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Gulf proposes a new ethical model for the collection of artifacts
Fly and you go to jail. But what if you loot cultural artifacts? Museums have flourished for centuries. Take a stroll through some of the world's greatest museums – the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin – and ask what they have in common. Answer: Rooms full of artifacts whose property is disputed. In this more enlightened age in which we live, this must clearly change. And the way this change will take place will have important consequences for the collections of antiquities in museums such as those in London, Berlin and Paris. At the same time, new ethical protocols are being put in place by new museums, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
I may be too scathing in my judgment of previous practices of acquiring international museums, since most of the documents that museums hold in their collections are donated or purchased from private collectors. However, it is also true that many collectors – especially those from the period of European colonialism – have bought works of art and historical artifacts under less than wholly ethical conditions. I do not seek to incriminate museums for the way they have acquired works of art in the past, although I think that it would be advisable to pay more attention in future acquisitions.
Many, if not all, of the great museums of the world have in their collections objects whose property is disputed. These complicated past haunt the present. This month alone, Tarita Alarcon Rapu, governor of Easter Island, met with the leaders of the British Museum to request the return of Hoa Hakananai's, a stone monolith that would be one of them. of the most important of the Chilean island of the Pacific Ocean.
The four-ton object, called "moai", is supposed to represent tribal chiefs or deified ancestors. Hoa Hakananai'a was taken on the 19thth century by British navy sailors and "donated" to Queen Victoria. It has been owned by the British Museum for more than 150 years. Again, I'm not here to judge Britain's colonial past – at least for museums – but what worries me is that when asked to restore this artifact , the museum offered to "lend" it. It is offensive, in bad taste and bad faith for the British Museum to offer to lend the monolith to Easter Island, while this is where the monolith was mistaken.
Of course, the return of an artifact kept in a museum for over a century is a complex task, but it is not an isolated incident. The British Museum has the shape. Greece has asked for the return of what the British call the Elgin marbles (the Greeks call them the Parthenon marbles), and Nigeria for what are called the Benin bronzes (the museum has, once again, proposed to "lend" them to a museum built in Nigeria, I feel a motive). Clearly, the time has come to deal with the complicated nature of the ownership of historical artifacts.
Many of the world's leading museums have rooms full of artifacts whose property is disputed. In this more enlightened age in which we live, this must clearly change.
Alexa Mena
In its defense, the British Museum presented this excuse: "The museum is a unique resource for the world: the breadth and depth of its collection allows a global audience to examine cultural identities and explore the network. complex of interconnected human cultures ". In other words, he claims to offer a service to the world as a center of world culture. Come to London and discover the world heritage, thus avoiding cultural tourists to visit Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, the Pacific Islands, etc. The British Museum presents itself as a one-stop shop for universal culture.
On the other side of the Channel, in France, however, President Emmanuel Macron takes the initiative to adopt a more enlightened approach and has promised to restore "without delay" 26 artifacts taken in Benin even during the colonial period. The Elysee pointed out that it would not act from an isolated case. In fact, this announcement follows the publication of a report from field experts recommending that African heritage objects be returned to their country of origin.
What does all this mean for museums? Will the exhibition halls be empty? Not enough. In fact, there is an opportunity to launch a new paradigm in museum conservation. The poorest countries should be able to name a prize to praise their precious treasures. Conservatives can work on the production of traveling shows of historical objects, allowing museums to fill spaces and nations to show their culture.
In addition, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, as a new museum, offers another model of exhibition protocol, in which its own collection is complemented by an active rotation of loan elements. For example, an ongoing program entitled "Arabian Roads: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia" brings together parts of the Gulf region belonging to the Gulf region. In this way, the Louvre Abu Dhabi offers its visitors a glimpse of world culture without entering the heavy debate over property. As a bonus for visitors, an active loan schedule means that there is always something new to see.
Museums can no longer function as appendages of the colonial project. It is time to remove the cobwebs and change. Certainly, there are still some difficult subjects to consider, for example what to do with objects from countries at war that can not handle them. It is certainly a difficult task, but I am pretty sure that the solution is not to seize the opportunity to steal the artifacts.
- Alexa Mena is a writer for the online health and fitness magazine, livehealthy.ae. Copyright: Syndication Desk
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the authors in this section are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arab News.
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