While the West continues to grapple with its colonial past, institutions from Togo to Cairo are creating more expansive models to celebrate art

Most museums as we know them seem to exist in order to help us in some way see ourselves and the world better.

At the beginning of last year, the International Council of Museums went though a public crisis when some of its members sought to expand the definition of museums to include their engagement with political and social issues.

In the summer, I did a talk with Yilmaz Dziewior, the director of Museum Ludwig, and one of the audience members asked if we would still be able to enjoy the works if they were contextualised.

Then in the autumn, in a thread on the repatriation of objects, a Twitter user asked whether “normal people” might still be able to view the objects if they were returned to the kinds of countries where there was no “free speech”.

The notion behind these suppositions is that Western museums and norms do not need to be contextualised by political and social realities, because they would then no longer be able to be taken at aesthetic or intellectual face value. But the current crises that museums face comes precisely from the problem of the colonial mindset that placed Western civilisation and its taming modernities at the apex of humanity. A hierarchy of being that continues to see anything outside itself as alternative, inferior, merely indigenous or premodern, has resulted in the violations and inequalities among people and our environment that we face so starkly today.

In the West, museums are still grappling with how to redefine themselves in this moment, with how to honestly and accountably face their pasts, where even those who want to atone for violences of theft through reparation continue to speak on behalf of those that can speak for themselves. In other parts of the world, different conversations are being had.

On the African continent, museums as we know them were largely a colonial import, created to bolster newly independent national narratives with borrowed forms. As part of the exercise of control and exploitation, it was drummed into colonised peoples that their beings, their ways of seeing and expression, were primitive, backward, and of no value; all while these very things, with differing degrees of violence, were exported to the West to be re-valued for their museums and for their gain.

Forms of expression
While these narratives of inferiority still exist throughout the continent, especially when it comes to our historical cultural expressions, there is also so much that has prevailed; forms of expression, of exhibiting, of exchanging that have evolved over many millennia, which have taken in all the many influences that have passed through them and grown, despite the odds stacked against them.

Museums like the Palais de Lomé, which opened in 2019 in Togo, and the Museum of Black Civilisations in Senegal, which opened the year before, are co-curating with communities around them and creating more expansive models. New museums that are breaking ground this year, like the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Pan African Heritage World Museum in Ghana, the Museum of Humankind in Kenya, and the Museum of Maritime History in Mozambique, will tell narratives from the dawns of African civilisations in all their pluralistic forms. And new types of museums, archives and networks, like the Museum of British Colonialism, African Digital Heritage and the International Inventories Programme, continue to emerge.

In Ghana, our president, Nana Akufo-Addo, commissioned a review of our existing museum restructures, which I have been leading and bringing together for the past year. The report of the first committee (ghanaheritagefuture.com) outlines new curatorial, architectural, financial, structural possibilities for our museums, monuments and national parks. Our next step is a competition for a new kind of museum building, the design of which will be announced in 2021.

In 1964, our first president, Kwame Nkrumah, commissioned the architect Franco Minissi to design our National Museum, but like many of our independence dreams, it was never completed and the ground for it still lies waiting. This time it is for a homegrown architect, either alone or in collaboration with an international one, to reimagine what a structure might hold and look like, that honours and takes into account the many spirits of our communities, our environment, and our objects, both at home and those to be returned. A structure that will allow for narratives and exchange with, and across, other parts of the world, on equal terms.

By NANA OFORIATTA AYIM

Tonyx Hotel Suites and Spa on Saturday 5TH and Sunday 6TH September 2020 will launch the opening of the hotel in Koforidua Effijase. The two days event will have attendees entertained from live performances from some big names in the Ghanaian music scenes and appearances of some industry people to grace the event.

The hotel is strategically located in the Eastern Region of Ghana’s capital, Koforidua, the hotel will be managed by the qualified and experienced management team who will provide the best services to clients.

The ultra-modern hotel and Spa projected to open from September 5, 2020 consist of spacious suites, fully-functional kitchens, with leisure facilities such as a spa, pool, and a state-of-the-art fitness center, The Tonyx Hotel, and Spa will also have distinctive culinary experiences, restaurants, and a Bar.

According to the management, they are inviting the public to come and be part of their history as well as having the best experiences with their services.

Back in time, the story of a cursed Lord. At The Khong Long lake in Bueng Khong Long District, Bueng Kan province, Thailand; There was all land before the lake was found (refer to the story). It is the location of a city named Rattapa Nakhon, the city ruled by a Lord named Ue-Lue. The Lord’s wife called Gaewganlaya and his daughter named Kiewkam which later married the Sampanta Lord. Kiewkam and Sampanta had a son named Fahoong (or Fahung)

Fahoong was an intelligent and a handsome man. One day he accidently met a beautiful lady in middle of nowhere, her name was Nakkarintrani. Because of her beauty, it wasn’t difficult for him to fall in love with her. It was love at first sight, their feeling for each other was like they had known each other for ages. They made time to meet each other often, until he can’t wait no more. He asked her to marry him and move to stay with him in the palace.

