A theatrical critique of humanitarian civility in the ICRC Museum

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis 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.