Points of View. Visions of a Museum Partnership

Ethnographic museums find themselves in a period of change, trying to devise new ways of representing different cultures. Furthermore, they need to account for their own history, because many objects in their collections – as well as their museum practices themselves – bear traces of the colonial past. In the process, cooperation between ethnographic museums in the Global North and museums, including other stakeholders, in countries of the South has become increasingly important.

Since 2015 three museums, the Uganda National Museum in Kampala, the Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara, southwest Uganda, and the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich, have undertaken an unusual collaboration: They engage in joint research in Uganda and Switzerland, and in co-creating exhibitions in dialogue.

The subject of this exhibition is the innovative partnership project itself. It
addresses the challenges of collaborating at an equal level in a transcontinental project, asking what can, what should, this look like today? You can expect to gain insights into an exciting shift of perspective in museum work. In addition, you get the chance to visit the exhibitions in the Ugandan museums, about milk culture in Uganda and Switzerland digitally. A film about the project links multiple points of views together and documents visions of museum partnership.