How to Decolonise the Museums

Leo

Well-known member
basically it's like having a store of unpleasantness on every level - kidnapped spiritual and cultural artifacts, ongoing imperialist and racist symbolic and actual domination, disgusting capitalist perversion values all stacked up in the heart of every city, but at the same time so obvious what should be done ...

the guy in the book calls it necrology and necrography - converting life objects into dead voyeurism subjects or something

also the element of superiority: they (countries of origin) can't possibly protect and secure these priceless artifacts and adequately display them to the world. We (the Met, BM, etc.) must have own them because we are the only ones able do that.

now, in reality, are priceless ancient artifacts safe in Afghanistan or Syria or Iraq or wherever? as history has shown, not always.
 

HannahB

Well-known member
Send the items back. I know a woman protecting Mauna Kea who had to do ceremony with 🗿 in bm and she is not happy about it. She wants it back. Send it. Yes I used to sit with this stone person and dream but that’s a colonial dream because it’s a long cold miserable capitalist spiritual-depleted land-depleted winter here so we have to start here...All imbued with magic, they have it. Bring that here animated. It’s all we legitimately have. Only give-away gifts are blessed received. Trillions are owed to just India ! Did anyone receive the gift of interrelationality and mutual care which comes from giving?
 

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HannahB

Well-known member
bm is trying to stay relevant by getting on the decolonization train, such as their recent Saami film screening facilitation. They had no reason to be there except to provide an english speaking guest list around a photograph of a glass cabinet with another culture’s ceremonial objects in it. Shame must be big now at bm? It felt like it a bit.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
now, in reality, are priceless ancient artifacts safe in Afghanistan or Syria or Iraq or wherever? as history has shown, not always.

Certain conspiracy factions believe part of the destruction going on in those places is to erase what's left.

But should it be up to foreigners to play god and decide they know best?
 
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HannahB

Well-known member
Yes and religions like CoE are the crux of the problem since they de-animate ceremonial ‘objects’ (except things like wine and bread 🥖-? Why?) and at one time also certain ‘races’ of human beings, so then eg. The Doctrine of Discovery would enable grand theft.
Taking this stuff is kidnapping power. It’s really naive to think institutions like the church didn’t do it purposefully to pull rank and enact greed/ dominate, in spirit (in their case ‘spiritual’) form so pretending some kind of sublimation/ white savior... Land grab is land grab. At ‘home too’... Did you know that much glebe land has been sold off by vicars in recent decades and it’s kind of a not talked about thing? The money is missing - as per Guy Shrubsole’s “Who Owns England”, 2019... I mean it’s not like the christian church hasn’t usurped all ‘object’ based animation here for 2000 years to stay in power.... except the bread and wine 🍷 obvs.
 

HannahB

Well-known member
“...The Syilx would sing to the spirit, gifting it sage, tobacco and salmon. But early settlers mistook the gifts as sacrifices to a monster...”
- sacrifices and gifting are the same, or in settler terms different sides of the same coin when it comes to capitalist co-opting
 

luka

Well-known member
im serious Limburger! what do they want with that old junk anyway? it was meaningless to them. if some foreign nation has some anglo saxon sword wtf do i care?
 

luka

Well-known member
our museums are themselves historical monuments woven into our culture very beutiful and moveing and massively inspiring testaments to all that is best in humanity
 

luka

Well-known member
i really do think anyone that disagrees with that statement should be killed as an enemy of humanity @craner & @Corpsey both agree i know since we have discussed it on Lads Whatsapp
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
What interests me about this thread now is that today I went to see Rodin at Tate Modern and the way it was presented reminded me of what someone in here wrote about objects being "aestheticised".

The art itself was great to look at but in retrospect I noticed that the explanatory notes only really talked about Rodin's technique and process - which was kind of the point of the exhibition, but completely divested it of the Romantic context it emerged from and what Rodin was actually interested in achieving. I wondered if the reason for this was to avoid being controversial, too "Eurocentric" or whatever.

Rodin was maybe the first artist who put a spotlight on his process, a sort of proto modernist approach which made form meaning - even so, there must be some meaning in the historical and mythical figures he portrayed.

My "position" on the British museum is expressed on page 1. It's an ambivalence likely bound up with selfish motives. That said I do think there is something in the idea that museums like that teach Euro kids (and adults) that other cultures are valuable - but I guess the opposing argument is it teaches those kids that as beautiful as these cultures can be they're ultimately only fit for our museums.

An interesting irony here is that some of these objects (the Assyrian freezes) are themselves emblematic of cultural domination (and genocide).
 

craner

Beast of Burden
What interests me about this thread now is that today I went to see Rodin at Tate Modern and the way it was presented reminded me of what someone in here wrote about objects being "aestheticised".

The art itself was great to look at but in retrospect I noticed that the explanatory notes only really talked about Rodin's technique and process - which was kind of the point of the exhibition, but completely divested it of the Romantic context it emerged from and what Rodin was actually interested in achieving. I wondered if the reason for this was to avoid being controversial, too "Eurocentric" or whatever.

Rodin was maybe the first artist who put a spotlight on his process, a sort of proto modernist approach which made form meaning - even so, there must be some meaning in the historical and mythical figures he portrayed.

My "position" on the British museum is expressed on page 1. It's an ambivalence likely bound up with selfish motives. That said I do think there is something in the idea that museums like that teach Euro kids (and adults) that other cultures are valuable - but I guess the opposing argument is it teaches those kids that as beautiful as these cultures can be they're ultimately only fit for our museums.

An interesting irony here is that some of these objects (the Assyrian freezes) are themselves emblematic of cultural domination (and genocide).

Very interesting @Corpsey but to be honest I can’t wait for your opinion on my new essay, which I wrote especially for you, my great English friend.
 
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