Island 84

”Island 84,” referring to the 83 islands of Vanuatu, is a digital inventory of photographs and objects that ethnologist Felix Speiser brought back from his 1910-1912 trip, which are now kept in the Museum der Kulturen Basel (MKB). Together with “Digitales Schaudepot,” an initiative that enables participation in cultural heritage, MKB aims to make the Speiser collection easily accessible. By creating an interactive platform, we hope to establish a starting point for lasting connections and future collaborations with Ni-Vanuatu and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

The MKB collection is entangled with Europe’s history of colonialism and racism. Museums today face the challenge of how to appropriately address their colonial past.

As a means of decolonizing our collections, we consciously relinquish the authority to interpret the photographs and objects on display, defining ourselves as custodians of the collection, not its owners. Therefore, the main goals of “Island 84” are accessibility, transparency, dialogue, and collaboration.

Digital technologies can contribute to achieving these goals and help realize the unconditionally recognized need for mutual respect, relational ethics, and an open outcome of research in dealing with cultural heritage and in developing novel practices of preservation and mediation. The platform can provide this by using Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels, allowing communities of involvement to determine the visibility, interpretation, and (re-)use of the digital collections.

This goes beyond the usual comment functions and truly shifts interpretative authority from the museum to the involved communities. The interactive platform invites users to explore the extensive and diverse collection. Using a map of Vanuatu, visitors can navigate through 83 islands and discover various objects.

Based on Speiser’s documentation, the objects in the collection are linked with geodata, allowing users to visualize their origin or the place of their acquisition by Speiser. The platform also offers the opportunity to take a closer look at individual objects and gain new perspectives through entries by other users.

Between May 4, 1910, and July 1, 1912, Felix Speiser collected over 2’400 ethnographic objects and took around 1’000 glass plate photographs. Field diaries and notebooks from this period have been preserved. Numerous publications resulted from his journey.

During his time in Vanuatu, then the English-French condominium New Hebrides, Speiser never stayed in one place for more than three weeks and spent most of his time in missionary and trading stations. In addition to collecting, Speiser's research also made use of other contemporary scientific practices such as anthropological measurements, anthropometric photography, and the appropriation of human remains.

Due to the presence of missionaries, colonial officials, plantation owners, and indigenous guides who served as informants, he was unable to gain the trust of Ni-Vanuatu and learn indigenous languages. The ethnologist had to rely on observations and the treatises of European authors.

After setting up the platform’s basic structure, we need to start a conversation with the Ni-Vanuatu before making the website publicly available. Therefore, curator Beatrice Voirol is traveling to Port Vila in October to meet representatives of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

Co-authors and involved in the project are: Maurice Bonvin, Basil Bucher, Lucas Burkart, Peter Fornaro, Nicolai Kölmel und Joana Meier