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Been seeing lots of VERY recent (>2 months) VERY problematic uses of AI in museums and museum contexts recently. Specifically, the use of AI to supplement non-white cultures for “living” history programming (ie: person portraying or depiction of a historic person/character) instead of employing members of said non-white cultures to accurately and adequately portray their history.

No one seems to be thinking twice about the ethical concerns of AI rendering faux visual depictions or even accurate depictions “cartoonized” by not having real people portray them.

#the Smithsonian. Mount Vernon. even the White House #it’s quite problematic #because even with intensive effort #and the best of intentions #it’s giving people fake information #and removing the basic function of the museum as an education space #by forcing them to identify what is real and what is fake #which also leaves the door open for them to apply but not just visuals but to the information itself #Inviting people to decide what parts of museums they want to believe #And when fake information like AI is centered around non-white cultures #The thing that people are going to choose not to believe is anything regarding those groups #Because they already know so little about them (on average)#clair rambles #museums #history museum #museum ethics #I hate artificial intelligence #public history #museum studies

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The Mütter Museum Reckons with Human Remains in Its Collection | The …

#museums #mutter museum #human remains #history #college of physicians #museum ethics #collections management #museum issues

Many of the nation's historical treasures are returning after being stolen during the Khmer Rouge genocide.

"A trove of precious jewelry from Cambodia’s past has been repatriated after surfacing in London.

Totaling 77 artifacts from the medieval kingdom of Angkor, they are believed to have been trafficked from the country during the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge and the civil wars that plagued the country during the 20th century.

Angkor was one of the greatest powers in the East between the 9th and 14th centuries. Their theocratic capital of Angkor Wat is considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Medieval World, and today is still the largest religious complex on Earth.

The treasures date squarely to this period of flourishing and some of the crowns are believed to have sat on royal brows. They include items “such as gold and other precious metal pieces from the Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian period including crowns, necklaces, bracelets, belts, earrings, and amulets,” the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said in a statement.

The items came from the estate of recently-late serial art trafficker Douglas Latchford, who for many years was considered an expert antiquities appraiser, but was later discovered to have worked alongside the Communist Khmer Rouge to traffic hundreds of artifacts from the country.

Now, many of the nation’s historical treasures are returning, and this trove is just the most recent tranche.

Last year, US citizens or institutions returned either voluntarily or by court order, 30 items sold by Latchford, including a 10th-century sculpture of the Hindu god Skanda atop a peacock considered a “masterpiece.”

The year before that, the estate of Latchford, who died in 2020 before he could be convicted of antiquities trafficking, sent back five bronze and sandstone sculptures to Cambodia."

-via Good News Network, 2/22/23

Bonus Info:

Cambodia's government said the pieces of jewelry that arrived back in their homeland included items "... precious metal pieces from the Pre-

"The return of the items followed a September 2020 agreement with Latchford's family under which all Cambodian artifacts in their possession would be returned to Cambodia. Other stone and bronze artifacts were returned in September 2021."

-via NPR, 2/21/23

#angkor #cambodia #southeast asia #khmer rouge #antiquities #ancient art #ancient jewelry #ancient history #repatriation #museums #art history #good news #hope #anti colonialism #museum ethics

Back in May of 2023, the Mütter Museum located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania went under fire for the mysterious removal of most of its online

I got angry again.

#the mutter museum #museum #The Mütter Museum #save the mutter #musuem #museum ethics #history #museam #history museum #historian #medical history #death #ethics #ableism #racism #social issues #repatriation #mutter museum

The International Council of Museums Costume Committee has apologised for its guidelines around wearing historical items from museum collect

I know the met gala controversy is old hat at this point (pun intended) but this is a very interesting angle that should definitely be considered.

#repatriation #met gala #museum #museum ethics

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I can’t believe I took an entire class on art collecting and we didn’t even have a spat about the Elgin marbles once.

