. A discovery of every new layer changes the perception of the whole” (Berger, 1988,  p.30). A work of art in its objectivated form is actualised and through this becomes integrated in the process of symbolic communication in the processes of reception. In Golaszewska’s model of the analysis of the reception of a work of art, reception is represented by the acceptance and inclusion of the artistic values and their dynamization contributing to the development of the creative personality of an individual.  

 

           
A work of art is always “a work of art for us” as opposed to “a work of art by its own means” – it is always “ours” and never “nobody’s”. It becomes what the members of a community of aesthetic views, interpretations and meanings make it. Its “outlook” is created by the cultural competence of recipients that are determined by their personality, historical and generational factors, the geographical space of the cultural variety as well as the social context of the situation of reception. As Kutz aptly stated: “Each performance is different because of the different audience”  [2]. It could be added that each exhibition is different on account of the variety of groups of the recipients of artistic values owing to the changing context, place and time of its presentation. The artistic atmosphere of the Roman rotunda in Cieszyn (a town in the south of Poland) magically combines distant dignified past with axiological instability of presence. The ascetic beauty fossilized in the shapes of stones connected with the search for its contemporary forms in a unique way defines what is beauty, truth and good. The individualization of the processes of perception intensifies the diversity of the views on art. “The messages received by the recipient do not have to be completely congruent with those intended by the artist: the experienced or recognised emotional states can differ from the ones that the artist wanted to evoke” (Kłoskowska, 1969, p.388). 

 

              
The cultural processes of internalization of art entail certain patterns of its reception and interpretation. Sometimes they take canonical forms whose orthodoxy is protected by institutions and other guards of aesthetic values. Art is a process of creation through a certain process of negotiation of meaning and values between an artist and the recipient. The latter is a participant of a symbolic discourse, in which an important role is played by art critics, institutions of art and artistic education. The social world of art like the whole society undergoes a continuous process of “creation” and calls for incessant legitimization which is a process of ascribing meaning, sense and value, justification, confirmation, acceptance and “re-reading”.

 

 

 

3. Education

 

Regional culture education has long and rich tradition in the Upper Silesia region, which can and should be paid attention to regardless of the continually changing governmental projects and centrally designed educational curricula. The changing interest in this type of educational activity - usually due to various political reasons - is noticeable in Poland before and after World War II.

 

All these factors account for the use of local municipal museums as places in which not only young people will be offered an opportunity to acquire knowledge of their local community and culture. Such knowledge can strengthen the feeling of belonging of an individual to a particular community which can positively influence the process of tightening the bonds between the members of the local community as a whole. 

 

     
As an example of a project of museum-based regional culture education we can present an authorized program of regional culture education designed by Roman Liczba – a teacher in High School no. 1 in Chorzów. The program consists of a number of lessons focusing on the following areas:

 

1. micro-ecology – information of the local natural environment and the opportunities of  eco-development of the region,
2. micro-geography – broadening the students’ knowledge of the local topography,
3. history of the local community – information of the local historical events and historical figures as well as the historical foundations of the structures of the local government and policies, sport and other organizations etc.
4. sociology of the local community – including presentation of cultural regions of the country and the necessary economic and civilization changes of each of them
5. regional literature, regional dialects and their local varieties
6. local material culture (town planning, architecture), local artistic activity (music, painting, sculpture), craft

 

Local museum in Sosnowiec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Micro-ecology should provide students with basic knowledge of the region’s natural environment treated as a certain cultural value contributing to the formation of the local community. Nature can be perceived by a student as a source of almost inexhaustible resources. Cultural as opposed to instrumental perception of nature in micro-ecology is on a par with the concept of eco-development promoted by many international institutions. The aim of the approach is to coordinate social development with the ecological conditions in order to prevent continual degradation of the natural environment along with the wise use of its resources   [3]” 

 

 
“Teaching micro-geography should result in the students’ familiarity with the local topography, relief, monuments of nature, courses and names of rivers, names of peaks etc. It is also important to present local legends and myths connected with the local geographical names. Besides, what can prove exceptionally valuable is the etymological research, which in many regions has a long and good tradition  ”[4].

