FIFTY SHADES OF HONESTY
PEDESET NIJANSI ISKRENOSTI
How to... make the best cocktail out of history, reality and sugar? I have no idea. Anyway, you have to make it yourself. Just, be careful, extra sugar kills.
A few days ago I went to see the „Meet the curator/conservator“ program in the Museum of Decorative arts in CW. During the excellent tour (about taking care of and displaying wood, porcelain, silver and fabrics) I have noticed a big engraved title „Blagojevich Hall“. Noticing that it is a Balkan surname, the conservator replied to me in a slightly humorous manner that there are diverse surnames in Williamsburg and none of them suond odd. I found later (database about Williamsburg people) that Mr. Miodrag Blagojević was born in Belgrade (Yugoslavia) in 1904 and passed away in Williamsburg in 1986. OK, fine, not all databases are familiar that there was no Yugoslavia in 1904 except in hearts and minds of left oriented intellectuals and proletariats. Shortly, Mr. (now) Blagojevich, with his wife Elisabeth (I presume following his wife’s wishes), was one of most prominent donors to the Foundation (over 1M$) and thus the honor of the surname engraved above the Hall’s door (as well as on the Wall of benefactors in front of Visitors Center and the CW Official Guide publication from 2014). There’s no data when Mr. Blagojevich moved to the States, nor about his job. But, these are not relevant for the story to come. What is relevant is that I felt a sudden seizure of pride for a moment or two. It was almost as strong as when Nikola Tesla is mentioned – the obvious example of superficial and cheap identification with something connected to a national construct. Yes, national identity could be important. Yet we live in times when cultural anthropologists’ throats are dry from arguing that national identity is only one layer of our personal identities. Thus my “connection” with a surname that ends with “Ć“ (even though that letter is compmletely invisible and non exsistant and I’m ridiculously reading it between „C“ and „H“) is completely irrelevant for my sense of pride.
Interestingly, several times so far I have felt a similar emotional reaction when so called “Nation Builders” (the superstars of CW living-history programs) were enthusiastically preaching universal ideas of human and civil liberties. Am I catching myself becoming American after only two weeks in the heart of American history?! No, clearly these are universal human values, faith in civilization achievements, progress… But, if these are human values, and each nation is/should be based on respecting these, why do we need nations as covers? Or, nations are those through which we created the values of equality. Well, obviously, here’s where we come to the issues of interpreting history, past and cultural heritage as their manifestations.
Koji je najbolji recept za koktel – sastojci su istorija, stvarnost i šećer? Nemam pojma. Svakako ga morate napraviti sami! Samo pazite, previše šećera ubija.
Pre par dana otišao sam na program „Upoznaj kustosa/konzervatora“ u Muzeju dekorativnh umetnosti u Vilijamsburgu (deo istorijskog jezgra o kome sam pisao prošli put). Tokom odličnog vođenja (o čuvanju i izlaganju predmeta od drveta, porcelana, srebra i tkanina) primetim iznad ulaza u jednu od velikih sala ugraviran natpis „Blagojevich Hall“. Na moj komentar kako je to prezime sa Balkana, konzervatorka mi sa dozom humora odgovori da u Vilijamsburgu ima različitih prezimena i da nijedno nije previše neobično. Saznam kasnije (neka baza podataka o ljudima u Vilijamsburgu) da je g. Miodrag Blagojević rodjen u Beogradu (piše u Jugoslaviji) 1904.godine i da je umro u Vilijmasburgu 1986.godine. Ajde, dobro, ne zna svaka baza baš sve! Tako ni ova da tada nije ni postojala Jugoslavija, sem u srcima i mislima levo orijentisanih intelektualaca i proletera. Ukratko, Blagojević je, zajedno sa svojom ženom Elizabet, bio jedan od velikih donatora Fondaciji (preko milion dolara), te otuda i ukazana čast da mu prezime bude ugravirano iznad vrata muzejske dvorane, na počasnoj tabli Fondacije u Vizitorskom centru, ali i pomenuto u publikaciji iz 2014.godine o Kolonijalnom Vilijamsburgu. Nema podataka kada je Blagojević došao u Ameriku, niti čime se bavio. No, nije ni relevantno za dalju priču. Ono što jeste relevantno je da sam na trenutak osetio iznenadni „napad“ ponosa, skoro kao kada se pomene Nikola Tesla. Školski primer površne i jeftine identifikacije sa nacionalnim konstruktom. Da, nacionalni identitet može biti važan, no u XXI veku, o čemu nam kulturni antropolozi drve bez prestanka, jeste samo jedan od konstrukta koje dodajemo u gradnji sopstvenih identiteta. Tako je moja „veza“ sa prezimenom koje se završava na „Ć“, iako tog slova više nigde nema, ali ga ja uporno čitam između onog „c“ i „h“ koje je Miodrag prihvatio kao završetak svog prezimena.
