Deaccession

The regional museum is collecting, join in!

A museum collection is constantly on the move: Cultural assets are added to collections, but are also released again. Both processes are of great importance for museums. The Chüechlihus Regional Museum in Langnau i.E. collects and preserves cultural assets from the Emmental. Over the years, however, hundreds of objects have accumulated that are either duplicated or incomplete. These include pitchforks and wooden kettles, as well as men’s shirts, carts, suitcases, tools and much more. The history of most of them is not documented. These objects were therefore considered for deaccessioning. A deaccession that we ultimately carried out three times between 2022 and 2024. Normally, a museum or its sponsor decides on its collection itself. However, as a public institution, we at the Chüechlihus Regional Museum have decided to involve the actual “owners” of this cultural heritage, the people of Emmental, in the process and thus contribute to the responsible handling of the regional cultural heritage. We have given Emmental residents and local residents an active say, enabling them to influence the course and outcome of our 2022-2024 collections.

So we decided together with the Emmentaler:innen what to do with the objects that didn’t remain in the museum.

As a regional exchange and meeting place, it is important to us in our daily work to build bridges: between the museum collection and the population, but also between the past and the present – as a basis for a shared future. The cultural assets that have been released from the museum have been collected and preserved over many years. It belongs to the people of Emmental, as it comes from here and reflects the history of the region. For this reason, all Emmentaler:innen had a say.

On ENTSAMMELN.CH you can follow the whole project in all its facets!

The Chüechlihus regional museum has finished collecting for the time being, but it is still going ahead – as a model project. Next year, with the support of the Foundation for Art, Culture and History (SKKG), we will publish a final publication and share our experiences at various international conferences. With our pioneering project and participatory approach, we were even able to arouse the interest of documentary filmmaker Valeria Stucki, who is now outlining the first drafts for a cinematic realization. It is also pleasing that we have already been able to inspire other museums to follow our example and be bold, as the example of AUSSORTIERT.CH at the Sust Museum Horgen shows. #OldAddictionNew #DeaccessionWhaaaat? #LearningFromLangnau

#OldAddictionNew #DeaccessionWhaaaat? #LearningFromLangnau