A theatrical critique of humanitarian civility in the ICRC Museum

ABSTRACT

This review of the permanent exhibition of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva focuses on its representations of extreme forms of violence as well as humanitarian struggles against these. The article pays close attention to the role that theatre and performance plays in the construction of the museum as a space in which the ultraviolent history of our world is offered up for critical reflection. The analysis of the theatricality of the museum also provides the opportunity to understand the ambivalences of the museum's representations of violence and humanitarian anti-violence or what will be called its civility.

KEYWORDS:

• Civility
• ICRC Museum
• humanitarianism and development
• violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

John Yves Pinder is a PhD candidate affiliated to the University of Leeds. Before starting a PhD he worked in and contributed to a range of performance making, pedagogical and community projects.

Notes

1. According to the website, the footfall for 2016 was close to 125,000.

2. I chose the somewhat awkward term of distantiation in reference to the Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt in order to translate also the sense of displacement of violence that Balibar discusses in relation to civility. Balibar himself discusses the notion in the fourth chapter of the book in relation to revolutionary strategies of civility.

3. A Swiss architectural firm, which designed the remaining spaces of the museum, coordinated the whole project (Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge 2013). Together with the permanent space, a smaller adjunct space was created in the basement of the building for temporary exhibits on societal themes relevant to humanitarianism. During one of my visits the temporary space was occupied by an exhibition from the Menil Collection in Houston on Gandhi and non-violence.

4. See his website for more detail: www.kere-architecture.com.

5. The ICRC was established in 1863. In the early twentieth century, the movement expanded through the founding of national organisations across the world (Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge 2013).

6. The tagline of the exhibition – the humanitarian adventure – reflects this penchant for romance.

7. The silence of the Red Cross about the Holocaust, presented in the first zone, sets a precedent to Biafra.

8. In spite of my argument, it should nevertheless be noted that the renovation of the museum was done in consultation with the Italian Economic Anthropologist Fabrizzio Sabelli whose scholarly work is aligned to Marxism (Centre Culturel Suisse 2014).

9. Sorin is known for an aesthetic inspired by early cinema and late nineteenth century illusionism. These optical theatres reproduce a similar aesthetic, although they are not authentic optical theatres.

10. Instead of a bucket of water, the blue man uses a hair dryer and fan.

11. Sorin's works, like that of Blast Theory, are most probably targeted at younger audiences, which also explains the particular dimensions and aesthetics of his theatres.