No, zanimljivo je da sam nekoliko puta osetio veoma sličnu emotivnu reakciju kada su takozvani Graditelji nacije (superstarovi living-historija), uzvikivali univerzalne parole o ljudskim i građanskim slobodama. Jel` ja to polako hvatam sebe kako posle samo dve nedelje u srcu američke istorije postajem Amerikanac? Ne, jasno je, to su univerzalne ljudske vrednosti, vera u civilizacijska dostignuća, napredak... Ali, ako su ovo ljudske vrednosti, a svaka nacija bi trebalo da je zasnovana na poštovanju osnovnih, koje su ujedno i civilizacijske, zašto nam trebaju nacije kao pokrića. Ili su nacije te kroz koje smo kreirali vrednosti jednakosti. E, tu, očito, dolazimo do pitanja tumačenja istorije i prošlosti i upotrebe kulturnog nasleđa.
The very same day I “met” Mr. Blagojevich something else happened on the other (east) side of historic area – the event dedicated to Commemorating the 54th Anniversary of The March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom and the legendary speech of M. L. King “I have a dream”. There were many speakers, some more some less appealing, but representing the wider Williamsburg community: police officers, and local African American, tourist, museum, economy, and civil societies’ representatives. Among them was Mr. Stephen Seals who contributed his paper “Humanizing the Dehumanized” to the International Yearbook 2015 – “Open air museums: Unheard Voices” that I edited. It was particularly emotional when he spoke of his grandfather in WWII when he had no right to use toilet due to segregation laws while Nazi imprisoned soldiers did. Victory turned to shame. The Gathering entitled “Love, Peace, Unity” really did depict common spirit of gathered community about race issues and the awful Charlottesville’s images that recently have shaken the globe. And again, in that almost sugary state of mine, two groups of white men ran almost through the central part of Commemoration in ten minutes. Do not panic! They were only jogging! I don’t like generalizing things, but I have to. That’s how I saw the things and witnesses are quite suspicious these days either. That is “the” group that earns 75-250K a year, looks the same when 18 and 75 except several wrinkles around eyes due to gravity and time, perfect 15K teeth, self-content, self-likeable, uninterested in anything but their jogging and light (business/sport/weather/golf) talks. I’ll stop here (being sick of myself) and leave the development and potential evaluation to each of you. I’ll just point out once again – twice, two groups.
Isti dan kada sam se „upoznao“ sa Blagojevićem, samo na drugoj (istočnoj) strani istorijskog jezgra (muzeja), kod Kapitola, dogodio se skup posvećen 54.godišnjici od održavanja „Vašingtonskog marša za slobodu i posao“ i legendarnog govora Martina Lutera Kinga „Imam jedan san“. Govornici su bili raznoliki, od policijskih službenika do predstavnika lokalne Afro-Američke zajednice, muzeja, turističke organizacije, privrede, civilnog sektora i sl... Govorio je i meni posebno drag Stiven Sils, čiji se rad „Humanizovanje dehumaniyovanih“ može naći u četvrtom izdanju Međunarodnog zbornika „Muzeji na otvorenom: Nečujni glasovi“ iz 2015.godine. Posebno je emotivno burnu reakciju izazvalo njegovo sećanje na svoje pretke i konstatacija da njegov deda nakon iskrcavanja saveznika u Normandiji nije mogao da koristi ni toalet (segregacija) koji su mogli da koriste zarobljeni nemački vojnici. Naziv skupa „Mir, ljubav, jedinstvo“ zaista je odražavao jedinstven duh pomirenja okupljene zajednice oko rasnog pitanja i užasnih slika iz Šarlotsvila koje su nedavno potresle svet. I opet u tom poluzanesenom stanju (gotovo šećernom), u dva navrata protrči grupa od desetak belaca između svih tih ljudi. Ne paničite! Oni samo džogiraju. Ne volim da generalizujem, ali sada stvarno moram: to je ona grupa koja zarađuje između 75 i 250 hiljada (dolara) godišnje, izgleda isto sa 18 i 75 izuzev malo bora oko očiju, savršenih zuba koji koštaju 15 hiljada, samozadovoljnih, samodovoljnih i nezainteresovanih ni za šta osim za svoje džogiranje i lake usputne (biznis/sport/vreme/golf) razgovore. Ovde ću stati i ostaviti procenu situacije svakom ponaosob. Samo ću skrenuti pažnju – u dva navrata, dve grazličite grupe.
