Pillen, Punkte, Dekokte: Chinesische Medizin in Wien

Pills, points and decoctions : Chinese Medicine in Vienna

Exhibition concept for the World Museum Vienna
Katharina Idam, Katja Pessl, Lena Springer

Planned to be shown on the occasion of the “World Museum Vienna” re-opening in 2016, “Pills, Points and Decoctions: Chinese Medicine in Vienna” is an exhibition that features research of a larger project entitled Social Mobility of Migrants from China in Vienna, conducted at the University of Vienna and funded by the Austrian Academy of Social Sciences / Jubilee Fund of the City of Vienna).

Chinese Medicine as Lived Practice
In the exhibition we follow practitioners, pharmacists, therapists and researchers through clinics, drugstores, universities and health parlors to document everyday practice and transformations of Chinese Medicine in Vienna. In doing so, the main focus lies upon the topics of migrating knowledge, objects and concepts. Our objective is to show that TCM is not a closed system of therapeutical knowledge and prescriptions passed down from generations but rather that it is a practice reworked on an everyday basis and negotiated as part of transnational processes of migration. In this, it is concerned with  practitioners and their interactions with objects like herbs, jars, scripts and medical equipment in the city of Vienna as a a transnational place. The exhibition is therefore an ethnography of transregional knowledge production. 

Practitioners and Objects
This exhibition tells stories about Chinese Medicine practitioners in Vienna.  The central focus is on the exploration of “Object-Practitioner-Portraits” and the narrative function of objects and their significance in Chinese Medicine. Selected practitioners, experts, as well as lay-users present current and/or historical objects relevant for everyday medical practice in Vienna.

The “Object-Practitioner-Portraits” allow visitors to directly engage with everyday TCM practice and knowledge in Vienna. In addition, visitors are invited to sensually experience Chinese Medicine practice in Vienna by listening to stories, tasting and touching herbs and equipment, as well as participating in lectures.

 Ausstellungskonzept: Pillen, Punkte, Dekokte