#i feel like it would have happened if we met in person or even online for the second half of the semester #the class had other thematic issues and tbh we didnt end up talking about ethics as much as id hoped #because i went into it specifically wanting to learn more about the topic and somehow came out even more confused #that said it was about the collections at vassar but we didnt even really learn about that history #tbh i have a lot to say about whats in our collection and on display and what we teach but thats another issue #anyway #letters from the authoress #she goes to vassar #museum ethics

Hi there! I'm a fellow museum studies student and classicist currently completing my undergrad. The issues of repatriation, museum ethics, and the Parthenon Marbles are of particular interest to me. I was wondering what advice you would give to someone in my position about graduate studies and entering the field? Thanks so much!!

Hello, friend!

So, for the issues of repatriation and museum ethics, I would start from the level of where you currently live and work your way up from there, because the laws might differ at each level. Contact local museums where you live and ask them if they have a Code of Ethics and if they allow people to view it (usually places would have it online for people to view/download as a PDF if they have one).

So, start with your town/city and check their laws about art and antiquities, then move to your state or province (or equivalent), then your country, and then move on to international law. It’s good to familiarize yourself with laws of places where you might be dealing with in the future depending on your expertise (e.g., Classicists should think about Greek and Italian laws, as well as lesser expected countries, such as Bulgaria, if your ancient artifacts come from or have come from these countries, etc.) So, I’ll give you some good starters for some of those things below:

For ethics, here are good places to start, with the American Alliance of Museums ethics page: https://www.aam-us.org/programs/ethics-standards-and-professional-practices/ethics/ and the International Council of Museums ethics page: https://icom.museum/en/activities/standards-guidelines/code-of-ethics/. Many museums follow both of these so it would be a good primer for you to familiarize yourself with these here.

For repatriation (if you’re from North America) of Native American and First Nations art, artifacts, and remains, I would suggest these sources to read and familiarize yourself with:

The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures: https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Presentation-American-Indian-Cultures/dp/0295984597/

Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums (First Peoples, New Directions in Indigenous Studies): https://www.amazon.com/Decolonizing-Museums-Representing-Directions-Indigenous/dp/0807837156/

Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture: https://www.amazon.com/Plundered-Skulls-Stolen-Spirits-Americas/dp/022629899X/

Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains?: https://www.amazon.com/Repatriation-Reader-American-Indian-Remains/dp/0803282648/

Spirited Encounters: American Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices: https://www.amazon.com/Spirited-Encounters-American-Policies-Practices/dp/0759110891

Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990: https://www.doi.gov/iacb/act

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act site: https://www.nps.gov/nagpra/

And blog sites like this might help, too: Repatriation of Aboriginal Remains and Artifacts in Canada: https://culturalpropertylaw.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/repatriation-of-aboriginal-remains-and-artifacts-in-canada/

Books about Museums and Maori People:

Exhibiting Maori: A History of Colonial Cultures of Display: https://www.amazon.com/Exhibiting-Maori-History-Colonial-Cultures-dp-1845204751/dp/1845204751/

Museums and Maori: Heritage Professionals, Indigenous Collections, Current Practice: https://www.amazon.com/Museums-Maori-Professionals-Indigenous-Collections-ebook/dp/B01H5L2AFE/

General Links about International Law on Repatriation (more can be found by search):

http://www.artlaw.online/en/read-it/articles/repatriation-of-cultural-property-to-its-state-of-origin-as-international-customary-law

https://icom.museum/en/news/international-repatriation-of-human-remains-of-indigenous-peoples/

https://www.nps.gov/nagpra/special/international.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/01/21/when-should-antiquities-be-repatriated-to-their-country-of-origin/when-repatriation-is-clear-cut

For formal training about things like art law and repatriation in museums, here are some places for you to check out (including one MOOC):

FutureLearn MOOC: Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime (University of Glasgow): https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/art-crime

You can take this for free but if you want the certificate, it costs money, but I think the course itself, content-wise, is worth the three weeks they give you

Institute of Art Law (UK): https://ial.uk.com/courses/

They have courses both for people with legal training as well as for people who are in fields relevant to art law but without legal training

They offer both distance and in-person training

LLM Art Law at the University of York: https://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/llm-art-law/

Master of Science in Art History: Collecting and Provenance in an International Context at the University of Glasgow: https://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/artcollectingprovenance/

This program is the only one I know of that focuses on artifact provenance by allowing you to focus on both law and art history at a graduate level

Postgraduate Certificate in Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime at the University of Glasgow: https://online.gla.ac.uk/programme/university-of-glasgow-antiquities-trafficking-art-crime-1544700394205

Three required courses, all taken online, so you don’t have to be in Scotland for them

Two of the three required courses are optional courses for the MSc mentioned above

Additionally, there are some law schools in the United States that offer either a combination JD/MA in Art History or a certificate in Art and Museum Law or Heritage Studies (or related), found below:

Boston University: JD/MA in Preservation Studies: https://www.bu.edu/academics/law/programs/jdma-preservation/

Case Western Reserve University: The Dual JD/MA Degree Program in Law, Art History and Museum Studies: https://law.case.edu/Academics/Degrees/Dual-Degrees/JD-MA-Art-History-and-Museum-Studies

I looked at their available Art History/Museum courses and they have a good selection that would be relevant for Classicists!

DePaul University: JD with Certificate in Arts and Museum Law: https://law.depaul.edu/academics/jd-programs/certificates/Pages/arts-and-museum-law.aspx

University of Georgia: JD/Master of Historic Preservation: https://ced.uga.edu/degrees/mhp/mhp-other-degree-options/jd-mhp/

And for a general reference for museum law, I recommend this book, which can be difficult to get through, but is a must-have for museum professionals, imo: A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections: https://www.amazon.com/Legal-Primer-Managing-Museum-Collections/dp/1588343227

A few other books that might be relevant to your interests are here:

International Law, Museums and the Return of Cultural Objects: https://www.amazon.com/International-Museums-Return-Cultural-Objects/dp/0521732409/

Trafficking Culture: New Directions in Researching the Global Market in Illicit Antiquities: https://www.amazon.com/Trafficking-Culture-Transnational-Criminal-Cultural-dp-1138692492/dp/1138692492/

One of the authors (Donna Yates) of this book is the professor for the University of Glasgow Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime PgCert mentioned above, so this book would be a good investment

The Center for Art Law blog site also has a good list of other possible places for course/training (some of which I have already mentioned): https://itsartlaw.com/art-law-resources/art-law-courses-and-programs-worldwide/

OKAY! So, now that I have possibly overwhelmed you with all the options (apologies if I didn’t give enough resources for your country, I wasn’t sure where you were, and I’m most familiar with academics in the U.S./U.K.). For consideration of what you might want to do in graduate school, you should consider what you’d like to focus on - for example, if you think law school is what you’re aiming for, you can figure out which program is best for you. If you want to go to graduate school for your specialty (like Classics or Museum Studies), see if you’d be able to take a couple courses about art law from the Law School and have it count towards your degree or see if your program has a course focused on law (my MA in Museum Studies had a law course because one of our professors had an LLM and she was a Native American History Ph.D. student, so it was full of good information about things like repatriation). If you can manage to go abroad for the degree, see what your options might be. A lot of artifact provenance is learned on the job, so the only place you’d get an official degree focused on it (unless my followers know of anywhere else) is at the University of Glasgow. I don’t know of any other program, certificate or otherwise, that gives you the training for artifact provenance. Check out Ph.D. programs, too, some universities (at least in the US) have JD/Ph.D. and Ph.D./MBA options, so if you were thinking of being a Curator with a trajectory to become a Director, I would suggest one of those programs.

A few more artifact provenance (and related) links that may be of use/interest to you, too:

Chasing Aphrodite: https://chasingaphrodite.com/

The EU Provenance Project: http://www.gridprovenance.org/

International Foundation for Art Research: https://www.ifar.org/provenance.php

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any further questions or want me to expand/elaborate on anything!

#wiccan-lesbionage #I love your url omg #museum #museums #ask #asks #personal #repatriation #museum ethics #ethics #Parthenon Marbles #links #long post

Trusted by museums, auction houses and billionaire collectors, the late dealer Douglas Latchford is now among the art market’s most toxic na

"Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

🗞️ Word On The Street

The looting of Cambodia's cultural heritage enriched dealers, collectors, and institutions for decades. Recovering what was taken is proving far more difficult than taking it in the first place.

#Art News #Cultural Heritage #Cambodia #Museum Ethics #Art World #Addicted Art Gallery