Nicolle Manuelle, Bahia Bittencourt
Ph.D. student, Waseda University, Japan
Japan, Tokyo
Nicolle Bittencourt is a Museologist from the Amazon region in Brazil. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University, Japan. With a bachelor’s degree in Museology, a master’s degree in information science, and a professional degree in Scenography, all from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). She was a Research Student at the University of Tokyo, at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. Also, with experience in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Exhibition Practices, worked as a Professor in the Museology Baccalaureate Course at UFPA, in Intangible Cultural Heritage Management at Brazil’s National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage, along with experiences in different museums and art practices in the Amazon region of Brazil. Recently, in 2023, her paper “Brazil’s National Museum and ICT Strategies: aftermath of the Fire and the Reconstruction Processes” was awarded the Student Paper Award from NBTC at the 16th ITS Asia-Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.
Where to go when everything became ashes? An analysis of the audience-targeted activities during the reconstruction of cultural institutions and cultural heritage sites after a destructive fire.
From the moment a cultural institution is faced with an unexpected event that results in destruction, many challenges arise. The physical space doesn’t exist anymore. The collection is now ashes. What now? The obvious answer is to save what you can, assess the destruction, and reconstruct. The museum definition from ICOM was reviewed in 2022 and it makes clear the museum as an institution in service of society, its connection with tangible and intangible heritage, and most significantly the importance of community participation with the offer of varied experiences. The focus of this paper is to explore how diverse the experiences and the participation of the community can be in a post-disaster context. What solutions have the institution teams found to still provide services to society while their physical space is closed for years while the reconstruction is happening? That’s the question this paper aims to answer through two study cases: Brazil’s National Museum Reconstruction Campaign ‘Museu Nacional Vive’ (National Museum Lives), which was released in 2018 after the fire that destroyed millions of pieces of its collections, and the Shuri Castle, in Japan, Reconstruction Campaign 首里城復興へのあゆみ (Road to Revival SHURIJO), which was released in 2019 after other big fire that destroyed its multiple constructions and the historical collection. Both institutions have provided different types of activities for their audiences, offering actions to the general public, the specialized public, and the international public. The goal of this paper is to develop a timeline that illustrates various activities, which encompass in-person exhibitions and programs, an online gallery of videos and images, online museums and exhibitions, and other related events.