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NYC’s Rubin Museum Faces Repatriation Demands Ahead of Closure

October 2, 2024 | In the Press

From Hyperallergic (https://hyperallergic.com/955577/nycs-rubin-museum-faces-repatriation-demands-ahead-of-closure/ (opens in a new window))

Ahead of the closure of New York City’s Rubin Museum of Art, slated to shutter its Manhattan location (opens in a new window) this Sunday, October 6, a local group of activists is calling on the institution to repatriate Tibetan and Himalayan objects in its collection.

Since March, the Tibetan-led campaign Our Ancestors Say No (opens in a new window) (OASN) has been protesting the museum and collecting online petition signatures (opens in a new window) demanding the return of what they allege are stolen sacred cultural artifacts. These include the objects that make up the Rubin’s popular Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room (opens in a new window), which features scroll paintings, religious ritual objects, musical instruments, furniture, and ornamental textiles. The installation is slated to relocate to the Brooklyn Museum, where it will reopen in June in a custom space in the Arts of Asia galleries, marking the beginning of a six-year collaboration between the two institutions.

“As a group of Tibetans organizing to hold the Rubin Museum accountable for decades of violent exploitation of our sacred ancestral objects, we strongly oppose the museum further displacing the Tibetan Shrine Room to the Brooklyn Museum for the next six years,” reads a statement on the OASN website.

The decision to relocate the installation is part of the Rubin’s shift to what it describes as a decentralized “global museum (opens in a new window)” model, in which the institution will exhibit its collection through partnerships with cultural organizations around the world. The move comes after years (opens in a new window) of reported financial issues (opens in a new window) — although the museum maintains that it is in a “strong financial position (opens in a new window)” — that compound growing criticisms (opens in a new window) over the provenance of its collection.

Dedicated to the preservation, research, and enjoyment of Himalayan art, the Rubin was founded in 2004 by New York philanthropist couple Shelly and Donald Rubin, who began amassing their collection of Himalayan objects in the mid-’70s (opens in a new window) — a time period notorious (opens in a new window) for widespread looting cultural heritage in the region (opens in a new window).

Protesters held signs displaying the museum’s antiquities during its gala event commemorating its shift to a decentralized model.

According to its 2023 annual report (opens in a new window), the Rubin’s collection holds “nearly 4,000 objects spanning 1,500 years from the Himalayan areas of India, Nepal, Bhutan, the Tibetan Plateau, and related Mongolian and Chinese cultural regions.” In 2022, the museum returned two Nepali objects after they were identified as stolen (opens in a new window).

“The Rubin vehemently opposes the trafficking of stolen or looted cultural items and has never knowingly acquired any such objects,” a museum spokesperson told Hyperallergic.

Emphasizing a commitment to ongoing research into the provenance of its collection, the spokesperson said in the event that the museum discovers any illicitly acquired objects in its collection, it “will address all claims responsibly, which could include the return of the objects to countries of origin.”

The Brooklyn Museum has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.

Last Friday, OASN protesters rallied outside the Rubin during a museum gala (opens in a new window) event commemorating its upcoming transformation and its inaugural no-strings-attached $30,000 Rubin Museum Himalayan Art Prize (opens in a new window). Outside the institution’s entrance, demonstrators held “Robbin Museum” signs featuring images of antiquities in the Rubin’s collection and erected an altar with candles and flowers. They plan to hold another action (opens in a new window) this Friday, October 4.

“Museums, which profit off the continued dispossession of our object relatives, are inherently at odds with true ethical stewardship. This is true of the Rubin, and it’s especially true of the Brooklyn Museum,” the OASN activist said.

The Our Ancestors Say No campaign is planning to return to the museum this Friday to continue to pressure the institution. (photo courtesy OASN)
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