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The last paragraph sums up pretty concisely why the actions taken by the museum are inappropriate: museums are not gatekeepers of culture, but stewards of cultu

by chabes 7y ago

The last paragraph sums up pretty concisely why the actions taken by the museum are inappropriate: museums are not gatekeepers of culture, but stewards of culture. > The most important part is that adding these restrictions runs counter to the entire mission of museums. Museums do not hold our shared cultural heritage so that they can become gatekeepers. They hold our shared cultural heritage as stewards in order to make sure we have access to our collective history.

keenmaster 7y ago
It would be glorious if an ethnic Egyptian publicly distributes the Nefertiti scan and solicits a copyright claim. The Neues museum really has it coming. They shouldn’t even have the bust. Their sense of entitlement is shocking. What bothers me more is the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium. Belgian King Leopold II ravaged modern day DRC and perpetrated a genocide there. Belgium pilfered Congo’s treasure and brutally enslaved its people. Yet, the treasure is still in a Belgian museum, the same museum that used to have a “human zoo,” displaying the conquered people like pets. The museum is reinventing itself, but its mere existence is insulting. They should return the treasure, dedicate most of the museum to Congo Genocide remembrance, and forward all revenues to NGOs and infrastructure projects in the DRC.
- zakki 7y ago
  This happened to all treasures owned by the country that got colonized. Some of the treasures probably were taken legally (I.e. given as a gifts before colonization happened).
  - eecc 7y ago
    Italy returned the Axum Obelisk. Yes it happens, yes amendments can be made.
- StavrosK 7y ago
  Do you have details on the human zoo? That has got to be right up there in the list of shitty things people have done.
  - keenmaster 7y ago
    “The most talked-about part of the exhibition was the "human zoo" — a mock African village set up in the estate's woods and ponds. King Leopold, who never set foot in Congo, imported 267 Congolese men, women and children to Tervuren and displayed them behind a fence. “When Leopold heard they were getting sick because of candy they were eating that was tossed to them by the crowd, he put up an equivalent of a 'Don't Feed the Animals' sign at a zoo, saying, 'the blacks are fed by the organizing committee,'"“ https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-once-stood-a-belgian-museum-now-faces-its-colonial-past https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-on...
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - bane 7y ago
      Interestingly, this was just published by CNN https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/belgium-blackface-colonial-history-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/belgium-blackface-colo...
  - tverbeure 7y ago
    An African village was one of the attractions during the 1958(!) World Expo in Brussels. My mother remembers it very well going there as a teenager. https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m_features/human-zoos-a-shocking-history-of-shame-and-exploitation https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m_features/human-zoos-a-sh... : "And by the time of the fair in Brussels, the notion of a human zoo was largely considered distasteful and had been banned in most countries. Yet change didn’t happen quickly enough for those of the Congolese village in 1958. A number of the original 297 died during the show and were buried in a mass, unmarked grave."
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    Wasn't limited to Leopold, though his Stalinesque reputation means his is probably one of the better known. Many of the "developed" nations of the late 1800s and early 1900s had ethic villages or exhibitions - with live exhibits. London, Paris, New York, etc. St Louis made a point of adding newly acquired native Philippinos to the native American display at the World Fair and 1904 Olympics. Developed nations carried on with those exhibitions far longer than you might expect or hope. Though they were in decline by WW2, there's been a fair selection of basically racist exhibits post war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo King Leopold II was a bit special, even by the standards of the height of colonialism. His privately owned Congo Free State - it really was his, founded and owned by him personally was excessively bad at everything. It started public and government campaigns in Britain, America and I believe France and others too, ultimately culminating in multiple nations taking stand and signing treaties against Leopold's vanity project. The atrocities were far in excess of any other colonial power for the few years he owned it. Millions died, millions more, including children, had hands or feet hacked off. The state stepped in and it became the Belgian Congo after 15 or 20 years of Stalin ^W Leopold. (Edit: In that time, the 1919 Belgian Government Commission estimated half the population had died). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State Belgium has been surprisingly reluctant to even acknowledge this black spot in their history, and you will still find plenty of statues, squares and streets in his honour. Should you want to read more, and it's not an easy read, I'd recommend King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.
- pergadad 7y ago
  But with that logic you'd also have to shutter half the other museums in Europe, e.g. British museum is full of stolen stuff.
  - cf498 7y ago
    Yes absolutely, Great Britain is another rather prominent case when it comes to looted art. One just has to think about some of the more prominent examples, like the Koh-i-Noor, or when it comes to the museum, the elgin marbles.