54th Anniversary of "I have a dream" and The March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, near Capitol in CW
54.godišnjica "Imam jedan san" i Vašingtonskog marša za poslove i slobodu, pored Kapitola u Kolonijalnom Vilijamsburgu
Tomorrow: Merchant’s square, the west side of Colonial Williamsburg. There’s an open-air concert with a following campaign to bring your own chair and 5$ donation. The music played at the concert was, paradoxically, Russian revolutionary music – it is almost like a rehearsal for the centennial celebration of October’s Revolution. Spectators – hundred (few more or less) of white older (retired) couples, eating chips and drinking mostly (I’m doing the instant research) Coca-Cola and Ice-tea. The square is shaking from revolutionary trumpets, cold gazes and loud, yet indifferent applauses. I’m only imagining A, B and C American relay (4 X 100) national team running through these spectators. I laughed. Equality refers to all? Two centuries ago it referred exclusively to white wealthy hetero men. Today it refers mostly to the same group. But today, it is more the question of, let’s call it, ethics, than rights.
Sutra dan, na Trgovačkom skveru sa kojeg se sa zapadne strane ulazi u Kolonijalni Vilijamsburg, dešava se koncert na otvorenom (fora je u zanimljivoj paroli „ponesi svoju stolicu i donaciju od 5$“). Na koncertu se, paradoksalno, izvodi muzika iz doba ruske Oktobarske revolucije – gotovo kao neka stogodišnjica. Publika – stotinu belih starijih (penzionisanih) parova, jedu svoj čips i piju (radim instant terensko istraživanje) uglavnom koka-kolu i ledeni čaj. Ori se trg od revolucionarnih truba, hladnih pogleda i snažnih, ali nekako ravnodušnih aplauza. Samo sam zamislio američku A, B i C reprezentaciju štafete 4 X 100m kako protrčava između posmatrača. Uzdahnuo i nasmejao se, pomalo pakosno. Slobode važe za sve, zar ne? Kada je doneta, Deklaracija o ljudskim pravima odnosila se isključivo na bele dobrostojeće hetero muškarce. Posle više od dva veka uglavnom se odnosi na istu grupu.
The concert on the Merchant square
Koncert na Trgovačkom skveru
That was the reality of Williamsburg in just two days. Not an enviable situation for the historic area. But, twenty three years ago, just right across from my little cottage, on the staircases of Wetherburn’s Tavern historic building, the theatrical event that benchmarked Colonial Williamsburg’s living history programs was held. I have written about it on a few occasions, but now the documentation is quite available thanks to EXARC and CWF Fellowship program. “Auction” or “Sold” provoked serious debates on a national level, as well as protests on the event itself – what a wonderful image for the advocates of contemporary, “new” and radical museology. Most of the two thousand people (according to Colonial Williamsburg News from October 13, 1994) watching the performance reacted positively. The estate sold at auction consisted of some land and four slaves: Sukey, carpenter Billy, Daniel and Lucy. That’s all that is known about them. About the auction, held in historical reality to cover former owner’s debts, more is known. Yet, the documents do not speak themselves nor do they speak about everybody. But, a museum has the power to accent facts differently; to correct the mistakes. The whole “Auction” event reflected both the darker sides of the past and the quite gloomy contemporary reality as well.
Trades: Time-honored shoemaker
Zanati: Jedna od mojih omiljenih radnji: obućarka. MIslim da bih sada kupio barem polovinu cipela koje pravi ova mlada devojka.
