The ‘Soul of Our Nation’: Restitution of Khmer Antiquities
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Venue
- Brunei Gallery, SOAS University of London
- Room
- B104
About this event
The statues are not coffee table décor to us, they are not doorstops. These are our kings, our ancestors, our spirits. They are the soul of our nation.
Pen Moni Makara, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Cambodia
What does it mean to stake a claim for the ‘soul of a nation’? How does a statue embody a nation’s soul? If such claims underpin Cambodian restitution campaigns today, how do restitution processes themselves inform such claims? How does the equation of ancient statuary with the soul of the nation on politicized public fronts intersect with practices on the ground? If a sculpted stone is experienced as living, is there a point at which it can be said to die? Can it be brought back to life? What relations maintain between the emotive and the rational in restitution work? Does the reality and rhetoric of restitution divide the national from the international, or does it promise to unite them in some decolonial future?
The work of restitution is arduous, integrating political, legal, archaeological, art historical, ethnographic and museological expertise on national, regional, and international registers. As restitution campaigns have accelerated, a Cambodian governmental Restitution Team has been consolidated, going from strength to strength. SOAS is honoured to host this Team for an afternoon of discussion around these questions.
Event Recording
Programme
3:00pm– 3:15pm Opening: Prof. Ashley Thompson
3:15pm – 3:30pm Screening of How Looted Statues ended up in Museums. Henry Baker and Adrianne Jeffries,15 September 2022. Online viewers please watch on Bloomberg.com
3:30pm – 4:45pm Panel discussion with members of the Cambodian Restitution Team: Bradley Gordon, Meas Sopheap, Muong Chan Reaksmey, Tek Soklida, Chhorn Kunthea, and SOAS staff Ashley Thompson, Heidi Tan, Panggah Ardiyansyah and Stephen Murphy.
4:45pm – 5:00pm Break
5:00pm – 6:00pm Screening and discussion of Letters from Panduranga by independent film-maker Nguyen Trinh Thi (2015).
6:00pm – 7:00pm Reception: BG02, Brunei Gallery