by chabes 7y ago

keenmaster 7y ago

It would be glorious if an ethnic Egyptian publicly distributes the Nefertiti scan and solicits a copyright claim. The Neues museum really has it coming. They shouldn’t even have the bust. Their sense of entitlement is shocking. What bothers me more is the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium. Belgian King Leopold II ravaged modern day DRC and perpetrated a genocide there. Belgium pilfered Congo’s treasure and brutally enslaved its people. Yet, the treasure is still in a Belgian museum, the same museum that used to have a “human zoo,” displaying the conquered people like pets. The museum is reinventing itself, but its mere existence is insulting. They should return the treasure, dedicate most of the museum to Congo Genocide remembrance, and forward all revenues to NGOs and infrastructure projects in the DRC.

zakki 7y ago
This happened to all treasures owned by the country that got colonized. Some of the treasures probably were taken legally (I.e. given as a gifts before colonization happened).
- eecc 7y ago
  Italy returned the Axum Obelisk. Yes it happens, yes amendments can be made.
StavrosK 7y ago
Do you have details on the human zoo? That has got to be right up there in the list of shitty things people have done.
- keenmaster 7y ago
  “The most talked-about part of the exhibition was the "human zoo" — a mock African village set up in the estate's woods and ponds. King Leopold, who never set foot in Congo, imported 267 Congolese men, women and children to Tervuren and displayed them behind a fence. “When Leopold heard they were getting sick because of candy they were eating that was tossed to them by the crowd, he put up an equivalent of a 'Don't Feed the Animals' sign at a zoo, saying, 'the blacks are fed by the organizing committee,'"“ https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-once-stood-a-belgian-museum-now-faces-its-colonial-past https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-on...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - bane 7y ago
    Interestingly, this was just published by CNN https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/belgium-blackface-colonial-history-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/belgium-blackface-colo...
- tverbeure 7y ago
  An African village was one of the attractions during the 1958(!) World Expo in Brussels. My mother remembers it very well going there as a teenager. https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m_features/human-zoos-a-shocking-history-of-shame-and-exploitation https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m_features/human-zoos-a-sh... : "And by the time of the fair in Brussels, the notion of a human zoo was largely considered distasteful and had been banned in most countries. Yet change didn’t happen quickly enough for those of the Congolese village in 1958. A number of the original 297 died during the show and were buried in a mass, unmarked grave."
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Wasn't limited to Leopold, though his Stalinesque reputation means his is probably one of the better known. Many of the "developed" nations of the late 1800s and early 1900s had ethic villages or exhibitions - with live exhibits. London, Paris, New York, etc. St Louis made a point of adding newly acquired native Philippinos to the native American display at the World Fair and 1904 Olympics. Developed nations carried on with those exhibitions far longer than you might expect or hope. Though they were in decline by WW2, there's been a fair selection of basically racist exhibits post war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo King Leopold II was a bit special, even by the standards of the height of colonialism. His privately owned Congo Free State - it really was his, founded and owned by him personally was excessively bad at everything. It started public and government campaigns in Britain, America and I believe France and others too, ultimately culminating in multiple nations taking stand and signing treaties against Leopold's vanity project. The atrocities were far in excess of any other colonial power for the few years he owned it. Millions died, millions more, including children, had hands or feet hacked off. The state stepped in and it became the Belgian Congo after 15 or 20 years of Stalin ^W Leopold. (Edit: In that time, the 1919 Belgian Government Commission estimated half the population had died). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State Belgium has been surprisingly reluctant to even acknowledge this black spot in their history, and you will still find plenty of statues, squares and streets in his honour. Should you want to read more, and it's not an easy read, I'd recommend King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.
pergadad 7y ago
But with that logic you'd also have to shutter half the other museums in Europe, e.g. British museum is full of stolen stuff.
- cf498 7y ago
  Yes absolutely, Great Britain is another rather prominent case when it comes to looted art. One just has to think about some of the more prominent examples, like the Koh-i-Noor, or when it comes to the museum, the elgin marbles.