Despite facing complex ethical issues on a regular basis, research into the ethics of art is given scant attention by the world’s museums, says Erich Hatala Matthes.
From the case of Python’s bell-krater to the Dana Schutz affair to the debate over Confederate monuments, recent events suggest that museums need to treat research on the ethics of art as integral to their work. These high-profile cases force museums to wade into complex ethical questions about cultural property, cultural appropriation, and legacies of injustice that they have not always adequately prepared for, and which often disappear from their agendas once the PR fires have been put out. While museums may have codes of ethics that aim (with varying degrees of success) to regulate professional conduct, they lack internal institutional support for sustained research into these pressing and fundamental issues... Keep reading on Apollo
From the case of Python’s bell-krater to the Dana Schutz affair to the debate over Confederate monuments, recent events suggest that museums need to treat research on the ethics of art as integral to their work. These high-profile cases force museums to wade into complex ethical questions about cultural property, cultural appropriation, and legacies of injustice that they have not always adequately prepared for, and which often disappear from their agendas once the PR fires have been put out. While museums may have codes of ethics that aim (with varying degrees of success) to regulate professional conduct, they lack internal institutional support for sustained research into these pressing and fundamental issues... Keep reading on Apollo