 

“Education in the local history should enable the students to:
- reconstruct the most important events from the life of their family and the closest environment,
- describe local historical monuments and understand the legends and myths connected with them. 
It seems, however, that this type of education should also equip the students with knowledge necessary to understand the local iconography, especially the crest of their town or city. Besides, it should facilitate reconstruction of the students’ genealogy or the process of discovering the etymology of their family names. As a result micro-historical education can trigger:
- authentic as opposed to enforced interest in the history of the students’ own family, social group, local and regional community,
- preventative attitudes and actions in relation to historical monuments perceived by the students as bearers of symbolic and cultural values frequently connected with their own families  [5]”

 

“Sociology of the local community should help a young person to reconstruct key elements of the cultural identity of local communities. It should present the social history of native local communities, their multiculturalism and tradition. A crucial element of spreading knowledge of the native community is familiarizing students with the regional literature, regional dialects and their local varieties. However, this type of education cannot affect teaching national literature and the standard variety of the national language, but should constitute its complimentary part. Knowledge of the local dialect and familiarity with the meaning of its crucial concepts should strengthen the students’ conviction that the ability to speak a regional dialect should not be perceived as anything shameful, but in many cases can bring a sense of pride and strengthen individual identity of a person   [6]”

 

              
The last but not least structural element of the program is broadening the students’ knowledge about the local material culture (town planning, architecture), local artistic activity (music, painting, sculpture) as well as artistic and historical craft. It should show unique historical features of town planning and architecture influencing the contemporary special organization of the students’ own city, town or village. It also ought to provide basic information about the architectural styles, especially those present in the native local community. Besides, it should display achievements of professional and amateur artists and craftsmen   [7]”.  

 

Here we present examples of educational activities offered by museums in the Upper Silesia region.       
Regional culture and ethnography
1.   Silesian national costumes (for all types of schools)
2.   Traditions and customs - winter festivals (for all types of schools)
3.   Traditions and customs - spring festivals (for all types of schools)
4.   Treasure of culture in Nikiszowiec. Teofil Ociepka and a metaphysical painting group (junior and senior high schools)
Nature and environmental protection:
1.   History of the Upper Silesia Industrial Region’s flora and its changes caused by the human activity (for all types of schools)
2.   Degradation of environment in the Upper Silesia (for all types of schools)
3.   Forms of environment protection in the district of Silesia (for all types of schools)
Classes run at the ethnographic exhibition entitled “Life of the Silesian people in the 19th and 20th century”

 

 The museum offers a range of museum-based lessons broadening the students’ knowledge in the field of culture and traditions of the Upper Silesia within the program of regional culture education. The classes are run in the area of a permanent ethnographic exhibition entitled “Life of the Silesian people in the 19th and 20th century” and the introduction of new methodological solutions enables deep study of the topic. The lessons are run by a person with pedagogical qualifications and are based on lesson plans designed in collaboration with the department of ethnography of the museum.

 

The following topics in the field of regional culture education have been prepared for 4th-6th grade students of elementary school and all grades of junior high schools:
Life of a Silesian family in the 19th and the early 20th century – in an interesting way the lesson familiarizes students with selected everyday and holiday customs in the Upper Silesia region. The main objective is to present the basic information about a typical Silesian family, which enables the students to get familiar with the life of Silesian people one hundred years ago and compare it to their contemporary life in the region.

 

Regional dress in the Upper Silesia as a distinguishing feature of the region – During the class the students get familiar with the regional dress typical of various sub-regions of Upper Silesia including: Rozbar, Cieszyn, Pszczyna, and Beskid. Together with the presentation of the garments the regional names of its elements are introduced.

 

Coalmining traditions in Upper Silesia:

 

My grandpa told me … - legends, folk stories and fairy tales as genres of folk artistic creation -  in this class students learn to tell stories connected with their region and they learn the differences between legends, folk tales and a fairy tale.

 

Economic activity of the people of Upper Silesia at the turn of the 19th and 20th century

 

Saint Andrew’s Evening games and fortune telling – in the lesson students are involved in active participation in traditional Saint Andrew’s fortune telling games and customs and learn about the importance of humor and fun in folk culture. 

 

Winter customs in Upper Silesia – the class is devoted to detailed description of winter traditions and customs – from Advent to Shrovetide. The most interesting element is the presentation of traditional masks and dress-ups of groups of carolers and Silesian nativity scenes.

 

Spring – Easter time – It is hard to imagine spring in Upper Silesia without “Marzanna” (a custom of burning and drowning a straw dummy representing winter), colorful palms for the Palm Sunday or dyed eggs for Easter. During the class the students not only get familiar with the Easter traditions but the y learn to respect the culture of their ancestors.

 

The story of flax – from flax growing flax to the production of linen.

