HISTORY OF STEEL IN EASTERN ASIA EXHIBITION NOW ONLINE

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you Mabagani for your undertaking to forward material to me that will give me more insight to this matter.

I look forward to recieving it.

[MABAGANI]

Originally Posted by Rick

Mabagani, please let's be realistic; a State Art Museum is not going to cancel a project because of the objections of former potential contributors, yourself included.

To withdraw from cooperation in the face of an inevitable outcome which you could have affected in a positive way is IMO a failure; you could have tried to help because even if it was not as you wanted it to be it was going to happen regardless of whether you opposed it or not my friend.

I am deeply sorry if things did not turn out as you wished; yet you always had the option of helping us or not.

Unless I am mistaken you chose not to do so.

Rick

Rick, I had my reasons for not trying the second attempt, the original team was prepared and ready, everything was lined up descriptions, text, article, etc. way before the deadline. I was expecting my child as I mentioned and I didn't want to go through a whole revamp and wait again not knowing if the museum was serious, again. They did cancel the first attempt, why not the second? The personal attack on the team coordinator swayed the decision not to participate in the process. In essence from there, I was left out of the loop from the beginning. I still don't know why they did not leave the Philippines out when other nations did not go through with their projects, and knowing the Philippines was already at a disadvantage of starting over with no article. Also sounded like the team had to expand the original contributions to fill space?

No one contacted me when the team got in trouble, I could have easily proofread the text and ironed out the mistakes without drastic changes to the work. I thought with the silence everything was under control. I asked everyone what went wrong after I finally read text and got bashed by the assembler for commenting about the online article. Hearing all the complaints and abuses from the contributors were not right either.

Unfortunate turn of events, but in hindsight I'm not sure if the mishap was foreseeable. Had I known what was going on I may or may not have been able to warn or help the team.
I regret bearing witness to the fallout and complaints that went on behind the scenes. And I again would have preferred this thread locked, we could have tried to fix the mistakes without airing comments on and way off topic.

[David]

Braulio, i think it is time for you to put your cards on the table. I have tried hard to understand all sides of this issue, but inspite of our PMs you haven't made this any easier or clearer for me. I do understand and respect your desire not to mention names and air dirty laundry, but it is time for innuendos to end and facts to be made straight. I and others have asked you time and again to get specific with a complete list of the mistakes apparent in the exhibition. The best you have been able to tell me is that you sent a list to Ian. Now you have apparently sent a list to Alan. I can see no reason why these corrections need to be some big secret that is passed around behind closed doors. If you are truly concerned about this supposedly false information being accepted or passed on as facts then come foward and put your money where you mouth is. If you are worried that these mistakes somehow slight the Filipino perspective then speak up. If you feel that somehow your people have not gotten a fair hearing, that the history presented is somehow skewed and distorted, then by all means, set us straight. Hopeful you will agree that this would be right ON topic, so why not share this information with the whole community?

[MABAGANI]

check your pm

[David]

Braulio, you should really be able to say it here in the public forum.

[VANDOO]

I THINK WE HAVE DONE AS MUCH WITH THIS TOPIC AS CAN BE DONE AND ITS TIME TO LOCK IT DOWN AS IT WOULD SEEM THE ONLY PLACE WHERE WE MAY HAVE MADE ANY CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEGE WAS WHEN WE WENT OFF TOPIC. UNFORTUNATELY GREVIENCES ARE VERY SELDOM ENDED BY DISCUSSION AND THE EXHIBIT IS OVER AND CAN NOT BE CHANGED. THE INFORMATION HAS BEEN SENT AND MISTAKES WILL EITHER BE CORRECETED OR NOT AND THANKS OR APOLOGYS WILL EITHER BE SENT OR NOT "END OF STORY"
TIME TO MOVE ON AND HOPE THE CATALOG WILL BE COMPLETED AND AVAILABLE IN FUTURE. IF ALL THE MISTAKES ARE LISTED HERE IN THIS POST WE CAN MAKE THE CORRECTIONS TO OUR PERSONEL COPYS WHEN THEY ARRIVE. PEACE DUDES!

