North America Native Museum

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Museum building with a wooden pavilion

The NONAM, North America Native Museum - Indian and Inuit Cultures in Zurich is an ethnological museum for the art and culture of the North American Indian peoples and the Eskimos .

history

The Indian painter Karl Bodmer
Karl Bodmer . Photograph from 1877.
Karl Bodmer before 1870. Drawing by Loÿs Delteil .

The NONAM is based on the formerly private Hotz collection. The City of Zurich acquired the collection in 1961 and presented it from 1963 in the newly created Indian Museum in a school building in Zurich- Aussersihl . Until 1977 the museum was under the direction of Gottfried Hotz. His successor Hans Läng expanded the collection further. The museum's holdings include a comprehensive collection of the plates and vignettes by Karl Bodmer from the book Journey to Inner North America in the years 1832 to 1834 by Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied .

Since 1993, the temporary exhibitions from the collection have been supplemented by thematic special exhibitions. In 2003, the Indian Museum was renamed the North America Native Museum . At the same time, it moved into larger premises at Seefeldstrasse 317 near Tiefenbrunnen train station . Thanks to the larger exhibition area, a temporary exhibition and one or two special exhibitions can be shown each year. The new construction of a pavilion above the reception building in winter 2008/2009 enables cultural programs, workshops and offers of museum education. The pavilion was awarded the Prix Lignum 2009 award in 2009. The Swiss Wood Prize - Prix Lignum - honors the particularly high-quality and future-oriented use of wood in buildings, in interior construction, in furniture and artistic work.

In 2011, Swiss television produced the television film Ehre sei den Tiere in cooperation with NONAM .

In 2013, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, NONAM received a significant contribution from the Lottery Fund of the Canton of Zurich . The aim was a future-oriented expansion of the museum's own collection. The NONAM then added to its collection in 2014. The time-honored artefacts from the 18th to the early 20th centuries received new additions from the present. With the expansion of the collection through contemporary indigenous art, the NONAM brings indigenous perspectives and critical dialogues of the 21st century into the focus of visitors.

Programs

Permanent exhibition

View of the Arctic section of the permanent exhibition in the North America Native Museum in Zurich.

The permanent exhibition is called Von Salmonmenschen und Regenmacher and shows indigenous North America in its cultural diversity. The permanent exhibition shows more than 700 objects from six different regions of the USA and Canada . The museum course leads through the plains and prairies , through the northeastern woodlands and the subarctic , up to the Arctic , along the northwest coast to the deserts in the southwest of the USA. The visitor is made familiar with the art and culture of the Indians and Eskimos and gets an insight into the extremely different living conditions in the individual regions.

Bodmer Gallery

From the Bodmer gallery
Abdih Hiddish. Mönnitarri boss. Tableau 24 by Karl Bodmer . Original colored aquatint from around 1839 from the museum's collection.
American Indian bison hunting . Tableau 31 by Karl Bodmer . Original colored aquatint from around 1839 from the museum's collection.
The mouth of the Fox River in the Wabash, Indiana . Tableau 5 by Karl Bodmer . Original colored aquatint from around 1839 from the museum's collection.

A selection of copperplate engravings by the Zurich Indian painter Karl Bodmer from the work Journey to Inner North America from 1832 to 1834 is on view in the Bodmer Gallery . For reasons of conservation, the hand-colored illustrations are regularly replaced. Several times a year a new series of the precious originals is shown in the original. All other Bodmer tablets and vignettes are permanent and available with a zoom-in function.

Sound space

The project “Sound Space - Acoustic Worlds of the Peoples of North America” was recognized in 2010 by the Swiss Commission for UNESCO as a contribution to the year of rapprochement between cultures.

The sound space takes the listener into the world of the Eskimos at the Arctic Circle, the Kwakwaka'wakw on the Pacific northwest coast of Canada and the Hopi and Navajo in the southwest of the USA. Originally, Indians and Eskimos did not use written languages. Their information was received and passed on mainly through acoustic communication and oral transmission. In the sound room, visitors have the opportunity to get to know today's world of the First Nations on an acoustic level.

Special exhibitions

Some of the special exhibitions that NONAM has presented since the move in 2003 were:

  • Katsinam - Cloud People and Ancestral Spirits April 22, 2018 - March 3, 2019
  • Leo Yerxa - Tales from the Woodland October 5, 2017 - February 25, 2018
  • Bison, Buffalo, Buffalo - Looking for traces at the zero point of the American bison population December 20, 2016 - September 3, 2017
  • Calling the Animals - arctic tales drawn, printed and set in stone March 17, 2016 - July 3, 2016
  • Vanishing Thule - A Culture on Thin Ice October 1, 2015 - February 28, 2016
  • Native Art Now - Contemporary Indigenous Art from North America November 8, 2014 - June 7, 2015
  • Land, art, horizons - Land as reflected in contemporary indigenous art April 10, 2014 - September 7, 2014
  • Learning about life - when Indians & Inuit go to school May 8, 2013 - February 28, 2014
  • Fascination Indians - ideas, representations - a journey through the centuries 22nd March 2012 - 31st October 2012
  • From cod liver oil to totem animals - animals among the Indians and Inuit 10 February 2011 - 13 November 2011
  • Mantu'c - The language of glass beads April 15, 2010 - November 14, 2010
  • Karl Bodmer - A Swiss Artist in North America February 8, 2009 - August 9, 2009
  • Aiguuq! - Arctic treasures from Swiss museums March 8, 2008 - August 17, 2008
  • Life on the Edge of the World - Photographs from North Greenland by Markus Bühler – Rasom November 1, 2007 - February 24, 2008
  • Richly adorned - American Indian jewelry from Arizona and New Mexico June 17, 2007 - October 15, 2007
  • Canoe kayak - Indian and Inuit boats September 17, 2006 - May 31, 2007
  • Swiss pioneers - in the land of the Sioux and Crow 18 May 2006 - 3 September 2006
  • Traditions of Change - New Art of the Athapasques and Tlingit from the Yukon September 17, 2005 - April 30, 2006
  • Cherokee People Today - Photographs by David G. Fitzgerald February 3, 2005 - August 31, 2005
  • Living Worlds Art Spaces - Contemporary Iroquois Art June 5, 2004 - December 31, 2004
  • Katsinam - ceremonial figures of the Pueblo Indians September 21, 2003 - April 30, 2004
  • Inuit Art - Art to Survive January 26, 2003 - August 20, 2003

