About the Exhibition
The scenography project is based on a previous survey and observation of the museum space and collection pieces to be installed in the permanent exhibition.
Throughout the study we visited the museum installations and visualised the collection, we observed part of the pieces selection to be shown at the permanent exhibition and we had access to bibliography and visual and photographical records of the Côkwe culture.
Based on this data and on research based on the contemporary language of the museologic spaces, the project was developed treating the pre-existent space and re-dimensioning it according to the actual necessities.
The space was considered and projected in order to become the host of the museum pieces, therefore the ceiling was lowered as it was too high and disharmonised the visitor relation with the museum piece.
On one hand, the floor will be neutralised, as it is a distracting element to observing the museum pieces. On the other hand, the walls are miterless and irregular and need to be homogenised.
The museum is composed of a main atrium – of entrance and exit (A01), eleven exhibition rooms (C01 to C11) and a halfway atrium (A02) that marks the passage from the Côkwe Culture to Colonization and simultaneously allows access to the library and the patio.
The main atrium (A01) has an antechamber that aligns the entrance and exit precisely, thus facilitating the visitors’ circulation.
The exhibition ‘Côkwe Culture and Art’ starts in room C01 (Prehistory) and ends in room C11 (Colonization). The route is circular, starting and ending in the main atrium.
The Côkwe exhibition circuit (rooms C01 to C08) is made through white rooms with black image digital prints, homogenising the space in order to enhance the exhibition pieces.
The arrival of colonisation changes these people’s lives, thereby from this point on the rooms (C09 to C11) are black with white image digital prints.
The transitory atrium (A02) between the two mentioned periods, of square plant and where it is also possible to access the exterior and the library, is signalised with a red pavement and should be painted by Côkwe people with paintings like the ones used in their house walls. These paintings will totally occupy the walls and the ceiling.
During the visit to the Dundo Museum and throughout the works carried out in the museum, we locally researched the authors and art works to consult, as suggested by the museologic entities that integrated the team.
We developed an image research according to this survey, as well as the reference images collected in the studies realised in the museum. The images to be used in the museum walls were collected from a research based on ethnographic surveys of the Côkwe culture. The image work on the museum walls contextualises the objects in their everyday life and allows a graphic visualisation in a different scale.