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you Mabagani for your attempt to forward your promised data to me.

I apologise for failing to ensure that my inbox was able to accomodate your message.

My inbox is now empty.

[David]

Alan, in the PM Mabagani sent me he asked me to retract the statement in my post were i stated that he had sent you infomation (please consider it retracted), saying that you had misread his intended remarks, and i in turn, yours. Apparently he has sent you nothing. I also read his post to mean that he was senting you info, so i am no so sure if it was a mis-readinding as much as a mis-stating. Regardless, i thought you would want to know. Why he informed me of this misunderstanding and not you as well i am not sure.

[Mark]

Hopefully we have reached a point in the discussion of whatever inaccuracies there are in the Philippines section article and descriptions in which everyone has been heard, expressed their opinions, and to some extent agreed to disagree. I, too, see no reason why they couldn't have been posted here, but obviously that isn't going to happen.

Yet, it seems that the controversy surrounding the organization of this exhibition will not go away, despite repeated attempts to explain and correct the misconceptions of people not directly involved in the process. I am glad that Rick has taken the time to directly address and rebut what are being said about alleged mismanagement of the exhibition, but I want to make a couple additions to Rick's comments.

First, let me make it absolutely clear that there was NO cancelled "first attempt," nor was the Museum's seriousness about the project ever legitimately in question. The Museum was forced by the Macao government to delay the opening of the exhibition by six months. The Museum's desire was to have the exhibition open in October 2005, coinciding with the Asian Games in Macao. The Macao city government, over a year into the project, decided they didn't like this idea and made the Museum postpone the exhibition by six months (not cancel). This was communicated immediately to all the contributors, with a full explanation, more than six months before the original opening date, well before even the first pre-exhibition deadline came up. I personally travelled to Macao in March 2005 to meet with the Museum Director and staff and received the explanation first-hand. I wrote up a report of my trip, which was proved to all the contributors. It is here, by the way. So there was no "second" attempt at the exhibition, because the preparations for the exhibition were never stopped, or cancelled. There WAS a change in the leadership of the Philippines Section, however, which evidently engendered an enormous amount of resentment and bitterness in some quarters, resulting in the withdrawal of most of the original contribitors and a huge set-back for the Section. It is hardly appropriate, in my opinion, to now sit and sling mud at the people who remained with the project throughout, and at those who stepped up after the set-back and re-built the Section. Correcting errors of fact is fine, but condemning the entire process and everyone involved is not.

A second point is about the chronology of the exhibition, specifically about the contributor who went completely silent in the last weeks before the final deadlines, and was “stuck” with shipping expenses after not having his pieces exhibited. This seems to be the basis for one of the central criticisms of how the Museum handled the organization of the exhibition.

First, it is critical to understand what the process was at the final stages of the exhibition preparation. The catalogue would consist of photographs of every piece in the exhibition, with an accompanying caption, plus an introductory article for each section. Every piece had to be unpacked, catalogued, and photographed by the Museum, then each display had to be arranged and the pieces mounted. None of this can be done without the pieces in hand. Every piece of text had to be translated into two other languages (Chinese and Portuguese), both for the exhibition display, and for the catalogue. All needed to be done by the opening date of the exhibition (May 12, 2006).

Prior to shipping, the Museum had to arrange for insurance for the pieces during shipping, and while in the possession of the Museum. Thus, photographs, descriptions, and insurance values had to be provided to the Museum well in advance of the shipping date. Also, shipping arrangements had to be negotiated with a carrier (a special billing account was set up with Federal Express), requiring at least some idea of the final number of pieces that would be shipped and displayed.

This all required a strict schedule, and specific deadlines for each stage in the process. The schedule and deadlines were communicated to all the participants early on in the process, and again when the “new” organization of the section began in November of 2005.

