In searching for some controversial topics regarding museums I began to think about the increased number of incidents involving climate protesters entering museums and attempting to vandalize high-profile works of art. It feels like every few months we hear stories of climate activists adhering themselves to artwork or throwing glue/beans/etc at famous pieces including artwork…
Read MoreOn this search to find a controversy that was not talk about in this week’s module, I came across a cringeworthy article published in in The Journal of Museum Education titled, “The Eye of the Beholder” by Janet Kamien, 1998 that speaks about the Endings: An Exhibit about Death and Loss exhibition at the Boston Children’s Museum…
Read MoreWhile trying to think of an out of the box controversy facing museums, I turned to one of my (morbidly) favorite topics – true crime. There are multiple true crime museums out there, and part of their exhibits include artifacts from infamous criminals, the more gore, the better. This is the controversy, as we’re talking…
Read Morehttps://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/pinakothek-der-moderne-picasso-painting-ownership-dispute-1234662945/ For this week I chose the issue around the procurment of art that was looted or sold under duress. As was the case for the Munich Art Museum in Germany following a decades-long case around a Picasso called the Madame Soler painted in 1903. Due to the dispute over the ownership of the painting,…
Read MoreThe controversy that I will be discussing today has been resolved but is nevertheless a good example of the controversial acquisition of indigenous property without regard for its cultural significance. In 1929 the G’psgolox Totem Pole was taken from the Haisla people of British Columbia and shipped to the Swedish National Museum of Ethnography in…
Read MoreWhile looking for other types of controversies that might be found in museums, I came across this article that really made me think on it for a minute. Disclaimer, I still don’t have an answer for it. What I found isn’t a type of controversy, but it was a controversial take that a museum decided…
Read MoreAlthough not as severe of a museum controversy, there is the controversy of museums not validating the authenticity of acquired collections. In this article by The New York Times, a French museum (i.e., the Terrus Museum) discovered that more than half of its collections of paintings were counterfeits. Before continuing the conversation about the controversy…
Read MoreAnswering the question about other controversies in the field of museums and heritage centers is a challenge for me. Most of the concerns/controversies discussed in this module are the ones that highlight to me the most. Though thinking about it more, I also think that maybe the controversies of funding and accountability is probably one…
Read More
