Two new books by Nigel Biggar and Adam Kuper advocate for wilful amnesia and collective repression of British colonial brutality.
Dan Hicks
Dan Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at Oxford University and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum. His latest book is The Brutish Museums, Twitter @ProfDanHicks and Instagram @ProfDanHicks
Posted inOpinion
UK Welcomes Restitution, Just not Anti-Colonialism
“The work of cultural restitution must be about what we give up, not just what or how we give back,” writes Dan Hicks in response to Arts Council England’s new restitution guidelines for museums.
Posted inOpinion
The Risks That Lurk in Europe’s “Scramble for Decolonization”
As the global consensus on restitution passes the tipping point, some skepticism towards these sudden, improbable Damascene conversions towards restitution is probably justified.
Posted inArt
Hew Locke Challenges Empire in Birmingham
The artist realized what he previously called an “impossible proposal,” building a ship around a public statue of Queen Victoria, where she’s joined by five smaller replicas of herself.
Posted inArt
Unmasking a History of Colonial Violence in a German Museum
At Leipzig’s Grassi Museum, a Tanzanian-German artist collaboration is reimagining the removal of a plinth as sculptural gesture in its own right.
