AAA congress of anthropology

Abdel Hernandez San Juan

AAA Congress of anthropology

Chicago

Panel  Beyond critique and countercritique: paradigms

At the AAA national congress of anthropology Abdel Hernandez  San Juan discussed his conception, conceptualization, idea and practice of ethnographic installations, the incorporation of installation into his museography of anthropology on the urban popular markets of venezuela he title The Market from Here: mise in scene and experimental ethnography. 

This issue have a history. 

During 1994 Hernandez san juan, inspired in lyotard museography of theory in a museum display, conceibed, designed and written down a project to develop a museology and museography of his theory on the markets based in his fieldwork, a museography about the urban popular markets of venezuela, his individual fieldwork inmersion into it as well as his investigation of the visual cultural tradition of the markets in venezuela since the colonial centuries. 

The main idea of hernandez here was about that markets itself in the urban space are mise in scenes in all the simbolic nature of it. His idea and proposal was to museographize an anthropology of the markets seen and understanded as mise in scenes

If we understand a museography as a mise in scene of a text and if we undertand the presentation of fieldwork unfolded into a museogrsaphy, his proposal might be understanded asa mise in scene of a mise in scene, the anthropology museography of the markets developed as a mise in scene on markets as mise in scenes

Hernandez San Juan idea was to develop a museum of anthropology of the market as a museum of anthropology but to do it experimentally, meaning through experimental avangard conceptualist languagues ways to explore relations between texts, photography and environmental evocations.

At the vestible or introductory space of the anthropology mise in scene hernandez display and unfolded his long essay based in his fieldwork on the markets discussing observation, the gaze, the seen and the scenes, the eye, the point of views and the poliphony of the markets, acompanied by photographies on it and he created an installative ethnography itinerary recreated environment which as museography guide of texts oriented the visitor itineraries through this museum of the markets. 

The another half of the paper discuss how Hernandez San Juan within his authorial conception of the museography mise scene, choiced to incorporate into his museography text/photography/evocative environments ethnographic installationdesign,  some recreational elements of scenography in theater. Such a secound half discuss hernandez analytical process of visiting scenographies for theater to choice a scenographer to be invited discussing on the senographer of his choice to help the environmental recreations 

hernandez selected quotes from fragments of stories of such scenographer, fernando calzadilla, scenographic experiences

 The panel at AAA, title Beyond critique and counter critique: paradigms included lectures by him, translation of surpik angelini, and lectures by quetzil eugenio castaneda, george marcus and lisa breglia, chicago, 1999