Project Museum: Private and Public Collecting of Non-European Objects in the Early 20th Century

Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Metelkova ulica 2, Ljubljana

The Department of Asian Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana, the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum,and the Koper Science and Research Center are announcing a three-day symposium titled “The Museum Project: Private and Public Collecting of Non-European Objects in the Early 20th Century, to be held on April 22, 23, and 24, 2026, at the SEM.

In the first half of the 20th century, Europe experienced a boom in collecting practices that blurred the lines between private enthusiasm and public exhibition. Individuals—travelers, missionaries, scholars, entrepreneurs—assembled collections of non-European objects, which they often presented as “museums.” These reflected personal visions, self-assertion, or claims to authority in the cultural sphere. At the same time, numerous public institutions, as well as the Catholic Church and other missionary organizations, began establishing non-European collections and integrating them into broader institutional and ideological frameworks.

The Museum Project symposium aims to explore these intertwined practices of collecting, interpreting, and exhibiting. With a focus on the shifting relationships between the private and public spheres, it invites reflection on how objects circulated through domestic interiors, church environments, and emerging museums. The aim is to explore how questions of authorship, authority, knowledge transfer, and representation shaped the collecting landscape in the early 20th century and how these collections—temporary or permanent—contributed to the idea of the museum as a cultural project.

Program

Book of abstracts

Poster 

Organisers:

• Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana;
• Science and Research Centre Koper;
• Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Nataša Vampelj Suhadolnik (Natasa.VampeljSuhadolnik@ff.uni-lj.si)
Helena Motoh (Helena.Motoh@zrs-kp.si)
Tina Berdajs (tina.berdajs@sem.si).