Music as Intangible Cultural Heritage The Southeast Asia Music Museum (SEAM) Bangkok, Thailand
What is the social importance of a public museum, and how do we define a collection of musical instruments? The objectives of the Southeast Asia Musical Instruments Museum (SEAM) at Mahidol University in Bangkok are to collect musical instruments and to relate them to society and the audible culture of Thaimusic. SEAMwill open its doors to the public at the end of 2019. Practitioners of intangible cultural expressions are the main agents to keep their cultural manifestations alive. This is to say that music comes into being through performance, which occurs mainly on musical instruments. Human actions related to music and to the performing arts consequently have a privileged place in the concept of SEAM. As a museum with a very specific collection, SEAM is a place to experience the country's music history and that of the whole of the Southeast Asian region, with its facts and tales from the past that contribute to knowledge in the present. It will serve as a strong local basis for global exchanges in musical culture. SEAMwill be a >living museum< where social and historical settings are recalled in installations, performances, workshops, live presentations, educational programs, etc. in order to simulate past time periods and the cultural diversity of our time, providing visitors with an experiential and sensorial interpretation of Southeast Asian culture and history. Its main objects of presentation, the musical instruments pieces of intangible heritage, so to speak are to be exhibited in connection with performances and music. They will be displayed not only in a conventional way, but will be designed to capture the (auditive) attention of the museum's visitors, augmenting the sensorial experience significantly with musical artifacts. As a museum that belongs to a university, teaching and academic research in connection to musical instruments will be paramount at SEAM. Musik als immaterielles Kulturerbe. Das Southeast Asia Music Museum (SEAM) Bangkok, Thailand Was ist die soziale Bedeutung eines offentlichen Museums und wie definieren wir eine Musikinstrumentensammlung? Die Ziele des Southeast Asia Musical Instruments Museum (SEAM) an der Mahidol University in Bangkok sind es, Musikinstrumente zu sammeln und sie zur Gesellschaft und der horbaren Kultur der thailandischen Musik ins Verhaltnis zu setzen. Das SEAM wird Ende 2019 eroffnet. Praktizierende von immateriellem Kulturgut sind die Hauptakteure, um diese kulturellen Erscheinungsformen am Leben zu erhalten. Musik kommt sozusagen ins Sein durch Ausfuhrung, was hauptsachlich durch Musikinstrumente geschieht. Menschliche Handlungen, die mit Musik und ausfuhrenden Kunsten in Verbindung stehen, haben daher ein privilegiertes Forum im Konzept des SEAM. Als Museummit einer sehr speziellen Sammlung bietet es einen Ort, um die Musikgeschichte des Landes und der ganzen sudostlichen Region Asiens zu erfahren, samt ihrer Gegebenheiten und Geschichten aus der Vergangenheit, die zum Wissen in der heutigen Zeit beitragen. Es wird als starke lokale Basis fur globalen Austausch in der Musikkultur dienen. Das SEAM wird ein >living museum< sein, in dem soziale und historische Schauplatze durch Installationen, Performances, Workshops, Live Prasentationen, Bildungsprogrammen usw. abgerufen werden, um vergangene Zeiten und die heutige kulturelle Vielfalt zu simulieren und dem Besucher erfahrbare, sinnliche Interpretationen der sudostasiatischen Kultur und Geschichte anzubieten. Die hauptsachlich prasentierten Objekte, die Musikinstrumente Teile des immateriellen Erbes werden in Verbindung mit Auffuhrungen und Musik gezeigt. Sie werden nicht konventionell ausgestellt, sondern sollen die haptische und akustische Aufmerksamkeit des Besuchers erregen, umdieSinneserfahrungenmitmusikalischen Artefakten erheblich zu steigern. Als Museum, das zu einer Universitat gehort, werden Lehre und Forschung im Zusammenhang mit Musikinstrumenten am SEAM Vorrang haben. Prologue: A New Museum The Southeast AsiaMusicMuseum (SEAM) is a new center for the collection, preservation, promotion, and research of the musical traditions of the various peoples of South East Asia. Visitors of SEAM are to become acquainted with the history and the way of life of the many peoples of the region through one of the most significant aspects of their cultural heritage music. There will be 4,500 square meters of space for exhibitions, and another 3,000 square meters for workshops, lectures, music performances, screenings etc. (fig. 1 to 3) SEAM is a place to gather forgotten instruments. Previously, the musical instruments that will become part of this collection have been kept in >invisible< places, in temples, private houses etc. SEAM is the new and >visible space< for these instruments, affording them to start a new existence. These instruments can finally become protagonists of a culture of remembrance. The best way to connect the silent musical artifacts of the past with the contemporary society of Southeast Asia is to promote musical and artistic encounters at SEAM. Here, musical diversity can gain new and broad visibility. UNESCO Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage What is the public importance of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and why has it achieved so much global interest, especially in relation to museums in recent years? Almost three decades after the UNESCO defined and established an international recognition of cultural and natural heritage sites and devised ways of protecting them, a completely new approach to cultural heritage emerged with the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003 (hereafter 2003 Convention).1 This global agreement for themaintenance, protection and dissemination of cultural manifestations and achievements that are not like the previous items of world heritage tangible objects or immobile monuments, was a remarkable milestone in international cultural politics. This new understanding of cultural heritage owes much to representatives from Asian, African, and 1 Exterior view of the SEAM, Bangkok. Photo: Tiago de Oliveira Pinto 1 UNESCO: Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris 2003) URL: https:/ich.unesco.org/en/con vention [3.11.2017] 30 Tiago de Oliveira Pinto