Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

II. Perspectives
after that date, but for anything
discovered
before that, no meaningful multilateral
acquired
exists. Museums and collectors
cooperation
avoided repatriation by appeals to the idea
have
stewardship: even if the provenance of an
of
can be clearly traced to a contemporary
artwork
nation or culture, they claim to be
people,
best custodians of the work, whether that
the
due to their technological apparatus (for
is
temperature and humidity controlled
example,
systems), security, or social and
preservation
stability. What do you think about
political
growing and widespread recognition of
With
political, cultural and economic value of
the
claimants to the ownership of an artwork,
art,
iconic art, have been very willing to
especially
the required investments in protecting
make
work. Even where they cannot intervene,
the
choose not to, do other peoples, nations or
or
have a right to intervene?
organizations
the most ideological argument against
Perhaps
hinges on the idea of a universal
repatriation
belonging to all of humankind, “that
collection,
by juxtaposition in global centres can we
only
for repatriation can be difficult to
Claims
if the ownership of the artwork
reconcile
artefact in question is not traceable to a
or
owner. Is it possible for a work to
present-day
to a culture? What would that mean in
belong
terms? Claims of cultural ownership have
legal
used as the basis of nationalistic claims to
been
and artefacts.
artwork
being human” (Joy 2019). The argument is that
of
if colonial-era collections are an accident of
even
they are still the best place, now, for us
history,
understand and appreciate art in a pluralistic,
to
sentiment is upheld by the headline
The
have no borders, they have a
“Museums
on the website of the International
network”
of Museums, that seems to ignore issues
Council
national and sovereign embeddedness. At
of
given time, the large museums display
any
a fraction of their collection, with the
only
put in storage. As Charlotte Joy, lecturer
rest
anthropology at Goldsmiths, University
of
London, puts it, “to date, the logic of the
of
is not one of access and display but
museum
acquisition and retention” (Joy 2019). It is
of
to imagine an alternative: replicas could
possible
sent to these global centres and the originals
be
“cultural property” refers to
However,
that, rather than belonging to a
materials
territory or state, belong instead to a
family,
collectivity. This could be dispersed
cultural
Peoples for instance. As Janna
Indigenous
puts it, cultural property can
Thompson
understood as property that “plays an
be
role in the religious, cultural or
important
10
cosmopolitan sense.
Works of art have not adhered to modern political
borders. They have always sought connection
elsewhere to strange and wonderful things.
(Tharoor 2015)
these claims?
The ongoing destruction of ancient sites in the
Middle East by the Islamic State has galvanised the
case for the universal museum, with advocates such
as Gary Vikan, the former Director of the Walters Art
Museum in Baltimore, arguing that only institutions
in the West can preserve the world’s cultural
heritage.
(Tharoor 2015)
repatriated.
The idea of the ‘universal museum’, for all its
Enlightenment virtues and educational potential,
is at its core a Western imperial project, and
museums that acquired sacred objects in earlier
times absolutely must rethink their display, their
function and their narrative.
(Farago 2015)
truly make sense of global art and the experience
Box 10.5: What is cultural property? Who belongs to a culture?
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