Rethinking of the Objects'''' Museumification and the Contemporary Collections: The Constructions of Collections after the 921 Earthquake occurred in 1999 in Taiwan─ Take 4 Cases for Examples.

• Main Authors: Wu Yen-Huang, 吳延晃
• Other Authors: Frankics, Chuang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41597026291576761350

碩士 === 臺南藝術學院 === 博物館學研究所 === 90 === September 21, 1999, an Earthquake of 7th magnitude occurred in Taiwan. After this tragic event, different actors collected many objects with the mark of 921. Some of these objects became part of collections in the museums, or being selected in exhibitions. Some were archived in the regional cultural centers'''' warehouses while private household and institutions kept others. All of these objects became parts of the memories about the incident that belong to the community or individual. The action about the selection and collection of objects is an important field of study about the relationship between human society and material culture. Such researches intend to deepen the understanding of social lives, and were considered as an interpretation and rumination of human experiences. After the 921 Earthquake, the practices of collecting were classified as the action of the cultural property rescue. People not only respond to the issues of the tragic incident by selecting and assessing those objects, but also reflecting the values of individuals and societies. By study these actions, we can understand the motivations of different actors and the social meanings of the actions that were involved. For examples: How the actors explain their action of collection? How do the actions between different actors influence each other? What do people try to express by collecting the objects with tragic marks, or what they do not want to express? Finally, what kinds of values such behaviors reflect? As a study of the aftermath of the tragic incident, the following question is asked: What kinds of material evidences were used to understand the tragic event? This question not only must be interpreted under the historical and spatial context, but also must be considered as the text. Return to consideration of the context, the society in which the incident occurred was undergoing the development of capital and globalization. These are the contexts that drawn Taiwanese society into the system of consumption. Therefore, the meanings of the collecting actions must be interpreted under the context of commodity consumption system. Even the meanings of tragic marks were different from the commodities; they still cannot escape from the consumption system. I try to critic the meanings of objects, memories, and collections, and then rethink the experience of 921 Earthquake as if the tragic event can produce different meanings, and escape from the limitation of consumption system. Although I critic the discussion of traditional cultural properties rescue and preservation, I also try to replenish another possibility. Based on the interests I concern above, the thesis try to discuss the value problems of the collecting system, and the key point is in the process of collecting and interpreting behaviors. So, the thesis will aim on these problems: What do people rescue from the earthquake? How do they rescue? Who participated in the action? How do the people interpret the meanings of the objects? What kinds of purposes they seek? After the expose of the relationships of power and consumption system, the thesis will aim at the problem: Whose memories were rescued? At last, the thesis will discuss the possibility about how to escape from the limitations of consumption system.