<
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-first-virtual-museum-of-stolen-cultural-objects-wants-its-collection-to-shrink-not-grow-180987448/>
"To raise awareness of the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage artifacts,
from archaeological finds to artworks to musical instruments, UNESCO has
launched the world’s first-ever Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects.
More than 250 looted cultural objects submitted by 46 countries around the
world have been rendered in 2D and 3D on the museum’s website, which visitors
can now browse for free. The museum is also available to explore while using a
virtual reality headset.
“Cultural objects carry the stories of their communities,” the museum’s
preamble reads. “When a cultural object is stolen, we lose a part of our
identity. Learning about these missing objects is the first step toward their
recovery.”
Formed in 1945, UNESCO is dedicated to the conservation of international
culture, from protecting endangered languages to naming World Heritage Sites.
The virtual museum stems from the mission of UNESCO’s 1970 Convention, which
called on member states to prevent the theft and trafficking of cultural
property.
The initiative is funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and run in
collaboration with Interpol. It launched on September 29 at UNESCO’s World
Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development in Barcelona.
The museum is organized into different virtual rooms, including a gallery of
stolen cultural objects. The items on display are divided by region, with 96
from Europe and North America, 57 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 51 from
Africa, 37 from Asia and the Pacific, and 36 from Arab countries. Objects can
also be sorted by different characteristics, including color; material; and
usage (for example, “admire it,” “bury it” or “exchange it”).
After selecting a region, visitors can click through a range of stolen objects,
such as a 2,000 year-old gold bracelet from Romania, an elephant tusk stolen
from Cameroon and a coin from the Benghazi Treasury in what is now Libya. Some
objects appear flat, while others have been transformed into 3D models that can
be picked up and rotated. In some instances, UNESCO used artificial
intelligence to generate those models based on the available images of an
object."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
