Multaka

Multaka: Museum as Meeting Pointis an intercultural project initiated in 2015 by four history museums inBerlinwith and forArabic- andPersian-speaking migrants and refugees. Multaka (Arabic: meeting point) was designed as an innovative project for educational exchange between refugees and other visitors from theMiddle EastandNorth Africa.Visitor-centered discussions with migrants in their languages are focused on thehistorical origin and history of acquisitionof cultural objects, including the visitors' own understanding of their country'scultural heritage.As a response to increasing numbers of refugees and migrants, a central aim of the project has been theinclusionof Muslim visitors into museums.

From 2019 onwards, the initial Multaka project has been joined in an international network of similar initiatives at 29 museums in the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece and Switzerland.

History

Statue of the weather godHadad,Museum of the Ancient Near EastBerlin

"Multaka: Museum as Meeting Point" is an educational programme for intercultural exchange between museum visitors with a personal history of migration from the Near East and North Africa on the one hand, and the museum staff and tour guides on the other. During discussions in the visitors' language, specially trained Multaka Guides provide information and new insights about museum items typically originating from Arab and other Middle Eastern cultures.

The project was initiated in 2015 by theMuseum of Islamic Art Berlinin Germany and has since been offered free of charge in cooperation with theMuseum of the Ancient Near East,theBode Museumand theGerman Historical Museum.Due to the temporary closure of the first two museums located in thePergamon Museumin October 2023, Multaka tours have also started in the Collection of Antiquities of theAltes Museum,theEgyptian Museum,theMuseum for Pre- and Early Historyand theAlte Nationalgalerie.German history during and followingWorld War II,dealing with war, displacement, exile and reconstruction, has been a particular focus of the guided tours in the German Historical Museum.

Designed to involve visitors into discussions about their own understanding of their country'scultural heritage,the guided tours are intended to help visitors understand the connections between the origin and history of exhibits and the presentation in the collections. The Arabic or Persian-speaking Multaka Guides thus supplement the visitors' previous knowledge in their native language and in dialogues based on mutual appreciation.For Syrian Multaka guideKefah Ali Deeb,a statue of the Syro-PhoeniciandeityHadadis an example of the origins of her homeland's religions in ancient myths.

Further activities

The project's intention to present museum objects as an expression of appreciation forIslamic culturesin an educational way for migrants has been followed by similar activities. Thus, Multaka guides have been conductinginteractivegames and exercises in Berlin schools and cultural centres. Central to this is how historical exchange between Europe and the Middle East has influenced Western music, clothing and science and, on the other hand, how cultural change in Muslim countries has been shaped by Western modernity.

International network

In June 2019, the founding members of Multaka in Berlin and six similar museums in the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece and Switzerland started the international Multaka network. As a result, 29 museums in these countries developed similar ways ofintercultural communicationfor visitors with a background in migration and have trained more than 100 volunteer museum guides.

MultakaOxford

In 2017, thePitt Rivers Museumand theMuseum of the History of Sciencein Oxford, United Kingdom, started a similar collaborative and socially engaged project called MultakaOxford. Partners included local grassroots groups and organisations for refugees and asylum seekers. MultakaOxford is focused on the two museums' collections of textiles from the Arab world and on Islamic scientific instruments. Forty tour guides were selected from local communities, resulting in trained guides with different languages from Syria,Egypt,Iraq andSudan.They have also been involved in writing new descriptions for cultural objects, in public events, and have been running social media channels.- After initial funding for the first two years had run out, MultakaOxford obtained a £1 million grant for the next five years by charitable organizationAlwaleed PhilanthropiesfromSaudi Arabia.

Multaka in Italy, Greece and Switzerland

In Italy, theEgyptian MuseuminTurinstarted a project in 2016 by training women from Egypt as intercultural guides. Since 2018, botanical gardens, archeological and art collections inFiesoleandFlorence,including thePalazzo Vecchiohave been operating similar tours, focusing on the botanical and cultural diversity resulting from East-Western exchange and their impact on the arts and cuisines in Italy.

In 2022, museums and archaeological sites inAthens,Greece, launched tours with intercultural guides for Greek, English, French, Arabic and Persian.The same year, theHistorical Museumin the Swiss capitalBernstarted a new Multaka project, after having organized and trained local guides fromAfghanistan,Iran,Kurdistan,PalestineandEritreasince 2015.

Multaka Kids in Baghdad

InBaghdad,museum educational workshops and guided tours for children and young people have been organized asMultaka Kids ina joint project of theGoethe-Institutand theIraq National Museum.

Awards and recognitions

For Multaka Berlin:

• Special prize for projects for cultural participation of refugees, Germany, 2016
• National winner of the competition "Landmarks in the Land of Ideas", Germany, 2016
• zenith Photo Award, Germany, 2017
• Museum and Heritage Award, London, 2018

For MultakaOxford:

• Grant as a "Meeting Point for People and Cultures" by Alwaleed Philanthropies, 2019
• Collections Trust Award, 2019
• Diversity Award for Diversifying Participation, 2020
• Museum + Heritage Community Engagement Programme of the Year Award, 2024

Literature

• Gram, Rikke (2023)."Willkommen im Museum. Making and Unmaking Refugees in the Multaka Project".In Macdonald, Sharon (ed.).Doing Diversity in Museums and Heritage. A Berlin Ethnography.Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. pp. 247–260.ISBN9783839464090.
• Annette Lӧseke: From Transcultural Entanglements to Integrated Learning Experiences? Transcultural Museum Education at Berlin's Museum of Islamic Art. In: Journal of Elementary Education. Vol. 15, Spec.Iss, 31. August 2022, ISSN 2350-4803, pp. 115–131, doi:10.18690/rei.15.Spec.Iss.115-131.2022 (um.si).
• Eva Nmeir: The Syrian Heritage Archive Project in Berlin. Ed.: ICOMOS 19th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium „Heritage and Democracy ", 13-14th December 2017, New Delhi, India. 2018 (icomos.org).
• Stefan Weber:Multaka: museum as meeting point. Refugees as guides in Berlin museums / Multaka: il museo come punto di incontro. I rifugiati come guide nei musei berlinesi.In:Archaeology & ME, Looking at archaeology in contemporary Europe / Pensare l'archeologia nell'Europa contemporana.Bologna (2016), pp. 142–45.

External links

• Official website
• Multaka's favourites in four Berlin Museums
• Multaka Berlin video channelonYouTube
• MultakaOxford videoonYouTube