Tako je izgledala realnost Vilijamsburga u samo dva dana. Muzika je na oba događaja bila odlična. Muzej između, u nimalo zavidnoj situaciji (razumite ovo bilo kako). No, pre 23 godine, tačno preko puta „moje kolibe“, na stepeništu istorijske zgrade Vederburn taverna, održan je događaj (muzejski teatar) koji je, čini mi se, brendirao muzej do danas. U nekoliko navrata sam i pisao o tome, ali sada mi je dokumentacija, zahvaljujući stipendiji EXARCa i Fondacije Kolonijalnog Vilijamsburga veoma dostupna. „Aukcija“ ili „Prodato“ izazvala je ozbiljne debate na nacionalnom nivou, ali i proteste na samom događaju. Kakva divna slika za zagovornike savremene, „nove“ i radikalne muzeologije! Oko 2 hiljade ljudi (po reportaži u novinana Kolonijalnog Vilijamsburga od 13.oktobra 1994.godine) uglavnom je pozitivno reagovalo na događaj. „Imovina“ koja je „prodata na aukciji sastojala se od zemlje i četiri roba“: Sukej, stolar Bili, Danjel i Lusi. To je sve što se znalo o njima. O aukciji koja je u istorijskim okolnostima održana da bi se namirili dugovi bivšeg vlasnika, očito se zna mnogo više. Dokumenta ne govore jednako o svima, ali muzej ima moć da činjenice naglasi na drugačiji način. Dakle, da ispravi greške!Ceo program predstavljao je suočavanje sa mračnom prošlošću, ali i veoma sumorno oslikavanje globalne savremene realnosti – od institucionalnog problema jedne nacije, do globalnog problema rasizma i još uvek očite nejednakosti među ljudima, i dalje prisutne trgovine ljudima, ropskom radu, obespravljenosti...
D2008-DMD-0307-1069 Reenactment of a slave auction behind Wetherburn’s Tavern for photo shoot purposes only (not a public program), 2008
K1994-DMD-148,7 Reenactment of William Rind estate slave auction in front of Wetherburn’s Tavern. Interpreters Charlie Red, Bob Chandler, and Tom Hay auction off a slave, portrayed by Bridgett Houston, October 10, 1994
K1994-DMD-147, 27 Crowd watching reenactment of a slave auction as part of the first-person interpretation of an 18th-century sale of the estate of William Rind, October 10, 1994.
Photos: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
The issue of institutional slavery is still traumatizing yet there are obvious needs to illuminate obscure corners of the past. Numerous programs and events in the historic area try to depict how 52% of late 18th century Williamsburg’s population lived, such as: “Change is coming” or “Differences of opinions” (with Gowan Pamphlet), “What holds the future?”, “Faith, hope and love” some of the stories/voices in “My story, my voice” on Charlton’s stage or the Governor’s Palace stage, “To be seen as American” in the Hennage Auditorium of Decorative arts museum of CW, or just, regular constantly ongoing interpretative programs.
Da pitanje institucionalnog ropstva još uvek traumatizuje, ali i da postoji očita potreba da se osvetle tamni uglovi istorije, svedoče brojni programi koji oslikavaju život 52% populacije u osamnaestovekovnom Vilijamsburgu: „Promena stiže sa Goanom Pamfletom“ o baptističkom svešteniku i robu, „Šta donosi budućnost?“ drama o iščekivanju aukcije robova na kojoj će se majka razdvojiti od dece, „Vera, nada, ljubav“ o želji da se sačuva i emotivna veza ali i pobegne u slobodu, „Moja priča, moj glas“, i mnogi drugi u formi interpretacije u prvom licu.