As critical deadlines approached, one contributor did not respond to several attempts by a number of persons to contact him. The deadline for the descriptions of each piece (December 31, 2005) went by, with no word. The deadline for the draft article (February 15, 2006) passed, still no word. The shipping date (March 28, 2005) came and went, and still no word. While there was a list of pieces he was contributing, no descriptions of the pieces had been provided (I don’t think insurance information had been provided either, but I could be wrong on that). No one was sure that the pieces would get shipped (for all we knew he was in the hospital, or had a family emergency, or his collection had been stolen – any number of possiblities).

As the days passed after the shipping deadline, other contributors stepped in and offered additional pieces in order to fill in the gaps left in the collection. Others also stepped in to try and complete a partial draft of the article that was on hand.

He was left messages & e-mails expressly saying not to ship his items to Macao, as they had been replaced and would not be used in the exhibition.

He finally surfaced April 10, almost two weeks after the March 28 shipping deadline, informing us that he had shipped his pieces four days earlier (which was still over a week after the shipping deadline). He paid for his own shipping rather than use the billing account set up with FedEx by the Museum (it had lapsed by that point anyway, as its purpose had been fulfilled). Furthermore, the replacement pieces had already arrived in Macao and were being processed for the exhibition (including the translations of the descriptions). He had shipped his pieces over a week past the deadline, against instructions, and at his own expense rather than using the billing account the Museum had set up with FedEx.

I do not mean to chastise or discredit him by saying any of this (I want to keep his name out of it in fact). He DID have an explanation for his silence, with which no one argued once he offered it. Part of the problem right around the date he shipped, for example, was that he was having internet connectivity problems, so he couldn’t e-mail his waybills to Macao and let anyone know via e-mail that he had shipped until a few days after the fact. However, the practical reality was that repeated attempts to contact him by e-mail, phone and PM, for several weeks, went unanswered, and the preparations had to move ahead without him. It was unfortunate, but it was just too late for him to participate as a contributor to the collection.

He was informed, once it was known that he had shipped anyway, that his pieces couldn’t be used, and that the Museum couldn't pay for their shipping (because for one thing the Museum told him not to ship them, and for another shipping expenses had been arranged under a special billing account with FedEx, so there wasn’t any mechanism or budget in place to refund individual shipping charges).

So, yes, his pieces were not exhibited, and he was stuck with the shipping bill. This was unfortunate, but it was a result his own failure to communicate, and his own failure to follow the Museum's instructions, not the fault of the Museum. He was still acknowledged as a contributor to the exhibition, however, as he did make valuable contributions to the project.

As Rick said, it might have been better if those who withdrew from the exhibition for various reasons had stayed engaged. Their knowledge and experience, if not pieces from their collections, would have been invaluable. However, they chose not to. If the exhibition suffered as a result, it is hardly fair to blame those who stuck with it, even more so those who stepped up and filled in the holes that were left in the Section by those departures.

[Mark]

There has, frankly, been a lot of BS and distortion circulating about how the Philippines Section was organized in its final form. I hope to put that question finally to rest.

The entire process of the final organization of the Philippines section was conducted in a private, password protected forum generously provided by Lee on Vikingsword. If you want to get the inside story as it unfolded, the link is http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=10 and the password is pira06.

I think even a cursory reading will show that there was a tremendous amount of energy, time and commitment put in by everyone involved. All of the original contributors were asked to continue their participation (except for the original Section coordinator what was removed by the Museum), but unfortunately only a handful were ever heard from. It will also be seen that the entire process of selection and description was open to the whole group (final selections were whittled down by a committee of three contributors). All descriptions were posted for review by the entire group.

I went through and bumped all the threads, so that you can see them without having to search for old threads, then locked them to preserve them as they were first made. The only edits I made to any posts were to remove e-mail addresses, and links to one web page that itself contains a link to a second page where $$ insurance values are listed. I pasted in the text of the first web page, minus the link to the second, in the introductory sticky thread at the top of the forum.

