Returning colonial loot from Aberdeen. The story of a Benin Bronze
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| Seminar room behind the Humboldt Lab, 1st floor |
| 14 years and older |
| English |
| Humboldt Lab, 1st floor |
| max. 30 persons |
In October 2021, the University of Aberdeen returned a Benin bronze to representatives of the Nigerian government and the court of the Oba of Benin. It was the first museum in the UK to not only agree to the repatriation of a Benin bronze, but to actually do so. In his talk, Neil Curtis will discuss the history of the Benin bronze and share his experiences of the restitution process.
“OBJEKTLABOR. Collections Talks at the Coordination Office” addresses issues and challenges that arise when working with university collections, sheds light on them from different perspectives and offers space for reflection and discussion.
Lecture by Neil Curtis, followed by a discussion with Christopher Li and Sarah Elena Link
Neil Curtis is Head of Museums and Special Collections at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where is he also an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Social Science. He has published on the history of collecting, the treatment of human remains, Scottish archaeology, and repatriation from museums. He was a member of the UK Museums Association’s working group on decolonisation, and is now chairing Museums Galleries Scotland’s working group on repatriation.
Christopher Li is Head of the Sound Archive Collection at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He studied musicology and ethnomusicology, worked at the Museum of Musical Instruments (State Institute for Music Research – Prussian Cultural Heritage) and completed his doctorate with a biographical thesis on George Harrison.
Sarah Elena Link is co-spokesperson for the Coordination Office for Scientific University Collections in Germany, where she works on topics such as provenance research and ethical issues in dealing with collections.