Ever felt like you were born in the wrong time? Like you should have been born much earlier so you could have been an explorer of new lands? But what about the guilt of invading the space of indigenous populations and the disasters that come as a result? Well luckily, you were born too late and you don’t really have to deal with such dilemas these days. Instead you can just visit the amazing Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam and not have to involve yourself in that sticky mess directly anymore.
The large interior
On my parents’ last day visiting me in Amsterdam, we had a few hours to kill so we decided to drop in and check it out. We didn’t know what the museum was about but we had museum passes so it was free to enter – so we thought, why not? We had no idea how HUGE it was and how well-executed the concept would be. This is not a museum to come to if you don’t have a lot of time. There are so many things to do and see inside that you probably need a good 4 or 5 hours to walk through at a casual pace, although even so you would probably not get to read everything and check out all the videos and music.
A mask from Suriname
The Tropenmuseum is part of the Royal Tropical Institute (tropen means “tropics” in Dutch) and was established in 1864 as an ethnographic museum housing objects from the non-Western world. As such you will see displays on cultures from every continent but Europe. The goal of the museum and the institute is to study and promote cultural understanding of these cultures, and it also supports the creation of other cultural museums around the non-Western world (for example, a bus-museum in Benin meant to reach people in remote areas).
Daggers from the Arabian Peninsula
As such, they definitely take their social duty pretty seriously so there is a lot on conservation – both of nature and local populations’ culture. This is not a museum friendly to the ideas of globalization and homogenization. You really get a sense for why it is important to preserve local ways of life yet learn about those of others, and progress in a way that is beneficial for your environment and everyone in each population. You also learn about what happens when things do not work that way.
An educational display
The space available to the Tropenmuseum is really used to the fullest. There are three floors and you begin from the middle of one and do a circle (or rectangle) around the building and come back to where you started, then proceed to the next floor. Well, you can go in any order you wish and pick out places or cultures that interest you while skipping others. Choosing something to skip was difficult, so we just sped through the whole thing.
Traditional costumes from Morocco
We saw national costumes, dioramas, recreated parts of temples, sculptures, tools, recreated homes, jewelry, weapons, boats, musical instruments, insect specimens, plants and spices you could look at and smell, wax figures of explorers and scientists, masks, recreated cafés….even a quinceañera display! There are also interactive parts, where you can listen to music, pull out certain rugs or scarves hanging on large display cases, watch interactive videos, or press buttons to see certain areas of a 3D model of cities.
Buddhist Temple
The museum also houses temporary art exhibitions by artists from around the world. When I visited, there was a fashion exhibition by student designers from the Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp who were inspired by non-Western cultures. They will even have a runway show on the 24th of January if you are interested and in town (see their website for more info). The fashion display will be around for viewing until May 16th, 2010.
Non-Western-inspired designs
The other temporary exhibition we saw was by Indonesian artist Heri Dono. He uses symbolic images familiar to everyone in Indonesia, but gives them a modern, eerie twist in order to comment on the state of affairs in Indonesian society and politics. My favorite piece was called “Fermentation of Mind,” which shows a classroom full of clone heads nodding mechanically as they “are fed politically correct information to turn them into obedient citizens.” Fun fact – the clone heads are modeled after the artist’s face. Also, when you walk away, the moving pieces stop and only start up again when someone is in front of them! This temporary exhibit will be available until February 28th, 2010, so check it out while it’s still around.
Fermentation of Mind by Heri Dono
If you are in Amsterdam for a longer period of time and have already seen the major local art museums, which are all tiny in comparison to the Tropenmuseum, do come spend some time here. Admissions is €9 for adults over 18, €5 for students and those under 26. If you plan on staying for a while, or if you will be visiting Holland multiple times in a year, and if you plan on visiting more than 3 museums, I would suggest the museum card. With €39.95 (€22.45 up to 24 years of age) you have free access to all the museums in Holland for a year. More info here.
The Tropenmuseum
Linnaeusstraat 2
1092 CK Amsterdam, Netherlands
Phone: +31(0)20 5688215
Website: http://www.tropenmuseum.nl
Opening Hours: Daily 10:00 – 17:00
Related Links:
The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT)
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