Flower and butcher stalls at Papeete market. PhyiiisRabineau 



Much of the town's storefront facade was con- 

 tructed from materials scavenged from local dumps in 

 Chicago — one, a junk-strewn field where the stock- 

 yards once stood, another a large dump near China- 

 town, as well as a huge illegal garbage dump within 

 sight of the Field Museum. As early as January, lead 

 preparator Brinkmeier and his crew were often out 

 poking around the dumps, slogging through the snow, 

 choosing a choice board here, selecting the perfect 

 piece of sewer pipe there, then hauling their treasures 

 back to the Museum. 



On one of their early collecting forays, Brink- 

 meier observed a police car nearby. Worried that the 

 policeman inside would think he was illegally dump- 

 ing junk, Brinkmeier went over to explain his mis- 

 sion. The policeman rolled down his window an inch 

 or two, and Brinkmeier began describing in detail the 

 task of replicating a Tahitian marketplace in a natural 

 history museum. Before Brinkmeier could finish, the 

 officer slowly rolled up his window. "After that, I've 

 never tried to explain to anyone what I was up to," 

 says Brinkmeier. 



The preparators' gathering trips also took them 

 across the state, from a farm in northwestern Illinois 

 to a site in downstate Pontiac, where they gathered 

 rusted roofing tin. 



Detailed replicas were needed to complete the 

 market stalls. Preparators George Monley and Andrea 

 Stanislav made fresh-looking fish, mouth-watering 

 chunks of meat, and garden produce, through casting 

 and painting techniques. Among the interesting tech- 

 niques they devised was squirting hot glue into a bowl 

 of swirling water, thus recreating the translucent, 

 crisp strands of Chinese bean sprouts that are dis- 

 28 played in the marketplace's vegetable stand. 



Through their expertise in painting, carpentry, 

 and sculpture, the production team created a living 

 environment that transcends the Museum walls, 

 transporting the visitor thousands of miles away to 

 experience the sights and sounds of Papeete. 



The architecture around the marketplace reflects 

 Tahiti's history of French colonialism, and many of 

 the shops show the influence of Chinese commerce; 

 but the market itself, though not traditionally Tahi- 

 tian, is used today primarily by Tahitians. It is a place 

 where Tahitian culture and craft thrives amidst the 

 changes brought on by the 20th century. 



Even though the marketplace's contemporary 

 setting did not allow us to include artifacts from the 

 Museum's collections, craft items shown in the mar- 

 ket and stores were bought by anthropologist Jones in 

 Tahiti, and as such can be considered contemporary 

 artifacts, whose importance will only increase with 

 time. 



Change is constantly taking place in Tahiti, and 

 this exhibit may be one measure of that change. 

 Shortly after we began construction of our exhibit, 

 the colonial structure in Papeete on which we mod- 

 eled our own market was demolished and replaced 

 with a modem structure on the same site. Our mar- 

 ketplace at the Museum is already a reminder of the 

 constantly changing world we live in, a measure of 

 the past. 



The marketplace environment we've recreated 

 within the Field Museum's walls has barely been 

 finished, and it already reflects an isolated moment in 

 time. In the future, the exhibit's importance as a 

 "time capsule" will increase, evoking one time and 

 place in the evolution of people and cultures across 

 the Pacific. 



