A few notes after a discussion at the Rietberg Museum:

• We discussed the tradition of collectors’ museums in the context of the “harvest” concept.
• The Rietberg Museum has an incredible collection of 23,000 objects.
• Culture is not static
• “European cultures have benefited from the input they have received from these distant objects that were soon to be integrated into the Western repertoire. But their massive exodus and then their rather long absence from the countries affected by this violence has also left a legacy that is just as important, even if it is much more difficult to measure.”
• The idea of a very productive reception of the existing collections, new significance with post-colonial readings, but also completely new readings. Even if this does not solve the problem of restitution, it does not contradict it.
• Restitution will be a lengthy transformation, not only because of the sheer quantities involved. Transferring ownership does not yet solve the question of “how”, but only starts a transitional period.
• What was previously a collection takes on a temporary character that will need reflection in the museum’s organisation.
• Temporalities could also be reflected in working methods for example between different museums, collaborations and institutions.
• Spatially, museums will change due to new initiatives: fewer objects can be exhibited differently, and their contextualisation can work differently. For example with key objects that change the reading of what follows.
• Dealing with this interim period is particularly important because museums have raised the fiction of their messages as being the truth.