My favorite one is “Journey to Redemption”. I can’t separate clearly is it professional or personal opinion, and whether it is connected with theatre or heritage. Anyway, Americans won’t bother too much to separate these two – quite contrary. “Redemption” is not only a formal theatre performance. There’s no classical script either. It is not about acting, yet it’s all about it. It is actually difficult to explain what “Redemption” is in sense of performance as much as it is difficult to explain the concept and proportions of the process that we name redemption in a real life. Quite interactively demanding (for and between actors on the stage) “Redemption” brings fantastic rhythm through choreography, dialogs and body languages. Due to the flow of parallel narratives and their interweaving, there isn’t much time for thinking during the play – you have to give yourself over to the stream. But you won’t fell asleep. The emotional and mental accents are perfectly positioned and hit the audience in right moments. And, maybe, the most important: six actors build twelve characters – six historical and six real: themselves. So, these are biographies as much as autobiographies, histories as well as confessions. Conversions from “self” as a character to self as a real person (also played) are so subtle that chronologies become intertwined. The past becomes relevant as much as contemporaneity and values and meanings are not lost in the way. “Journey to Redemption” is a drama play and art-performance, theatre and reality, the act of authorship and participation – it is state-of-art “Common Ground” achievement. It also represents, it seems to me, Colonial Williamsburg on its qualitative peak in this moment – crossing the line (final statement of the show itself) and limits of museum performative interpretation. The performance provoked the same emotions as when mostly sweet Hollywood production offers something as intriguing as “American beauty”.
And then, an innevitable question appears and it resembles the paradox of a French impressionist who disdained the Louvre yet wanted his canvases to be displyad in any of the galleries: Don’t we all want to be in the shoes of that /financially/socially/sexually priviledged group? Or, is the group itself just a fiction – with its deeply rooted problems, predestined to compete with itself and its sophisticated stereotypes as Antonio Salieri had always competed only to his own „royal“ mediocrity. I’m not relativizing things, I’m just intimately wondering in what shadow my little ghost of superiority and dominance is hidden and waits for Warhol’s 15 minutes of Glory. And history is telling us unequivocally that the ghost might be awake from time to time. We just need to get up one morning and start believing that we are a little, just a little bit better than someone else. And it could be anywhere – in Rome, Berlin, Belgrade, Moscow, Washington or...
Moj omiljeni je „Put ka iskupljenju“. I ne mogu jasno da radvojim da li je to profesionalno ili lično viđenje. „Iskupljenje“ nije tek i samo formalni teatar. Nema ni klasičan scenario. I nije samo glumačka interpretacija. Teško je objasniti šta je „Iskupljenje“ u dramskom smislu, baš kao što je teško shvatiti i sam koncept i razmere procesa koji nazivamo iskupljenjem u stvarnom životu. Veoma zahtevno interaktivna (muđu glumcima na sceni) ona sjajnom koreografijom, dijalozima, kretnjama tela na sceni donosi fantastičan ritam. Zbog paralelnih narativa, ali i njihovog mešanja, nema mnogo prostora za razmišljanje tokom trajanja – jednostavno se morate prepustiti. Ali su zato emotivni i mentalni akcenti savršeni i potpuno parališu gledaoca za stolicu. I, možda ono što je najvažnije – šest glumaca gradi dvanaest likova – šest istorijskih i šest stvarnih: sebe same. To su, dakle, biografije, koliko i autobiografije, to su povesti koliko i ispovesti. Prelazi iz „sebe“ kao lika u lik koji se igra su toliko suptilni da se hronologije i istorije spajaju. Prošlost postaje relevantna koliko i sadašnjost i vrednosti i značenja se nigde ne gube uz put. „Put ka iskupljenju“ je i drama i art-performans, i teatar i rijaliti, i slika i pokret. Kolonijalni Viliajmsburg na svom kvalitativnom vrhuncu u ovom trenutku – pomeranje granica i dometa performativnih interpretacija. Isti osećaj kao kada uglavnom slatka holivudska produkcija iznedri nešto posebno i samokritično kao što je „Američka lepota“.
I onda sledi neminovno pitanje u stilu francuskog impresioniste koji je prezirao Luvr, ali uvek želeo da njegova dela budu tamo izložena: ne želimo li svi da budemo u koži one rasno / finansijski / socijalno / seksualno privilegovane grupe? Ili je i ona samo fikcija? Sa svojim dubokim, iskrenim „manjinskim“ problemima, predodređena da se nadmeće sama sa sobom i svojim sofisticiranim stereotipima kao što se Salijeri uvek nadmetao samo sa svojom „kraljevskom“ prosečnošću. Ne relativizujem stvari, samo se intimno pitam u kom grmu leži moj „superiorni i dominantni alter ego“ i čeka da proradi? A istorija nam nedvosmisleno govori da svako malo proradi – samo treba da se probudimo sa uverenjem da smo „makar malo bolji od drugih“. I svejedno je gde – u Vatikanu, Berlinu, Beogradu, Moskvi, Vašingtonu ili...