  

 

 

4. Identity

In the process of globalization the local society becomes more important because it can provide its members with the frame of everyday life. A museum as a part of the socio-cultural landscape plays an important role in the formation of social identity.
Ulrich Beck, a contemporary German sociologist and the author of the famous book The Society of Risk wrote: “When we say that we live in the post-modern world, we assume that we have a kind of a new order. We create the illusion that our world has changed and the institutional order, the way of thinking and the One order seemed<<social mechanisms have been conformed to the new reality.  . Just like at the turn of the 18th and>>used up so people created a new one 19th century, when the feudal order was depleting, people created the modern capitalist order – free market, democracy and society based on the idea of equality. At present, nothing like that has happened. /…/ - the author adds – We protect old institutions, although the world does not match them. The old order does not function because modernity is too radical and there is not a post-modern order. We abolish different borders to cope with the pressures that are growing together with the radicalisation through which we create new, even bigger risks” (Beck 2005:5). The fast pace of transformations has not been observed in the whole history of the mankind, and the multi-directional character of their axiological references and symbolic interpretations. In such a risky post-modern world people are looking for their identity. The fundamental question about one’s identity: who am I? even in a multicultural society is still important, although more often drawn beyond human consciousness.

Museum of Upper Silesia in Bytom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

Local museums, even though sometimes they seems to be in the margin, play important role in the process of building modern society. Thanks to many projects carried out in the  museums that were presented in the paper, young people have a chance to get familiar with their history in an interesting way. Because the museum exhibits in the local museums are not as expensive as the priceless objects shown e.g. in Louvre (Paris) they can be thoroughly examined through direct contact such as touching or smelling. Learning history and tradition using all senses involves a broader emotional involvement and thus seems more effective. Even without famous artists’ exhibitions local museums play an important role. Their main functions in the modern society are: creating identity of the local people, providing cultural activity for them and collecting the local tradition. In spite of the clear significance for the local community the local museums in Upper Silesia tend to be overlooked by the local government. As it could be seen in the photos, the museums are often located in the peripheral areas of the towns in quite shabby buildings requiring renovation. The institutions need funds for their cultural activity such as organizing concerts, exhibitions, and meetings with famous people. Funds are also needed for efficient promotion of this type of cultural activity and regional culture education in order to enable local museums to perform their basic functions.
Another question concerning local museums is the question of their outlook and form in order to meet the demands of the local people. With the growing popularity of “art factories” – places resembling big “cultural shopping malls” with plenty of attractions and a variety of offers such as museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, coffee bars etc. in one place, local museums may follow their examples.

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Berger, Peter.L. 1988, Zaproszenie do socjologii. Warszawa: PWN, p. 30.

Berger, Peter & Luckman, Thomas. 1983,  Social Creation of Reality – Polish version: Społeczne tworzenie rzeczywistości. Warszawa: PIW

Ingarden, Roman. 1987, Człowiek i jego rzeczywistość. In: Książeczka o człowieku. Kraków,  p. 36.

Ingarden, Roman.1966, O poznawaniu dzieła literackiego. In: Studia z estetyki. Warszawa, vol. 1, p. 48.

Kłoskowska, Antonina. 1996, Kultury narodowe u korzeni, Warszawa: PWN, p. 111.

Kłoskowska, Antonina. 1981, Socjologia kultury. Warszawa: PWN, pp. 426-427.

Kłoskowska, Antonina. 1969, Z historii i socjologii kultury, Warszawa: PWN, p. 388.

Kutz, Kazimierz - statement made in a cultural program of the Polish Radio  - Polskie Radio Program II. 30.XI. 2005, time-11.00.

Solik, Ryszard. W kręgu funkcji sztuki. Rozważania i interpretacje. Zarys problematyki. In: B.
Ostrowska, R Solik: W kręgu funkcji sztuki. Cieszyn 1996, p. 54.

Stróżewski, Władysław. 1983, Dialektyka twórczości, Kraków: PWM, p. 305.

Szczepańska, Anna. 1992, Konkretyzacja dzieła sztuki w koncepcji Romana Ingardena. In: Twórczy odbiór sztuki. Ed. J. Brach-Czaina. Białystok, p. 21.

Sztompka, Piotr. 2003, Socjologia, Kraków: Znak, p. 537.

Internet:
http://polonia.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/Szczepanski_wystapienie.html

 

[1]The terminology was introduced by Berger and Luckman in their book “Social Creation of Reality” – Polish version: Społeczne tworzenie rzeczywistości. PIW. Warszawa 1983.
  [2]K. Kutz  - statement made in a cultural program of the Polish Radio  - Polskie Radio Program II. 30.XI. 2005, time-11.00.
  [3]http://polonia.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/Szczepanski_wystapienie.html
  [4]ibid
  [5]ibid
   [6]http://polonia.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/Szczepanski_wystapienie.html
   [7]http://polonia.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/Szczepanski_wystapienie.html

New Approaches in Contemporary Curating, Spring 2006