School of Arts & College of Humanities

Circumambulating objects: On paradigms of restitution of Southeast Asian art

Circumambulating Objects: on Paradigms of Restitution of Southeast Asian Art (CO-OP) assembles individuals across the arts, culture and heritage fields to question entrenched systems of valuation, ownership, replication, collecting and display as these are brought into relief through restitution processes today.

CO-OP is a research project funded by the Getty Foundation Connecting Art Histories program. Prof Ashley Thompson and Dr Stephen Murphy in the SOAS School of Arts lead a 15-strong cohort of scholars, artists, and museum professionals in examining local Southeast Asian epistemologies underpinning restitution. The project primarily comprises of three annual eventsin Southeast Asia— in Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia—where the cohort engages in site visits and discussions around an annual theme.

Group sitting in circle on rocks talking — The cohort makes introductions at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand (Photo by Emma Efkeman)

In addition to these cohort activities, the project has supported ongoing student research at SOAS via an internship programme. Four MA students in History of Art/Archaeology were able to continue research around restitution fostered within their MA programme. Their work, on the Khmer collections of the British Museum and digital repatriation of Javanese manuscripts, will be published on the CO-OP website in early spring.

Header photo: Udomluck Hoontrakul (PhD, SOAS, Lecturer, Thammasat University) leads deliberations on dinner. (Photo by Emma Efkeman)

News

Department of History of Art and Archaeology, School of Arts & College of Humanities

CO-OP research cohort visits sites, museums in northeast Thailand

From 5 to 14 January 2024, the Circumambulating Objects: on Paradigms of Restitution of Southeast Asian Art (CO-OP) research cohort attended the first of three critical thinking labs in northeast Thailand.

School of Arts & Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme

SOAS team awarded grant of over £250,000 for Southeast Asian art restitution project

The Getty Foundation has awarded Professor Ashley Thompson and Dr Stephen Murphy a grant of $315,000 (approximately £280,000) for the project, ‘Circumambulating Objects: Paradigms of Restitution of Southeast Asian Art.’

Key SOAS researchers

Hiram W. Woodward Chair in Southeast Asian Art

Professor Ashley Thompson

Southeast Asian arts, aesthetics, literatures and cultural histories, with a focus on Cambodia, from the Angkorian to the post-Angkorian to the contemporary; Theravadin Buddhist arts, literatures and ritual; cultural heritage; sexual difference; deconstruction; memory and textuality.

Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art

Dr Stephen A Murphy

Curating, museology, and history of collections, especially in Southeast Asia and Asia more generally; debates surrounding the decolonising of museums. Buddhist and Hindu art and archaeology of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand and Laos. Indian Ocean World maritime networks and shipwrecks.

Lecturer in Curating and Museology

Dr Heidi Tan

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