Immediate Things: Material Culture from West Africa

Immediate Things: Material Culture from West Africa questions how cultural artifacts are contextualized and valorized within museum spaces. Culled from the collection of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and the Michigan State University Museum, and featuring a selection of ritual, commemorative, and utilitarian objects originating in West Africa, this display takes the supporting documentation attached to the acquisition of each object as a point of departure. Once acquired, an artifact is transformed from an item of daily use or article for sale into a museum piece that aims to give viewers insight into a specific, and often distant, culture and site. In the case of the former Kresge—from which the Broad MSU has developed its collection—and the MSU Museum, many objects of African origin came into the collection through gifts made by MSU faculty and affiliates visiting or working in the region. This form of collecting, which has strong ties to ethnographic field work, raises questions about the ways in which Western museological practices shape the public’s understanding of other cultures. Read more.

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