Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA recently launched its first virtual museum of Namibian fashion.
The museum was launched in collaboration with the Museums Association of Namibia (MAN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Berlin Ethnographic Museum (EM), the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, the University of Namibia (Unam) and the National Museum of Namibia (NMN).
The virtual museum was officially opened by Merja Iileka, the chairperson of the Fashion Council of Namibia and featured addresses by different stakeholders and a live performance by multi-award-winning musician, Big Ben.
Iileka said MAN believes that museums should be living ‘organisms’ that should be updated regularly and able to easily adapt to change.
“MAN has realised that the Covid-19 pandemic requires museums to adapt and do things differently. As a result the idea of a virtual museum of Namibian fashion was born and with funding from Unesco, the development of the virtual museum was possible,” Iileka said.
Ndapewoshali Ndahafa Ashipala from MAN said the website enables visitors to view items and to interact with them by adding comments as well as submitting photographs for possible display in the museum.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us that we need to adapt and learn to do things differently. A virtual museum of fashion could create an interactive educational space where we can also showcase Namibian culture to both local and international audiences,” Ashipala said.
Djaffar Moussa-Elkadhum, the head of office at Unesco Windhoek expressed excitement about the new museum saying the concept of museums has a long history.
Moussa-Elkadhum said it is important to rethink the role of museums using the means of today’s world.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought drastic chances. The pandemic did not spare heritage places leaving closure of museums around the world. About 90% of museums around the world have been affected due to closures,” Moussa-Elkadhum said.