Nakkarintrani was very happy to know that Fahoong loved her and wanted to marry her, but she was afraid if Fahong won’t loved her after he knew she isn’t a human. Nakkarintrani is a serpent or naka. She transformed herself into a women look because she saw him at first and wanted him to be impressed.

Nakkarintrani went back to the Nakarat Kingdom and told her father about marrying Fahoong who was a human. The Naka’s Lord was worried about his daughter because there was not even one time that Naka will have successful relationship with human. Anyway, the Lord couldn’t stop his daughter from her love power.

The wedding was arranged as a huge ceremony for 7 days in both Rattapa Nakhon and the Nakarat Kingdom. To approach the greatness and relationship between the two kingdoms, The Naka’s Lord gave a heraldry crown jewel to the Lord Ue-Lue and asked the Lord Ue-Lue and people in Rattapa Nakhon to take care of Nakkarintrani while no one in Rattapa Nakhon knew that Nakkarintrani is a daughter of the King of naka.

3 years later, Fahoong and Nakkarintrani still had no baby because the nature of serpent and human cannot breed together, that caused of the suffering for both of them. Nakkarintrani got very sick, so she transformed back to be snake. A servant came in and saw Nakkarintrani becoming a snake, she screamed with the fear and ran away.

The story of Nakkarintrani becoming a snake went viral, people in Rattapa Nakhon and the Lord Ue-Lue were very upset about Nakkarintrani was a Naka. She tried to transform herself back to a human look but it couldn’t help to calm the situation. People including the Lord Ue-Lue deprecated Nakkarintrani.

Nakkarintrani was evicted mindlessly. The Lord Ue-Lue sent a letter to the Naka’s Lord to come and take his daughter back. Fahoong felt really depressed that he couldn’t help his lover.

The Naka’s Lord who loved his daughter for his life, got very angry at people in Rattapa Nakhon for treating his daughter in that way. He came to pick his daughter up and asked for the heraldry crown jewel back. The Lord Ue-Lue couldn’t give it back because he already used it for making something else. That even multiplied the anger for the King of Naka, he shouted out loud that he will come back with his warriors to destroy Rattapa Nakhon become disappeared.

At the same night, the King of Naka went back to Rattapa Nakhon with his warriors, they destroyed Rattapa Nakhon and killed Rattapa Nakhon people. No one could fight the Naka power, Rattapa Nakhon was drown underwater becoming the Khong Long lake. The Lord Ue-Lue was cursed to become a Naka and couldn’t go out of Khong Long land, until The Khong Long will again become a big city.

Nakkarintrani didn’t know that her father would destroy the city, she went there after the war to find her lover, Fahoong. She was looking for him from Khong Long lake to Song Khram river but couldn’t find him. She went home with sadness.

By the way, the nakas didn’t destroy all the places in Rattapa Nakhon, there were 3 temples that weren’t destroyed; Wat Gaew Fah (Wat Don Gaew), Wat Pho Thi Sat (Wat Don Pho), and Wat Dan Sawan (Wat Don Sawan).

There is a riverbed called “Huay Nam Mao” that connects Khong Long lake to Song Khram river. Nam Mao refers to alcohol drinks that compares to the love that Nakkarintrani had for Fahoong which made her became blind or drunk.

The Giant Naka rocks are located in Phu Langka National Park, Bueng Kan, Thailand.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will collaborating with Ghana, Nigeria and 52 other partners for its multi-city tourism walk show dubbed “Dubai Tourism”.

According to a statement signed by the Head of Campaigns, Africa, Mr Salim Dahman, the roadshow would kick off from February 24 to March 2, across key cities in Ghana and Nigeria to further increase its promotional efforts of the city’s “ever-evolving tourism proposition to African tourists.”

Mr. Dahman said, the 52 partners will spread across hospitality, entertainment, and retail sectors and will interact with key trade partners in Ghana and Nigeria.
The Dubai Tourism roadshow 2020, will Kickstart in Accra, Ghana on 24 February; followed by Abuja, Nigeria on 26 February, Port Harcourt on 28 February and Lagos on 2 March.”

“The roadshow will highlight Dubai’s affordable experiences and the diversity of the city’s offerings to key travel partners in the West African region; spanning across travel, accommodation, entertainment and citywide events, with a focus on family travel.

“Key elements of the event will include breakout network sessions, partner presentations, one-to-one meetings, an education session and Dubai Expert certifications and a briefing update on Expo 2020″

The African region is of significant importance to Dubai and we will continue strengthening our relationships and developing strategic activities in this fast growing market. “The upcoming road show gives us the opportunity to reach out to all of our key partners, to align on future trade opportunities and ensure Dubai continues to remain front of mind for African travelers. “We will continue to be present throughout the year and aim to steadily increase the number of partners we bring with us each year to this landmark roadshow,” he added.