Austria appoints a commission that analyzes all museum collections
Austria also initiates the process of decolonization of the official state collections: an international commission has been appointed that will analyze the collections to find objects of colonial origin and manage any requests for restitution.
me too’Austriaafter France and Holland, it is added to the list of official countries that have started the process at the level decolonization of its museums. The Austrian Secretary of State for Art and Culture (counterpart of our minister), Andrea Mayerhas indeed established a commission of experts of international standing to probe the collections of Austrian museums in search of objects from contests related to colonialism. The goal, explains the Ministry of Art of Culture in a note, is to develop a contemporary and conscious management of objects, in addition to managing return requests.
The commission will be interdisciplinary and will have the task of formulating recommendations for the management of cultural heritage from colonial acquisition competitions and any refunds. The commission will meet several times over the course of 2022 and the work will take place in three phases. The first will concern the contextualization of the objects, in the second we will proceed with a comparison with civil society, with the analysis of legal factors and those related to international relations, as well as the competence of Austrian museums. Finally, the third phase will be dedicated to written recommendations on how to deal with requests for the return of significant cultural assets. Results are expected in the spring of 2023.
The working group will be chaired by Jonathan Fine, scientific director of the Weltmuseum in Vienna, and is composed of Golda Ha-Eiros, Senior Curator of the Anthropological Collection of the National Museum of Namibia in Windhoek; Emmanuel Kasarhérou, President of the Musée du Quai-Branly in Paris; Henrietta Lidchi, Chief Curator of the National Museum of World Cultures in Rotterdam; Barbara Plankensteiner, Director of the Museum am Rothenbaum – Cultures and Arts of the World (MARKK) in Hamburg; Walter Sauer, professor of economic and social history at the University of Vienna; Anna Schmid, director of the Museum der Kulturen in Basel; Katrin Vohland, general manager and scientific director of the Natural History Museum in Vienna; Miloš Vec, professor of legal history at the University of Vienna.
“The colonial legacy of the Austrian federal museums”, states Secretary of State Mayer, “will be analyzed scientifically and in a concentrated way. It is not only a question of addressing the colonial museum heritage, but also of answering a question concerning a postcolonial museology and a culture of memory. Let’s go in depth, but also in breadth: it is important for me to underline the approach to the subject. The inclusion of various stakeholders in the work of the committee will project the results on a broad basis and thus further the further development of a contemporary and sensitive management of the cultural heritage preserved in Austrian federal museums ”.
“Historically, Austria is not considered a colonial power,” the ministry note still reads, “but current research shows that the Habsburg monarchy was involved in many ways in colonial activities. Consequently, the appointment of a specialized commission involving national and international expertise for the development of a sustainable and understandable reference system is of great importance. The Austrian Ministry of Art and Culture attaches great importance to the creation of solid framework conditions for the scientific, transparent and sensitive management of collections from colonial acquisition competitions in federal museums and hopes to make a significant contribution to the internationally welcomed discussion. with the expected recommendations “.
The Austrian government has defined research on postcolonial provenance an important field of work and has therefore intensified the expansion of research on the provenance of objects in state museum collections. So far, the Austrian commitment to provenance research has mainly focused on art and the cultural heritage that they once were confiscated due to persecution under National Socialism. With the’Law on the restitution of art in 1998, Austria gained extensive experience in the field. “Even if the specific responsibility of the Republic of Austria for National Socialist crimes must always remain present in the ongoing debate”, the ministry continues in a note, “this heritage of experience can also be used in the research and management of acquisitions from colonial contests “. The beginnings of Austria’s commitment to investigations on postcolonial provenance date back only to 2019, with the series of events The Museum in the Colonial Context – Austrian Federal Museums and 19th and 20th Century Acquisitionscreated in collaboration with ICOM Austria.
In 2020, research projects arrived in four federal museums (all in Vienna: the Museum of Applied Arts, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Technology and the Weltmuseum), the results of which will be published in 2022 (after which projects of supplementary action). Meanwhile, Austria has handled refund requests from New Zealand (2020) and Hawaii (2021), with the process being suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic (and therefore postponed refunds in agreement with the countries of origin ). The constitution of the commission announced by Secretary Mayer is the most recent step in this process.
In the picture, a room of the Weltmuseum in Vienna
Decolonization: Austria appoints a commission that will analyze all museum collections |
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