Les Musées de Genève

MUSÉE	PRATIQUE	SAVOIRS
Programme Agenda Expositions Accueil des publics Tout public Jeune public Spécial écoles Collections Actualités Objets Cinémathèque Iconothèque Phonothèque Le MEG Mot du directeur Espace presse Compétences Repères historiques Amis du Musée Partage de culture	Horaires & tarifs Adresses & accès S'informer Contacts	Publications Bibliothèque Bases de données

Accueil > Expositions > Kanak bamboos

Kanak bamboos

A passion of Marguerite Lobsiger-Dellenbach

February 29^th 2008 → March 15^th 2009
MEG | Carl-Vogt

The MEG is exhibiting its collection of engraved bamboos from New Caledonia, a subject that was the passion of Marguerite Lobsiger-Dellenbach, director of the Museum from 1952 to 1967. An anthropologist, trained under Eugène Pittard, she was intrigued by the enigma of the Kanak bamboos. With her husband, Georges Lobsiger, she traced out and studied the collection of the MEG and those of many other European museums in search of the meaning of the incised motifs that they came to see rather as "the vision of the conquered".

Engraved memories and stories

"Kanak bamboos" is one of a series of reference exhibitions intended to introduce a part of the museum's collections and history to the public. These engraved bamboos are among the most original works of Kanak art. According to the French missionary and ethnologist, Maurice Leenhardt, the Kanaks would carry an engraved bamboo containing magic herbs to protect them from the dangers of the road when they ventured out of their villages. Covered with both abstract and figurative motifs, the bamboos recorded memories and stories illustrating various aspects of Kanak life, not least the arrival of colonisation.

Though the production of Kanak bamboos ceased around 1917, interest in these objects has greatly increased with the passage of time, not only among anthropologists but also among contemporary Kanak artists, who have re-appropriated this form to give expression to their own concerns. A good example of this trend is Micheline Néporon, a Kanak artist, the creator of four bamboos that shed light on Kanak society today and have recently been acquired by the MEG.