Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses an educational project, which brings together children, art educators, curators and religious representatives. It addresses questions about the role of public musea as places of intercultural learning, integration, authentic and authoritative knowledge, religion and arts.

Paper long abstract:

Curators and art educators of the Museum Rietberg have always dealt with non-European religions. Centre of attention were material objects to be admired either in the permanent collection or in temporary special exhibitions. The underlying logic was that visitors should enjoy the aesthetic appeal of the original artwork.

Questioning this principal idea, a new program has been set up, based on the assumption that any museum object needs to be understood in the context of its embeddedness of multiple social, religious, historic and ritual meanings. The new educational program offers a radically different approach: First the museum team goes to local schools to establish the first contact right in the classroom. Second the museum team will include local "religious representatives", who will offer indigenous insights into religious practices. As agents of immaterial knowledge they show for example how to perform a Hindu puja, recite a text, practice Indian dance or how to make clay idols for worship. The normative authority is no longer with the art educator or teacher alone; they rather become moderators and translators.

This paper shows how new meanings are created through a dialogue between children, art educators, curators and religious representatives. It aims to contribute to the debate on material and non-material cultural heritage, which currently dominates the museum landscape. It not only discusses questions about the legitimacy of ownerships, provenance research and art education; it also offers a survival strategy for Asian art museums in Western Europe.