Abstract
‘Ditsong’ refers to the phrase’ place of heritage’ in Setswana. Drawing on this reference, the Ditsong: National Museum of Natural History, formerly known as the Transvaal Museum, is the only natural history museum located in Pretoria Gauteng and one of the largest in South Africa. The museum’s collections include seminal examples of South African heritage, including hominid fossils from the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, including Mrs Ples, a fossil skull believed to represent a distant relative of all humankind. However, since the 1970s, many of the museum’s spaces have not been updated. Aside from the evident deterioration of the displays, the exhibition design reflects outdated designer-centred views about exhibition design in South Africa. For example, the spaces are designed without understanding the historical, cultural, spiritual, and philosophical aspects related to the rich South African heritage. Moreover, the spaces are designed without acknowledging the influence of the mentioned aspects on the museum’s layout and the positioning of the collections and exhibits. As a result, this paper proposes recommendations for the exhibition design of a contextually relevant natural history museum based on observations made at the Ditsong Museum. The observations are grounded in literature about the philosophical notions relevant to South Africa and further supported by the thoughts of an experienced South African museologist and exhibition designer.
Presenters
Inge Lize WeberLecturer, Interior Design, Tshwane University of Technology, Gauteng, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Museum Design, Decolonized museums, Interior Design, Exhibition Design