Reading it all over again, I was reminded of what an exciting and rewarding process it all was. I am very proud to have been a part of the effort, as I am very proud to have worked with all the dedicated people involved. Whatever after-the-fact detractors might say about it, it was all worth it, and everyone gave all of themselves in making it happen.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for your advice David.

Mabagani attempted to send me something, but my inbox was full, so I did not recieve anything.

I would be the first to acknowledge that misunderstandings of the written word can easily occur, however, in this case, I am at a loss to identify exactly what it is that I may have misunderstood.

Still, it matters little, I have commenced my own review of the material published in HOS. I know almost nothing of the history and culture involved, or of Philippine weaponry for that matter, and I consider this to be a good opportunity to improve my knowledge in this area.

[MABAGANI]

Before I leave...
Here are the last messages from my pm box about the project.
You may as well resurrect the public bashings towards the original coordinator and the recent one towards me.
I could not follow the assembler after knowing the mistreatment.
And he proved again that I made the right decision when he bashed me.
HOS is not EEWRS, the team tried their best given the circumstances.
As I mentioned, I have made great friends through the forum.
Regards

6th November 2005, 08:14 PM
I'm thinking that I could contribute a few pieces, and
perhaps Rick is thinking of doing the same. The issue
is really who will pull it together. I believe this
needs to be done through a Filipino coordinator. Any
suggestions?

Ian.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MABAGANI
btw will anyone from eewrs be willing to help antonio
out with the Philippine section.
i've let them know i couldn't commit the time and
travel because i have a baby daughter.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
M:

I've been following the conflict between Antonio
Cejunior and Ruel. Seems Ruel is now out of teh
picture in coordinating the Philippine component of
the Mcau exhibition.

Were you involved with that project? If so, do you
still plan to contribute?

Antonio has asked several of us to help him out. Not
sure what to do.

Ian.

8th November 2005, 07:29 PM
Rick
Crazy turn of events...
There is a yahoo group that was set up that holds
messages and images of what everyone was going to
send.
I let Antonio know that I was cutting back or pulling
out after finding out the exhibit was posponed again.
I have a few local projects I have more control of and
I can't commit too much time because I have a baby to
watch over.
I don't feel comfortable about sending anything of
personal value after the whole unprofessional episode
that transpired between Ruel and Antonio.
I caught Antonio's eewrs post before it was removed.
Anyways, the project is mid next year, keep me posted.
Regards
Mabagani

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Hi Mabagani , Mark and I are going to coordinate the
Philippine section for the project through the Forum .
I hope we can count on you for some participation .
It's a shame that the project blew up but that is in
the past and now it's time to try to get to the finish
line .

Jose , Federico , Vandoo , myself and a growing list
of the member collectors of these weapons are showing
interest in contributing .

Antonio has asked me to contact you about details .
Can you spare the armor for the exhibit ?
I'm sending at least 1 Moro spear and whatever else is
asked of me .
Maybe we can dig up a helmet somewhere too .

Feel free to contact myself or Mark with any questions
you may have .

Thanks very much .

Rick

[Spunjer]

^^^ interesting...

[MABAGANI]

The version of the process presented is different from my actual experience.
The Asian game schedule came and went with no communications from the museum to me about what was going on.
I was out of the picture in Nov 2005.

At what point did the museum decide to change the exhibit from a world exhibit to an exhibit about Eastern Asia and remove other sections?
Who made the final decision to leave the Philippines section in, knowing the team had a couple of months to deadlines and was starting from scratch?
It was unreasonable to expect one person or even the whole team to do a decent article in a month and half following the final selection.
It was not worth the risk of the teams reputation and personal belongings of the contributors in the rush to completion.
Damage was done and who should be held accountable?
Who was responsible for putting the Philippines section in the precarious situation?

