「Death」

A collection of nine objects surrounding the theme of Death. All objects are held by UCL Museums and Collections. Even though the size of collection is not big, it consists different forms of objects, and different dimensions of the theme "Death".

Nine Objects of Death

The fact that there are nine objects in this collection is not a random choice, but is echoing to the theme "Death". In ancient Chinese traditions, the number nine holds the symbolic meaning of "eternity and heaven”. There are two reasons for this belief, one is because it is the largest singular number, and the other reason is that the pronunciation of the word is homophone to the Chinese word "久" (Jiu), which means long. Due to these superstitious elements, ancient Chinese people believe the number nine can bring long life and eternity of afterlife. 

I choose to use the number nine here, not only because its underlying meaning fits the theme better, I also want to use it as a tribute to the theme “Death”, to all the objects of Death, and to all those who are dead, may they have the eternity of afterlife.

Collecting from Multi-Dimensions

a. Different Forms of Objects

Eight out of the nine objects in this collection are physical objects, except for the Galton Collection, which is the entire collection as a whole, including both physical objects and non-physical knowledges. Even within the category of physical objects, there are variations. From human remains to replica of human remain, to ritual objects used in mortuary practice, and the overlapping blurring zones among them.

This brings me back to the discussion about the definition of “object". The existing “Item Types” on the Omeka platform already includes different forms of objects (e.g. physical objects, text, image, oral history, person, etc.) These are all objects, whether physical or virtual. Yet when I try to allocate a type for the Galton Collection, I cannot find one that fits what I have in mind. These item types are all for singular object, so a collection of objects does not fit into any of them. So I created a new item type “Knowledge System”, which I think can illustrate the combination of the collections physical objects, its personnel, and the knowledges within it. 

b. Multiple Perspectives of Death

At the planning stage of the collection, the initial idea was to collect objects from two perspectives: one is "Collecting the Dead”, including human remains, substances for human remains and such objects that have direct link to “dead body”; and the other is "Communicating with the Dead”, which refers to objects that were used by people alive to communicate with their ancestors. 

At first, the separation seems to be very clear and understandable. But throughout the collecting process, the division between the two became more and more blur, especially when I was trying to tag each object with either "Collecting the Dead” or "Communicating with the Dead”. I ended up tagging six of the objects “Collecting the Dead”, and all nine objects “Communicating with the Dead”, as I realised that by collecting the dead, people are in fact in a way communicating with the dead. There is no dichotomy between the two. 

Not to mention the complexity of the objects themselves. For example, the Jeremy Bentham Auto-icon is absolutely complicated object: on one hand its physical form is composed of human remains, replica, clothes and ornaments; and on the other hand, the devices (camera, sound recorder) installed and its purpose of existence are to “communicate” with its visitors. 

Questions To Be Answered

Throughout the collecting process, three major questions emerged:

  1. What is an object?
  2. What is collecting the dead?
  3. What is the difference between collecting the dead and communicating with the dead?

I have answered these questions to some extent. But there are much more to be discussed, as these seemingly way-too-broad questions are actually worth thinking about. 

Meanwhile, there is one not-too-broad question that is left unsolved during the project: Does replica count as “Collecting the Dead”, or even should be included in the collection of “Death”? Replica contains neither the physical materiality nor the significance of human remains, to some degree, it is merely an artefact of use. However, one can also argue that it is given meaning throughout the making process, by making it a “substitute” for the dead, it became part of the dead. 

Digital Collection

Besides the content of the collection, another interesting thing about the collection is its online digital platform. The Omeka platform is more orthodox compared to blog or other platforms in terms of museum collection perspective. It uses the Dublin Core metadata element set, which makes the collecting process easier. However, its weakness lies in the aesthetic visualisation. The general layout and the fact that the photo/video files were enclosed at the end of the page make the collection less attractive. But since its main purpose is to collect, rather than to exhibit, I think this platform has fulfilled its duty. 

The biggest advantage of a digital collection to a physical one is that the objects can be connected to each other through various ways, such as by putting them into digital collections or exhibitions, or by tagging them with the same labels. Not just within one site, with the proper platform and resources, museum objects can in fact be connected world-widely, therefore the knowledge of the objects can be accessed throughout the world. 

Credits

Lan Xiao