Geneva's new Ethnography Museum opens to the public
Geneva’s new Ethnography Museum opens
OCTOBER 31, 2014 BY
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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Ethnography Museum of Geneva officially opens its new home Friday 31 October, in the city’s artsy Plainpalais neighbourhood, after four years of work. The MEG is open to the public for three days of festivities, from Friday 31 October to Sunday 2 November. Activities include access to the exhibits, concerts, films and workshops.
The building, completed at a cost of CHF65 million, was designed by Zurich-based architect, Graber Pulver Architekten following a competition in which 49 participants from all around Europe took part. “We wanted to awaken an association with the architectures of other cultures,” say Marco Graber.
An aluminum facade with diamond-shaped openings that allow light to fall geometrically on the indoor walls, contribute to what Graber said was a reminder of oriental architecture, possessing a “sacred atmosphere”.
The museum’s permanent collection, or the “human diversity archives”, present thousands of objects used over many centuries by cultures from around the world. These include items from Swiss rural traditions, such as old cowbells and sleighs, Amazonian feathered head-dresses and Buddhist home altars.
Peruvian temporary exhibit
A temporary exhibit of pre-Colombian art, entitled Les Rois Mochica (the Mochica kings) is an international première of exceptional objects, on loan from the Peruvian culture ministry, recently discovered in a royal tomb on the country’s coastal desert, and restored with the assistance of the Swiss cultural ministry. The exhibition space was arranged, allowing for the projection of huge moving images of the coastal desert in the reception area as well as a majestic reproduction of a painted Mochica temple on far wall of the exhibit.
MEG’s new building was a source of political contention, facing opposition from residential neighbours. Several projects were rejected before a 2010 referendum gave the go-ahead. Geneva’s construction councillor Réné Pagani explained, “MEG’s saga arises from a combatant’s journey.”
Public concerns over the possible disappearance of green spaces meant that the museum’s 2000 square metre “black box” space for exhibits went underground. A library, a café, and a shop are located above the garden level.
Speaking about how the museum showcases various cultures, Geneva mayor Sami Kanaan, told the press at the opening of the new building,”Too many people want to control the movement of people. But frontiers should be permeable, and museums should be for the meeting of people.”