[Antonio Cejunior]

Originally Posted by Mark

There has, frankly, been a lot of BS and distortion circulating about how the Philippines Section was organized in its final form. I hope to put that question finally to rest.

The entire process of the final organization of the Philippines section was conducted in a private, password protected forum generously provided by Lee on Vikingsword. If you want to get the inside story as it unfolded, the link is http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=10 and the password is pira06.

I think even a cursory reading will show that there was a tremendous amount of energy, time and commitment put in by everyone involved. All of the original contributors were asked to continue their participation (except for the original Section coordinator what was removed by the Museum), but unfortunately only a handful were ever heard from. It will also be seen that the entire process of selection and description was open to the whole group (final selections were whittled down by a committee of three contributors). All descriptions were posted for review by the entire group.

I went through and bumped all the threads, so that you can see them without having to search for old threads, then locked them to preserve them as they were first made. The only edits I made to any posts were to remove e-mail addresses, and links to one web page that itself contains a link to a second page where $$ insurance values are listed. I pasted in the text of the first web page, minus the link to the second, in the introductory sticky thread at the top of the forum.

Reading it all over again, I was reminded of what an exciting and rewarding process it all was. I am very proud to have been a part of the effort, as I am very proud to have worked with all the dedicated people involved. Whatever after-the-fact detractors might say about it, it was all worth it, and everyone gave all of themselves in making it happen.

So true Mark !!!
It is time to unveil some other things that show how serious we at the Museum are when doing something.
The interesting fact is that no other section created any problems at all, and everything went smoothly after intensive negotiations.

Here is a link to the History of Steel Introductory websiteas well as the post aborted version of the submissions which caused some to not participate after the first coordinator was kicked out by me due to his entire unreliability. I have the email that dismissed him, no matter how the truth is laundered, and distorted.

In retrospect, the people who didn't join did it, in my opinion, because of certain influences out of spitefulness and because of ignorance of how a Museum works. This is of paramount importance for shallow judgement, but it is now water under the bridge. But I will not lower myself to the level of said person, nor do I have to prove anything.

Other Museums such as in my visit to Koreawith the involvement of the Korean Government, participated and were previously informed by their Consul General who paid a preliminary visit to the Museum at our request, as can be seen early in the link.

It is of the foremost importance that each person knows exactly their own limitations.
Our Museum has a tremendous track record on Past Exhibitions and Present
Exhibitions that speak for themselves. I myself have done over 300 exhibitions since 1978 and while I declare myself not a specialist on Philippines, Continental East Asia, Korean, Japanese or Chinese swords, I believe I have the authority based on a unblemished record of 28 years organizing exhibitions.
As proven here, Governments of Korea and China through reputable Museums, plus collectors of goodwill of Japanese, Philippines and Continental Asia trusted the Museum.

It seems that some people don't know their own limitations.
But the fact is, whether or not they participated, the exhibition is done and the catalogue will soon be ready. Those who point out "mistakes" point out their own dismissal or self dismissal with whatever excuses they could come up with. To blame the Museum, who just made a coordinating effort, knowing exactly its role, is a low act of decency and quite revealing of the moral stature of those who criticize.

However, there is a very positive thing. Despite all efforts to discredit the exhibition (does anyone recall the fable of the fox and the sour grapes ?) the exhibition took place, thanks to the constructive attitude that will go down in book.

And with this final statement, I remove myself from the debate over this issue, now that most of the truth has emerged.

Thank you once more to all that made it possible, and I wish to also thank the detractors for showing their real selves.

[MABAGANI]

Originally Posted by Antonio Cejunior

So true Mark !!!
It is time to unveil some other things that show how serious we at the Museum are when doing something.

Why the fabrication in the "aborted" link?
We all know there were more contributors than three?
You should have been banned the first time you went on a personal attack and your comments should have stayed on the EEWRS so everyone could see what kind of person they were following and dealing with.
Everyone would have made the right decision to end the Philippines involvement.

[Andrew]

Enough, already.