Performances

In March 2018, the museum put on a staged reading . This production was created by 11 young people. After the debut novel by the Alaska-born author Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock , they alternately told from the perspectives of the four young main characters about overcoming loneliness and arriving at their own story in Alaska in the 1970s. Among other things, the children discuss about Indians, Eskimos and whites in the country and their social conditions. In 2017, a German Youth Literature Award recognized the English-written novel and its German translation by Sonja Finck .

Museum education

Museum education at NONAM mediates between the exhibition and the public. It shows the different aspects of an exhibition and connects them with the interest, understanding and experiences of the viewer. The different groups of visitors are discussed in each case. Current offers for different visitor groups can be found on the NONAM website.

Management and responsibilities

The name of the museum NONAM, North America Native Museum - Indians and Inuit cultures is intended to clarify the working areas of the museum. After long-term retirement in April 1993, the pedagogue and ethnologist Denise Daenzer was the head curator until February 2012 . She then handed over the management to her deputy Heidrun Löb.

The deputy director and research assistant Monika Egli, the deputy director and visual designer Markus Roost and the research assistants Karin Kaufmann and Florian Gredig are responsible for the collection and exhibition operations. The museum educators Katharina Kägi and Olivia Jenni work for cultural mediation . Kristina Kampmann is responsible for museum operations, events, the museum shop and visitor care as well as volunteer management with the support of Claude Jaermann and Jonathan Labusch. This team is supplemented by freelance and voluntary employees as well as interns. (As of February 1, 2020)

financing

The NONAM is mainly financed by the City of Zurich (School and Sports Department), which bears the annual operating budget, staff costs and rent. Foundations and companies also make selective financial contributions to the museum. The Amerindias Association, founded in 1993, supports and organizes events, guided tours and workshops as well as travel and accommodation expenses for indigenous guests that would go beyond the normal budget of the museum. In return, members of the development association receive free entry to the exhibitions and get discounts when shopping in the NONAM shop.

literature

  • School and Sports Department of the City of Zurich: Indian Museum of the City of Zurich. Prestel museum guide. Prestel-Verlag, Munich and New York 1996. ISBN 3-7913-1635-4
  • North America Native Museum: Traditions of Change - new art of the Athapasques and Tlingit from the Yukon. Eleven artist biographies. NONAM, Zurich 2005.
  • North America Native Museum: Christoph Egger, Karin Isernhagen, Cäsar Claude, Jutta Steffen-Schrade, Thomas Grögler, Denise Daenzer, Claus Deime and Alke Dohrmann Reich: Canoe kayak - boats of the Indians and Inuit. NONAM, Zurich 2007.
  • North America Native Museum: Richly Adorned - Native American jewelry from Arizona and New Mexico. With contributions by Karin Isernhagen, Ruth Brand, Heidrun Löb and Susanne Harkort, Annemonique Scheidegger, Denise Daenzer, Monika Egli. Richly illustrated, colored. NONAM, Zurich 2007.
  • North America Native Museum: Inuit Life on the Edge of the World. Inuit - Life at the Edge of the World. Contrast Verlag, Zurich 2007. With 141 photographs and 7 panorama pictures by Markus Bühler-Rasom. Incl. Booklet «Travel Diary». ISBN 978-3-906729-55-8 (German text), ISBN 978-3-906729-59-6 (English text).
  • North America Native Museum Zurich: aiguuq! - Arctic treasures from Swiss museums. NONAM, Zurich 2008. With an introduction and object texts by Jean-Loup Rousselot.
  • North America Native Museum Zurich: Karl Bodmer. A Swiss Artist in America 1809-1893. A Swiss artist in America. Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2009. ISBN 978-3-85881-236-0 (Text: German and English).
  • North America Native Museum: mantu'c - little spirits: The language of glass beads. NONAM, Zurich 2010.
  • North America Native Museum: Fascination of Indians: presentations, representations - a journey through the centuries. Available with an optional English booklet. NONAM, Zurich 2012.
  • North America Native Museum: When Indians and Inuit go to school. A booklet to discover, paint and do handicrafts with tips for exploring the exhibition "Learning about Life" May 8, 2013 - February 28, 2014. NONAM, Zurich 2013.
  • North America Native Museum: Native Art Now - contemporary indigenous art . NONAM, Zurich 2014.
  • North America Native Museum: Vanishing Thule - a culture on thin ice . NONAM, Zurich 2015.

Web links

Commons : North America Native Museum  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Extension of the multi-purpose room: project and execution 2007-2009 (PDF file; 1.20 MB)
  2. ^ Netz Natur , srf.ch, February 10, 2011, accessed on November 19, 2015.
  3. ↑ www.amerindias.ch

Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '51 "  N , 8 ° 33' 53"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred eighty-five thousand and eighty-nine  /  244682