Museum with mission: global enlightenment

LONDON If art can be considered a language, the British Museum can reasonably claim to be polyglot thanks to its large and eclectic collection and its practiced interpretation of global cultures. Indeed, it was with just such a mandate ? to present the world to the world in the spirit of the Enlightenment ? that it was founded in 1753.

In the two centuries that followed, it profited handsomely from Britain's imperial reach and trading links, but it always emphasized the scientific and educational nature of its work. And to this day, visitors flocking to view its Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek treasures are charged no entrance fee.

Now, under Neil MacGregor, its director since 2002, the museum has embarked on a new mission of communication with the modern world, not only presenting parts of its collection in countries where it once gathered art and artifacts, but also bringing into its galleries art from regions undergoing rapid and unpredictable change.

Put differently, by exploiting its historic openness to the world, the British Museum is engaged in an innovative and subtle form of cultural diplomacy, one inspired less by a desire to promote Britain's image than by a belief in the political importance of spreading awareness and acceptance of cultural diversity.

As it happens, its first action along these lines was prompted by an emergency: after the Baghdad Museum was looted in April 2003 as American soldiers stood by, it took the lead in organizing an international effort to help the Iraqi museum. But since then, the British Museum has developed a more long-term strategy.

Referring to "Treasures of the World's Cultures," its recent exhibition in Beijing, MacGregor wrote in The Spectator: "This is more than about generating tourism to Britain. How China understands the world around it will be a fundamental question for us in decades to come.

Collections like the British Museum's have an important role to play." This same show, which included everything from Egyptian mummies and Assyrian reliefs to Islamic astrolabes and Benin bronzes, was previously seen by 1.3 million people in Japan and 600,000 in South Korea. At the same time, along with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum is planning further exhibitions in China showcasing world cultures, starting with Ancient Egypt.

Another priority region is Africa, where the British Museum is able to share its collection ? and knowledge ? of African art while helping to strengthen African museums. "Hazina: Traditions, Trade and Transitions in Eastern Africa," a show at the Nairobi Gallery through Sept. 30, is a good example of such a partnership. It draws on British and Kenyan collections, but has been organized by a curator from the National Museums of Kenya.

For its Africa program, which also includes projects in Egypt, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana, the British Museum has in fact received some British government funding. But the main benefits should accrue to Africa: the program's declared aim is "to work with museum colleagues in Africa to increase understanding of the rich diversity and cultural heritage of African countries and peoples." The other face of the British Museum's cultural strategy is to organize shows in London that highlight world cultures. And here, reflecting a need for greater British understanding of today's convulsed world and this country's own increasingly multi-ethnic population, one emphasis is on the Middle East.

Last winter, an immensely successful exhibition at the museum's Bloomsbury headquarters was "Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia." Yet, as significant as the show's popularity was the fact that, during a period of diplomatic strains between Iran and the West, the museum was able to borrow exceptional objects from museums in Tehran and other Iranian cities.

Now, through Sept. 2, the British Museum is the host of "Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East," a show that focuses on traditional and modern forms of calligraphic art through about 80 artists whose work has been acquired by the museum over the past 25 years.

"In the 1980s, we went back to our founding principle of collecting everything," said Venetia Porter, the exhibition's curator. "Over time, we found we had been collecting more past than present. In the Middle East, we stopped in the 1850s. This show is an example of how we can use our collections to look at today's world ? politics and history ?

through art." In this case, Porter explained, she chose to refer to the "Middle East" rather than the Islamic world because, while the calligraphic tradition is rooted in Islam's objection to the portrayal of living beings, the exhibition includes one Israeli artist ? Michal Rovner ? as well as some Arab Christians. Further, with a good number of the artists now living in the United States and Europe, some examples of figurative art are also on display.

What is presented here through art, then, is a far more varied and complex image of the Middle East than is normally offered through the media. The first section, "Sacred Script," looks at the contemporary practice of Koranic calligraphy which, while inspired by faith, is often highly stylized. In the second section, "Literature and Art," calligraphic interpretation of both ancient and modern Arab and Persian poetry is much freer.

A third section, "Deconstructing the Word," shows artists moving toward abstraction, with words and letters used with less concern for their meaning. Then, in the final section, "Identity, History and Politics," in paintings, collages and photographs, the artists have no hesitation in depicting human beings. Many of these works are inspired by conflict: the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the Lebanese civil war, the 1991 Iraq war and the Palestine conflict.

This show, then, also forms part of MacGregor's cultural diplomacy, but directed at the museum's mainly first world visitors. And in a way it represents a mission statement for him. "We have included works that directly address the issues that exercise us all," he wrote earlier this month in The Guardian, "political and religious turmoil, violence, displacement, exile, the struggle for liberties of all kinds." Evidently, he believes that enlightenment is as relevant today as it was in 1753.

E-mail: pagetwoiht.com Tomorrow: Steven Erlanger on a Gaza settlement site turned college campus.

c.2005 I.H.T /iht.com