ARTIS Zoo has one of the most unique open area exhibits I've ever seen, in that it appears to be one thing, and turns out to be so much more than you are expecting. When you enter the ARTIS Zoo, the first thing you see are the Watusi Bulls, with their enormous horns and their placid nature, comfortably sharing space with Camels and Donkeys. The space is small, but they showed no signs of frustration or agitation, by pacing the enclosure. That's saying something about a zoo or wildlife park. Too often when visiting these places the animals are pacing, even in a large area they pace the walls. The tighter the pacing pattern the more agitated the animal. In the ARTIS Zoo, which has very little space to afford each animal group, there was little to no signs of this behavior. The animals were content enough to nap, to groom each other in family groups, to play and to eat without much worry.
Nowhere else is this more apparent, than with some of the smallest of the Zoo's inhabitants. Their house is covered in plant life on the outside, each providing extraordinary amounts of cover for the birds that live in each area. So much foliage is in each enclosure that visitors can't see if there are birds in there or not. It also hides entrances to inside spaces when the weather is bad. This may be frustrating for the visitor to the zoo, but for the bird this is very comforting. To see the inside of the bird house, there is a timed entrance. It keeps crowds from entering at once by waiting for five minute intervals, opens for a brief period of time and then closes for another five minutes. Inside, you are met with a hot house, high humidity and warm. There are trees and shrubs, and areas of running water, but it isn't as dense as the outside areas. There are no birds in this area, but it does have many small inhabitants. Pygmy Marmosets.
They are among the smallest of monkeys, and fit in the palm of your hand. Having seen other exhibits for these tiny creatures, they are usually set up to shield the view of humans from them. In other words, humans can see the marmosets, but they can't see the humans. Generally this makes for some fairly awkward looking enclosures that block a lot of sunlight. A second reason for these heavy duty enclosures is because humanity has a habit of taking what they want, and unfortunately this has resulted in marmosets being taken from their homes to be kept as pets. There is also a third reason for the lengths many zoos go to to keep humans away from the marmosets. Marmosets see humans as predators, and seeing humans in many cases can cause them to have heart attacks.
So, when I walked into this area in the bird house and realized that I was standing eight inches from a pygmy marmoset was not only a shock, but also showed just how well ARTIS zoo caters to the animals in their care. I don't know of another zoo that has managed an exhibit in which you can get this close to marmosets and have them be so completely comfortable with that, that they continue their normal social behaviors. For me that really set the tone for the whole zoo.
There are of course minders to keep people from grabbing a marmoset, but for the most part, it was such a well balanced exhibit. A rare magical moment in time when the wild and the human exist together and no harm comes to either species. It is only calm and wonder, singular genuine curiosity in both parties. Humans marveling at how close these little monkeys were, and little monkeys eating lunch and watching all the different humans walk by. You just aren't going to get this type of experience very often, and this includes some of the best zoos in the world. This was an ingenious exhibit.
The relationship building for pygmy marmosets, humans and visitors from all over the world is evident. Buy providing this type of encounter, people become invested in the animals and thereby the zoo itself. It is difficult not to care about tiny monkeys who allow you so close while they stuff their mouths with small pieces of fruit. It creates connections. I met an older lady who said she'd been coming there twice a week for 15 years. As we walked through the rest of the bird house, which did indeed have birds in it, some of them knew her and came to say hello. She spent time showing me all the bird's favorite hiding spots that no one else knew about. She also introduced me to people she knew from coming there every week. She said she'd watched some of them grow up, and then bring their kids to the zoo. Some of them even worked there now. All of them really loved coming to ARTIS, and cared about it. I saw many tourists, but there were so many more Dutch there with their families than tourists, invested in this place through memories and amazing exhibit/enclosure spaces that allowed the animals to have what they needed to be content, but also to allow people to be there too.
Tropenmuseum
Later the same day I visited the Tropenmuseum. I missed the class site visit, so I'm sure I missed out on a tour, or a lecture. It's a beautiful museum to spend time in, if for nothing else simply to admire the stunning architecture. But I soon found myself lost among the exhibits, which varied widely. I appreciated the fact that this was one of the very few museums that confronted Dutch colonialism, or tried to as much as possible, which is difficult with established long standing exhibits. Some plates appeared to have been changed to indicate items stolen or appropriated without consent, while other plates hadn't been touched at all. There were full exhibits talking about Islamic faith, and the journey to Mecca, which I honestly did not know much about, so I spent quite a lot time there listening to the video stops and reading. Another exhibit fully delved into colonialism, with interviews and information boards having to do with slavery in Dutch Colonies. Because I don't know that much about Dutch Colonial history, I need to do some reading up on the subject before I would feel comfortable giving an opinion on how well it represented the topic. I suspect that it makes necessary inroads into the subject, but probably not far enough.
The Cool Japan exhibit was almost out of place given the topics of surrounding themes, but it was interesting to walk through. Especially because I've been watching Anime and reading Manga for a very long time, and I lived in Japan for a while, so I was familiar with popular characters that the exhibit represented... and could name just about every character without having to look at the information placards. I think my favorite spot was the area where you could sit down and watch Anime clips, or read through a manga on one of the couches the museum provided. I have no idea where they managed to find the Japanese drum game, but that was very popular while I was there. Perhaps a little too popular, as I watched a group of teens beat the drums with steadily increasing force and enthusiasm. I kept waiting for something to crack. But that room was very engaging for someone with an interest in Japanese entertainment culture.
Looking back on all the museums I visited while in the Netherlands, I think the Tropenmuseum was my favorite simply because it was not afraid to be eclectic or look difficult topics head on. While the rest of the museums in the Netherlands tended to be nationalistic in nature, the Tropenmuseum goes around a lot of that by presenting their collection in a different light, and showing completely different cultures that are out there. While it did still have collections that spoke of a colonial past, it also had very new topics to the Netherlands, introducing cultures that were joining the landscape as more and more peoples from all over the world move. This is not just a trend as the weather pattern changes, forcing large movements of people because of lack of resources. Currently the movements have been attributed to conflict for the most part, but some countries have begun to see a higher rate of movement due to encroaching sea levels, or lack of rainfall, or too much in an area that hasn't seen rain in literally hundreds of years (the Atacama Desert). The Dutch seem to be rather tolerant of those moving into the country, but having had some long conversations with the locals, that tolerance and understanding is beginning to wane as anti-immigrant sentiments are voiced among certain Dutch political parties.
The Tropenmuseum is doing some really good work, with well thought out exhibits, and taking steps that I didn't see in other museums. Actively engaging the public in their exhibits was well done, but they also spoke with the public and included them in some of the exhibits. That's an excellent step forward outside "the lane". I have a suspicion that museums may have farther to go in changing with the times than libraries do, because there seems to be a sense of being upper crust so to speak? I'm not sure if that makes sense, but there is this inflated sense to a lot of the older museum people I've spoken with, as if they have a certain privilege that other public offices don't. Libraries by their very nature must adapt with their community, but museums seem to think they are above that to some extent. Just an impression I had while speaking with some of the staff, especially at the Van Gogh Museum. They weren't rude exactly, but they sure were very full of themselves.
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