scholarly journals Curating Conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sa’ed Atshan ◽  
Katharina Galor
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Metropolitan Museum ◽  
Metropolitan Museum Of Art ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Asymmetric Power ◽  
East Jerusalem ◽  
Jewish Museum

This article compares four Jerusalem exhibits in different geographical and political contexts: at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Jewish Museum Berlin. It examines the role of heritage narrative, focusing specifically on the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is either openly engaged or alternatively avoided. In this regard, we specifically highlight the asymmetric power dynamics as a result of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, and how this political reality is addressed or avoided in the respective exhibits. Finally, we explore the agency of curators in shaping knowledge and perspective and study the role of the visitors community. We argue that the differences in approaches to exhibiting the city’s cultural heritage reveals how museums are central sites for the politics of the human gaze, where significant decisions are made regarding inclusion and exclusion of conflict.

On white marble half-lotus meditation statues carved in Wuding Era of the Eastern Wei Dynasty

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-194
Author(s):  
Hyun-Sook So
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Metropolitan Museum ◽  
White Marble ◽  
City Area ◽  
Metropolitan Museum Of Art ◽  
Right Hand ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Made In ◽  
Wei Dynasty

Abstract In 2012, large amounts of white marble Buddhist statues of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties were unearthed from the Buddhist sculpture hoard at Bei Wuzhuang in Ye City Site. This paper makes a comparative study on a bodhisattva statue in meditation seated in half-lotus posture (resting right ankle on the knee of pendent left leg and holding right hand upward) among them and another sculpture of the same type and made in the same period unearthed at the Xiude Monastery site in Dingzhou; from the double-tree, stupa and coiling dragon designs shown by them, this paper explores the commonalities and differences of the Buddhist arts in these two areas. Moreover, this paper reveals that this motif emerged earlier in the Ye City area than in the Dingzhou area, and diffused to the latter after it became popular in the Ye City area. By these conclusions, this paper infers that the white marble meditating statue seated in half-lotus position with the date of the second year of Wuding Era (544 CE) in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA was produced in Ye City area.

The museum's mummies: an inside view

1970 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David T Miniberg
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Metropolitan Museum ◽  
Noninvasive Technique ◽  
Metropolitan Museum Of Art ◽  
Cat Scan ◽  
Museum Staff ◽  
Inside View

We have performed CAT scan imaging of the thirteen mummies in the New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This noninvasive technique allowed us to ascertain the age (+/- 5 years), the height and the sex of these individuals. In two cases we were able to establish the cause of death – one man dying as the result of trauma and one woman dying of sepsis secondary to an abscess in the mandible. We discovered two necklaces of amulets on one of the mummies and integrating the CAT scan images, we were able to identify the amulets. These two necklaces had previously been unknown to the museum staff. In one instance, the museum has the encaustic portrait mask in place on the mummy itself, so we were able to compare the portrait with the CAT scan image of the mummy and establish that in this particular case the image was a true portrait rather than an idealized portrayal of the person.

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