'Representing Difficult Pasts within Complex Presents ... - T2M

transport as people had to commute further and further to work 39 ? What about interactive exhibits,
transport rides, the pensioner in uniform who delivers tickets to children without problematising the past.
Should one focus on (as Divall puts it) the BLO’s (Big Lumpy Objects) in South Africa as key attractors,
known to work well in UK transport museums, or AVC’s (Astounding Virtual Constructions – - my own
terminological creation) instead? Or both?
28
Technology and Science, and the social sciences are often perceived to be theoretically far apart,
difficult to merge in theory (see Mitchell 1998). Through focusing merely on one aspect, we ignore
multiple other interpretations, thus creating a narrative that potentially excludes. Should one display
collections of motor vehicles to populations who may not ever possess a vehicle of their own, as a
constant reminder of what one does not have, or as representing possibilities – desire and dreams and
fantasies for what maybe for what one might have, one day. Would people want to come to the museum
because of this?
Interestingly there is a motor vehicle event that takes place at Good Hope Centre in Cape Town
annually, in which panel beaters display and win prizes for converted vehicles which draws on an
audience primarily from ‘coloured’ residential areas, and certainly involves creativity, uniqueness and
artistry in relation to vehicles. Perhaps a museum of Transport could incorporate events or reference to
activities such as these? What about the well-known bicycle and running competitions in Cape Town such
as the Argus? Can artworks also be used, as the burnt out bus of Roger Meintjes, or artists brought in to
create new works, who, as Schneider (2003; also see Schneider and Wright 2010; 2006) argues, research
in a manner similar to anthropologists in society. Artists, as in District Six museum, could also be part of
work-shopping the museum's construction, presenting more imaginative, playful interactions with the
public that seek to interpret and interrogate transport realities, not as add-on art exhibits to collections
already present, or as decorative pieces, but as part of planning and creative thinking around specific
exhibitions. Should there even be an archive? If so, what objects or texts should be included and who
should have control and access over them?
Certainly, as Hostel 33 shows, the ‘real thing’ has considerable impact. But the high tech virtual
environment can also have impact. A concept where individuals can experience, say, an actual bus, - the
‘real thing’ - and move handles, knobs etc while taking a ‘virtual’ tour of Cape Town in the past and
present could be exciting. Interactive maps on walls could show changing routes and places over time,
39 Uma Mesthrie is writing about the Black River Community and the relationship of the Black River
Golden Arrow Depot to forced removals (as yet unpublished), for related published work on Black River by
Mesthrie see Mesthrie 2000)