Paper short abstract:

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts have been caught up in a controversial story about 'White Cube' in Lusanga in the DR Congo that wanted to loan a sculptural piece of Balot who was killed in an uprising in the 1930s. The fallout from that negotiations have led to huge strained relationships.

Paper long abstract:

My attention has been drawn to a recent incident involving the Virginia museum of

Fine Arts in which the institution is caught up in a controversial story about a

museum (White Cube) in Lusanga in the DR Congo that wanted to loan a sculptural

piece that originally was carved to represent a Belgian territorial agent (Maximilien

Balot) who was instructed to go to the villages and investigate the case of civil unrest, but was killed in 1931, in what can be construed as mistaken identity...

After failed attempts by the White Cube to secure the

loan from the VMFA, they collected/downloaded images of the sculpture from the

VMFA's website and minted digital copy/copies of the sculpture without consent.

This action has prompted the VMFA close any further channel to collaborate with

this African based museum and art collective…

The fallout from the above situation presents another interesting dynamic in the

ongoing conversation about the repatriation of African art. I survey the VMFA

episode through copious online publications, as well as personal conversations with

folks at the museum and other important personality to tie that back to the renewed resolve of the recently formed Repatriation and Restitution, a Working Group of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, to articulate the unflinching resolve at the need to forming collaborations with institutions in the continent in finding lasting solutions to the repatriation of African cultural patrimonies.

Paper short abstract:

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Paper long abstract:

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Paper short abstract:

Restitution is not simply a return to Africa of goods taken away during the colonial period. It is above all a work of mourning and dialogue on the violence of the past, on the tumultuous present and on a future to be shared. The concept of restitution seen from Africa must then be decolonized.

Paper long abstract:

Current debates on restitution in Europe focus mainly on the material return of cultural goods taken from Africa. It is as if Europe wants to unilaterally get rid of a cumbersome past and move on. Indeed, from an African perspective, the situation is more complex than Europe imagines. Men were subjected to portage, murdered and their remains taken for anthropological studies in universities and other research institutes, royal palaces were burnt down and regalia and ancestral and religious figures looted. The colonial mourning process has not yet taken place, and the wounds related to this painful past and passed on to post-colonial generations have not yet healed. The context of violence linked to the dislocation of cultural goods present in European museums has not yet been sufficiently explored and discussed. The memories of the present linked to this common past are still superimposed. For a common future, a shared memory is needed. The concept of restitution should therefore also be deconstructed and thus decolonized.

Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the way some Cameroonian artists address the issue of restitution

Paper long abstract:

Taking art works from colonial context as source of inspiration, some Cameroonian artists engage with the issue of restitution which is not limited to merely giving back artifacts top Home communities. Restitution seems first of all to be that of historic styles combined with new artistic technics to enhance new art works that transcend ages, colour and ethnic boundaries.