CO-OP
At a workshop in the foothills of Mount Merapi, the week before our CO-OP cohort met in Jakarta in July 2024, a European art collector challenged my commendation of the Dutch Government’s return of the Singhosari stone Bhairava, Nandi, Ganesha and Brahma statues to Indonesia the year before. The Republic of Indonesia, he said, did […]
A researcher’s profane jaunt in Central Java Read More »
To me, as an Indonesianist, or ‘Island Southeast Asianist’ as Panggah Ardiyansyah, Zainab Tahir and I would call ourselves initially in the CO-OP context, our first group visit and traveling seminar, to Thailand in January 2024, was full of unsettling encounters, the kind of encounters that confront us with a joke others find extremely funny,
Getting the joke. Difficult pasts and difficult sites of learning in Thailand and beyond Read More »
It was strikingly sunny in early January 2024 when the CO-OP cohort visited the Plai Bat II site in Buriram Province, Thailand. The site lies atop a hill in the Prakhon Chai region, a perfect location for those who seek a connection to the past. Considering dozens of articles in the media urging the return
Drifting ships: who owns the cargo? Read More »
In reflecting on Phanom Rung with Soumya James, we sought permission from Hiram Woodward to post this piece published in 1971 in the Bangkok Standard Magazine, which he kindly gave along with an accompanying note. Writing not long after the looting occurred, his commentary accents the immediate effects of such dislocations and destructions on cultural
‘The Tragedy of Phanom Rung’ from 1971 by Hiram Woodward, under the pseudonym D.W. Ward Read More »
Our group visited the Phanom Rung Historical Park where we saw two lintels that were stolen and thence returned. The lintels traversed through multiple cultures and time scales, national boundaries and destination points, and changed many hands before ultimately returning to a home that is familiar and yet distant. One lintel was from the Nong
A Visit to Phanom Rung Read More »
From 5 – 14 January 2024, the CO-OP cohort met in Thailand for the first of its three critical thinking labs. After a night in Bangkok, we set out for Northeast Thailand where we would remain for the next 8 days. After two days of discussion and debate at a hotel in Khao Yai, we
Seeing Old Sites Anew: Some Reflections from the First Critical Thinking Lab Read More »
This case study was considered as part of a broader provenancing project. Read the summary and other case studies on the project page. This case study will examine two Khmer lintels donated by Douglas Latchford to the British Museum (BM) in 1971. The lintels raise many unanswered questions. Where did they come from? How did they
Two Ancient Khmer lintels donated by Latchford in 1971 Read More »
This case study was considered as part of a broader provenancing project. Read the summary and other case studies on the project page. This report summarises research undertaken to trace the ownership history and transfer of certain objects in the BM’s Cambodia collection. I have focused on individual objects and groups of objects about which
This case study was considered as part of a broader provenancing project. Read the summary and other case studies on the project page. This statue currently held in the stores of the British Museum (BM), is accessioned as figure (1976,1101.1) [Fig. 1]. The following case study provides insight into provenance issues stemming from the trade of
The Khmer Standing Male Divinity at the British Museum Read More »
Our visit to Ban Sema and the temple of Wat Pho Chai Semaram in Kalasin province, was a late afternoon encounter with familiar signs of merit-making and active temple curation. An orderly layout of ancient sema stones or boundary markers (from the Pali sīmā) framed by Fine Art Department (FAD) panels, identified them as works
Thinking with Sema Stones at the Temple Museum Read More »