MIGRATIONS, HUMAN ODYSSEY
Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France
Curated by: Sylvie Mazzella, sociologist, director of research at the CNRS, Aix Marseille University and Christine Verna, palaeoanthropologist, CNRS research fellow - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Mathilde Beaujean, Exhibition Project Manager and Éléonore Gros, Exhibition Project Manager.
Artists: Angelica Dass, Christina de Middel, Lamyne M., Marco Godinho, Ruben de Lucas, Reena Kallat, Emeka Ogboh, Fabien Clerc, Julie Polidoro, Filipe Vilas Boas, Mathieu Pernot, Pietro Ruffo, Séverine Sajous, Tom Kiefer, Zac Langdon Pole
On view from 27th November 2024 to 8th June 2025
Far from being a new phenomenon, migration has shaped our very humanity. It is an integral part of our past, present and future, not to mention all living things. A vast topic to be explored through this new exhibition!
In the public debate, the issue of migration is largely treated as a threat, a danger or a crisis. ‘Invasion’, ‘intrusion’, ‘replacement’, ‘wave’, ‘submersion’... These terms, used to describe migration, fuel a whole range of prejudices. They contribute to constructing a certain perception of people who migrate, and to the impression that the phenomenon is massive and sudden. When we look back to the origins of humankind, however, we see that migration has always existed. The human species has been shaped by contact, exchange, encounters, and gene flow.In the age of globalisation, human mobility has never been so widespread. At the same time it reveals the social, economic and environmental inequalities that exist within contemporary societies. For some of the world's population, such movement is disparaged, while for others it is encouraged. Yet it could be seen as an opportunity for cultural exchange between populations and individuals. At the level of living organisms, migration is also essential to the development and survival of species: there can be no life without movement!
THE EXHIBITION
Drawing on a number of scientific disciplines (anthropology, archaeology, demography, genetics, sociology, linguistics, etc.), this 600-square-metre exhibition aims to take a step back and deconstruct preconceived notions about migration. It provides the keys you need to understand how such commonplaces are forged. How has migration evolved? What has changed since the last century? What are the main patterns today? How many people live outside their country of birth? How can we understand the often complex data?
A dynamic exhibition design and a host of interactive features will introduce you to some of the concepts associated with this subject. The testimonies of people who have migrated reveal a broad range of profiles, causes and trajectories. Through objects steeped in personal history and works of art, most of them created by migrant artists, you'll discover a range of unique perspectives on this particular life experience. Movement is an integral part of our heritage as a human species, and the exhibition takes us back in time to discover prehistoric migration and gene flow. In a world in perpetual motion, humans never move alone, but with a certain environment: other animals, plants, micro-organisms, as well as their language, their cuisine, indeed a whole culture! All travelling, mingling and mixing. We are heirs to thousands of years of migration, and this can be seen in our current societies, so richly diverse.
What would a world be without movement? And if we had to migrate tomorrow, what means would be available to us? Taking a contemporary look at migration and its recent developments, the exhibition provides
MIGRATION A TO Z
ALINA AND JEFF BLIUMIS
2010-2011, 195 postcards, 5.5 x 4.25 inches each, Edition of 3
Ed 1 in the collection of Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France
Migration A to Z is a collection of 195 uniquely designed postcards, one for each independent country, arranged in alphabetical order. For each postcard, we used relevant landscapes to replicate generic postcards. In the middle of each, we placed an insert selected from government immigration websites, visa services, travel agencies, immigration-lawyer ads, news articles, online forums, Facebook or YouTube.
Migration is presumed to be a problem of only well-off countries overwhelmed by renegade immigrants and transient populations, but today all countries confront some such form of trespassing. In our research, we found a news headline from May 19, 2009 that reads, "Two Tajik Families Illegally Crossed Border Into Afghanistan To Live In Islamic Country," and on May 11, 2010, we encountered a Yahoo forum user inquiring how to move to North Korea to teach English. Each country develops a unique set of immigration policies. They have slogans like "Australia is Looking for You," "Ghana Immigration Service: Friendship with Vigilance" or "Romania Office for Immigration: Legality, Transparency, Respect." They secure borders, complicate visa processes and contribute to the global immigration bureaucracy and business.
The installation encompasses the often-homogeneous promotional ephemera of tourism and immigration. The countries so whimsically promoted both feed the global immigration business and create stricter conditions for those willing (or needing) to relocate. These generic representations carve singular national identities, but the subtext unites each government in the dilemma of both attracting and controlling newcomers.
