Oggetti in movimento: riflessione sulle collezioni d'Oceania [Moving Objects: Reflections on Oceanic Collections]

In this paper I reflect on the aesthetics and cultural politics of Oceanic collections in diverse places, considering objects as "moving" in three dimensions; in the physical sense, in the affective response they elicit, and in the objects or purposes of their display. I start with the Cook-Forster collection in Gottingen, exhibited for the first time beyond Europe in both Honolulu and Canberra in 2006, reviewing the institutional engagement with Pacific Peoples in the setting up of such exhibitions. I then refract my reflections on Oceanic collections through the lens of a recent exhibition by Fiona Hall at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney