17 January 2020

“Tristram Hunt seems to be exploring the issues some of us started to raise twenty years ago as if they are new. Contested narratives and ownership, etc. But a welcome improvement on the monotonously presumptive and culturally hegemonistic voice of Neil MacGregor.” Tristram Besterman

BBC Radio Four, Curating the Future

Origins

Episode 1 of 3
Museums have never been more popular around the world or faced such sustained criticism. While the Louvre enjoys record-breaking visitor numbers, Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island builds a new museum campus for the Middle East and blockbusters from Leonardo to Van Gogh to David Bowie circle the globe, museums are also under challenge. Critics questions historic claims to neutrality, call for the repatriation of colonial-era artefacts and protest over the origins of sponsors' money.
V&A Director Tristram Hunt begins the series by looking back at the origins of some of the world's oldest museums and galleries, including those founded to tell the story of a nation, to display a royal or colonial collection or to promote technical and educational improvement.
At the Tokyo National Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and in conversation with the Director of the Rijksmuseum, Tristram asks how foundational ideals can be managed in the post-colonial contemporary world.

To listen follow the link here.

Museums Are Not Neutral
Episode 2 of 3

Museums and galleries remain hugely popular but also face increasing criticism over who visits, who pays and what's on display.
In an era of identity politics, V&A Director Tristram Hunt asks what future museums have when there is no greater sin than 'cultural appropriation', nationalism and nativism decry the multi-cultural stories that galleries tell, and the role of 'experts' is questioned.
With Directors of museums and galleries in London, Derby and Mumbai, Tristram discusses how best to attract new audiences and whether museums should try to promote social justice, transforming their traditional role. He also considers claims that 'Museums Are Not Neutral', explores the co-curation of exhibitions and asks whether 'lived experience’ is as valuable as curatorial knowledge.

To listen follow the link here

Museum of the Future
Episode 3 of 3

In an increasingly digital world, museums are responding to calls for greater digital access and the potential of immersive technology. With the Directors of the Tate, National Gallery and British Museum, Tristram asks whether digital technology undermines or enhances the role and function of museums and galleries. How important is the aura of authenticity or are visitors now more interested in downloading a Rembrandt or Vermeer ?
And, as financial power heads east to the Gulf and China, Tristram explores the wonders of some of the world's newest museums and galleries asks how older institutions can compete.

To listen follow the link here.

The great antiquities debate! But will sending treasures home leave our museums empty? Asks Simon de Bruxelles, writing for the Express.

British museums are increasingly repatriating objects to their home countries amid a debate over ownership. If you are concerned that display cases will be left empty, don’t be. For every item removed there are dozens, sometimes hundreds, that have never made it out of the storeroom. Dan Hicks, author of the newly published study, Every Monument Must Fall, says attitudes have recently begun to change dramatically.   

"No one sensible is suggesting that this conversation is about returning everything. It’s case by case. In the UK we have the problem of the national museums which are not allowed to return objects, but the majority of items are in 30 to 40 regional collections around the country.” Commented Professor Dan Hicks.

Parthenon Marbles:

"There is a case for the return of the sculptures to Athens where they began life 2,500 years ago. They were removed by Thomas Bruce the 7th Earl of Elgin who claimed to have acquired them from Greece’s Ottoman overlords. However no permit has ever been found in the archives of the Ottoman empire and the stories told by Bruce and his agents to subsequent parliamentary enquiries were confused and contradictory.

Bruce sold the marbles to the British Museum in 1816 to get himself out of a financial hole. The Elgin Marbles, as they formally became known, have been a star attraction for 200 years – filling a purpose built gallery and enchanting visitors. A deal is supposed to have been done between Labour and Greece’s new government but nothing has been announced and they are still in the leaky gallery. While the gallery is being rebuilt in the next few years, they will move to a temporary new home and this may be the time to relocate them for good. Whether that will be to London or Athens or a combination of the two is anyone’s guess." Concludes .Simon de Bruxelles. 

Letter sent to the Express:

I was personally assured by the former President of the Hellenic Republic that Greece is not asking for any other sculpture of Greek antiquity in any other museum in the world, other than those specific ones stolen by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon. There should be no fear of empty museums!

 Yours sincerely,

Janet Suzman DBE, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM)