How to Decolonise the Museums

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I really have a hard time reading things online. If I could print it out it would help.

Nevertheless I will make an effort to read it as it's only fair.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
When things are "merely" aesthetic objects they are much better suited to being converted into postcards, coffee mugs and tea towels.
 

luka

Well-known member
When things are "merely" aesthetic objects they are much better suited to being converted into postcards, coffee mugs and tea towels.
they never are merely aesthetic objects im not sure such a thing could even exist
 

craner

Beast of Burden
If you are actually going to read something I wrote Corpse this may not be the best one to start with, to be honest.
 

luka

Well-known member
im not joking in this thread i really want to make that clear i think any attempt to dismantle the great museums of europe would be an act of unforgiveable cultural and historical vandalism.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Museums are fucked. No-one wants to go, not even as an out during a pandemic

The wages are shit but the status is high for a curator and entire networks are run by volunteers

Give it a year, they'll be giving everything back just to pay off the last round of pensions and to stave off being set on fire
 

luka

Well-known member
theres something chillingly nihilistic about wanting to destroy museums. it's worse even than the book burning impulse.

Nearly eighty years later the descendant of Bell’s museum was looted by organised gangs who stole artifacts from the heart of her collection. The U.S. army failed to secure the building and it was left to returning museum staff to fend off the looters for four days. This was a significant and symbolic event: a presage of the anarchy and corruption to come. Rumsfeld’s infamous response to the looting exposed the vacuum at the heart of post-war planning in a manner that chilled both opponents and supporters of the war alike: “Freedom’s untidy,” he said, “stuff happens.”
 
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luka

Well-known member
On Charles Olson's trip to Mexico to 'research' the Mayans he finds local construction companies gleefully turning ancient ruins into gravel everywhere he goes.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Hackney Museum and Hackney Archives have been really good over the last decade or so at exploring the borough's links with slavery and colonialism. The Council has worked with them on consultations around renaming publicly owned place named after slave traders. It's not top of the list of anyone's priorities but it is good.

 

john eden

male pale and stale
Museums should give back the objects that have been stolen. When this has happened I am sure other countries will trust us enough to put on exhibitions of loaned material from overseas.
 

luka

Well-known member
version linked to an article by arch conservative john gray last night which said

The decomposition of the West is not only a geopolitical fact; it is also cultural and intellectual. Leading Western countries contain powerful bodies of opinion that regard their own civilisation as a uniquely pernicious force. In this hyper-liberal view, which is heavily represented in higher education, Western values of freedom and toleration mean little more than racial domination. If it still exists as a civilisational bloc, the West must be dismantled.
 

luka

Well-known member
i didnt think it was a good article. i thought it was mostly shrill and demented but museums are very good and lots of very good people have worked in them and learned from them. i absolutely love museums and everything they stand for. most of that stuff wasnt even 'stolen' it was just some old tat lying around in a desert covered in layers of sand
 

john eden

male pale and stale
The "western civilisation" (lol) isn't a uniquely pernicious force obviously. It would be good to replace it with something better though. (Or - as Gandhi said, to actually achieve "civilisation" in the first place).

Museums are great but they don't need to be stuffed to the gills with looted objects from elsewhere. It is also great to visit museums in other countries and we do have a moral duty to make those museums better by returning this stuff to them.
 

sus

Moderator
Really disappointed to find there's no "Colonialism" thread so I'm taking over this one
 

sus

Moderator
I think to inaugurate my new colonialism thread we should have ONE supporter of colonialism from this board list the things he dislikes about colonization and ONE anti-colonialism member list the things he likes about colonization. I do not personally identify as pro-colonization however, if called upon, I am willing to stand in and do my part
 
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