DEN SIAMESISKE SAMLING I EBELTOFT

Resumé

Rasmus Havmøller did the Siamese

Collection during the twenty years he was

a forester in Siam. In 1940, after returning

to his native Ebeltoft, Havmøller donated his

collection to the local museum. The objects

were displayed according to his wishes

and remain in much the same arrangement

today after a recent conservation of all 6-800

items. The article argues that the collection’s

musealogical interest is to be found in the

character of the presentation of the objects. In

three small rooms, filled to the brim, we meet

objects gathered by one person according to

his interests. Hunting trophies, specimens

in spirits, utensils, ceramics, stone tools

etc., mostly from Siam. The moment the

gathered objects left Siam they obtained a

quality of completion, became a whole, so to

speak, with no additions possible. This was

the number of statements or testimonies of

a foreign reality that chance and personality

had brought together: A true collection.

Accordingly, all objects are presented as

individuals of equal im-portance. Most are

provided with a factual, very brief text:

“Gold from Bang Sapan, northern Siam”,

“536 Gecco. Very common in houses, living

from insects. This specimen of medium

size”, “Fruit from the rain forest”. One meets

the objects as single and free individuals,

which speak only of themselves. Wider

contexts like Siam, or the ingenuity of the

biological world, or the life of an employee

during colonial times must be perceived

by the visitors themselves. This way of

presenting objects stands in great contrast to

many present day exhibitions. These often

consist of objects brought together from

many different sources in order to represent

an academic category which is common to

them. Such constructions hold numerous

rewards perhaps for communicating cultural

history, but in disregarding the original

context, setting, and aura of the participating

exhibits, they leave out important primary

information and remain useful, but artificial.

The object and its original background thus

may become a prisoner of the carefully lit and

coloured showcase in which it is displayed,

as well as becoming a hostage of the

educational, lengthy text that accompanies it.

To apply the simple, unconsciously adopted

principles of the 1940-displays in Ebeltoft –

one object, one text, simple appearance, no

sermons – to a modern exhibition is possible

of course, but it may meet with numerous

difficulties. Major limits are omitting what

is technically possible, and not narrating all

that one knows, reserving this knowledge

for the catalogue. Thus, the exhibit under

discussion allows the objects to appear as

they were while found, collected, and still

around us as parts of a whole, but basically

as particulars.