Author: Naomi Ellsworth
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has revealed plans for a virtual museum of looted cultural antiquities. UNESCO is collaborating with Interpol on the project, drawing objects from the international police organization’s database of more than 52,000 stolen artifacts, which it will render in three dimensions, in some instances working off little more than a small black and-white picture of the original item. Saudi Arabia has ponied up the first round of funding for the effort, which is expected to cost about $2.5 million, and which is slated to “open” in 2025. “The virtual museum will be a…
he Denver Museum of Nature and Science will close a gallery devoted to Indigenous cultures that it said promoted “harmful stereotypes.” Last week, the museum revealed in a Twitter post that it would shutter the space, officially titled the North American Indian Cultures Hall, this summer. “We’re committed to re examining our practices for exhibiting, curating, collecting, programming and conserving in a manner that respects the Indigenous cultural histories, heritage and belongings,” the museum wrote. A subsequent statement went into more graphic detail, stating that the hall was being closed because it “harms Indigenous people of North America.” “Within this space,” the…
The Austrian government has announced plans to propose a new law requiring museums to return objects acquired in a colonial context by March 2024, the culture secretary, Andrea Mayer, said at a press conference Tuesday. According to Mayer, the proposed law intends to establish an “orderly, consistent and comprehensive” protocol for restitution claims. “The rulers of European countries long viewed large parts of the world as places where they could help themselves; they simply took artifacts and saw that as their natural right,” she said. “Calling out this injustice and following it up with serious debate and concrete actions is Austria’s responsibility…