Deconstructing the Swiss Humboldt
The Naming Natures exhibition, curated by researchers from ETH Zurich, will run at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle Neuch?tel from 15 December 2024 to 18 August 2025. It takes a critical look at natural history collections dating back to colonial times and combines scientific, historical and artistic approaches.
In 1838, Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi (1818–1889) sailed to Peru on behalf of the Muséum d’histoire naturelle Neuch?tel (MHNN). During the almost five-year journey, he hunted, shot and prepared over 600 animals, which are still kept at the MHNN today. This was a common collecting and scientific practice at the time carried out by many European museums and is the reason for the intact nature of the colonial collections we have today.
An exhibition on Johann Jakob von Tschudi
The Naming Natures – Natural History and Colonial Legacy exhibition shows how scientists have appropriated exhibits, often without any regard for indigenous heritage. It is curated by Tomás Bartoletti and Denise Bertschi: “Despite all the criticism we level from today’s perspective, we must not forget that von Tschudi was a child of his time. Europeans simply felt superior to all other peoples,” says Bartoletti, who has been researching about von Tschudi since 2017. The interesting thing about von Tschudi is that he was not only a zoologist and hunter, travel writer and linguist but also a diplomat and played a key role in Switzerland’s relationship with Latin America thanks to his close contacts with the business world. This makes von Tschudi one of the most influential figures in the history between Switzerland and Latin America.
Part of his legacy will now be on display at the MHNN from 15 December 2024. The exhibits include taxidermied animals and archaeological finds as well as illustrations and letters. Material evidence and testimonies bear witness to the violent processes involved in scientific expeditions at the time. “What was once accepted without question has profoundly shaped the foundation of European scientific authority, forming the legacy from which science ultimately originated”, says Bartoletti. With his research, he attempts to provide counternarratives of the “great men of science” by including indigenous perspectives and by doing so overcome Eurocentrism.
Redefining colonialism with art
Back in 2019 Bartoletti launched the project entitled “Swiss entanglements in nineteenth century Latin America: Johann Jakob von Tschudi’s voyages, translocated practices of knowledge and the construction of Andean Indigeneity.” “The challenge was to consolidate the research findings into an exhibition,” he says. He worked closely with Denise Bertschi, who is known for her artistic research and has been focusing on Swiss coloniality for some time. “We spent four years working on the exhibition,” says Bertschi.
The result is a transdisciplinary work that incorporates history, conservation, the visual arts and biology; the SNSF awarded it the maximum funding amount under its Agora scheme. For Bertschi, it was particularly important to produce a counternarrative to the image of von Tschudi’s legacy. The exhibition features artworks by 13 artists from Latin America and Switzerland. Some came to Neuch?tel themselves and viewed the original animal specimens, while others worked on the basis of his book, “Fauna Peruana”, a zoological treatise written by von Tschudi after his return in 1844. Others refer to the racist views represented by von Tschudi in his letters. Bertschi’s curatorial aim was to critically reflect and deconstruct the colonial narratives by means of art.
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Denise Bertschi filmed a llama and alpaca farm in the Bernese alps. Johann Jakob von Tschudi made efforts in the mid 19th century to acclimatize llamas and alpacas in the alps because of their economically valuable wool. (Image: Denise Bertschi) -
Ivana de Vivanco created a large triptych of animals collected by von Tschudi on his South American travels for the “Naming Natures” exhibition, which now tell their own version of the story. (Image: Ivana de Vivanco) -
Raúl Silva took landscape images from von Tschudi’s “Fauna Peruana” and overlaid them with historical materials, providing them with a new context. (Image: Raúl Silva)
Responsibility for our colonial heritage
In this way, the conflicting objects can still be shown today. Bertschi goes on: “While natural history museums must come to terms with the past, it is essential that they place it in a clear context, incorporating as many indigenous voices and academics as possible, while taking a decolonial approach to the affected communities.” Bartoletti underlines the importance of involving indigenous peoples. In the “Naming Natures” exhibition, for example, one of them is indigenous artist Enrique Casanto, who himself comes from the Asháninka culture.
To unite all the voices, scientific disciplines and perspectives involved in the exhibition, Bartoletti and Bertschi relied on a multidisciplinary community – one of which is in the process of being formed. In Switzerland, several exhibitions are currently dedicated to the topic, including “Colonial Traces – Collections in Context” in the ETH Zurich Main Building. The increased attention is important because, as Bertschi concludes: “Colonialism is not a thing of the past. Many Swiss companies are still operating in similar networks. Take commodities trading, for example. We shouldn’t underestimate Switzerland’s global expansion and ecological footprint. We need to be aware of the structures we live in today and research their origins.”
About the people involved
Tomás Bartoletti is a Senior Lecturer at the Chair for History of the Modern World at the ETH Zurich and the Principal Investigator of the Ambizione Project “Insect Pests and Economic Entomology in Plantations, c. 1870–1930s: A Multispecies History of Global Capitalism,” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He received his doctorate in Latin American Studies from the University of Buenos Aires and studied History of Science and Technology at the University of Quilmes (Argentina). Tomás has held research positions as a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (2021–2023) and as a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich (2019–2021). His research interests include the history of science and imperialism as well as the history of capitalism and environmental history. Since 2023 he has been co-editor of “Environmental Humanities” and the “Commodity Frontiers Journal”.
Denise Bertschi is an artist, postdoctoral researcher and early-career fellow at the Collegium Helveticum. Her research is at the interface of visual culture, history and architecture. She examines archives, landscapes and the built environment for traces of colonialism. She presents her research in installations, publications and films, raising questions about cultural myths such as Switzerland’s neutrality and coloniality. Bertschi earned her doctorate in Architecture at EPFL and was awarded the Manor Art Prize in 2020 and the prize for the most beautiful Swiss books in 2019 and 2022. In her doctoral thesis entitled “external page Echoing Swiss Coloniality. Land, Archive and Visuality between Brazil and Switzerland,” Bertschi explored the Swiss confederation’s role in the establishment of slavery-based plantations in Brazil.
Exhibition opening
The vernissage of the exhibition “Naming Natures: An Exhibition on Natural History and Colonial Legacy” will take place on 14 December 2024 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Neuch?tel. It will remain open to visitors during regular opening hours until 17 August 2025. For more information, please visit the project website: external page Naming Natures
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