When Yugoslavia dissolved in the early 1990s, the resulting violence didn’t just claim human lives. It claimed memory itself. Across Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, libraries, museums, archives, bridges, mosques, and churches were intentionally burned, shelled, or erased. In these conflicts, cultural heritage becomes a front line, not collateral damage. The
Tag: destruction
If one could buy a Picasso, a Van Gogh, or a Raphael, could they also invite the public to deface it? Imagine an exhibition allowing visitors to be participants, giving them the green light to paint over Guernica, carve initials into The Starry Night, or tear through a Renaissance Madonna.
In the summer of 2020, amidst the pandemic lockdown, a man named George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police. The video of his killing led to outrage across the country, with protests spread from coast to coast. Nestled in the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon made headlines for the more than
In 2017, the UN Security Council unanimously voted in Resolution 2347, which condemned the destruction of cultural/religious heritage sites and the looting, smuggling, and sail of cultural and religious artifacts, making such actions a, literal, war crime. The importance behind it, as UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stated, is that “the
Is the strong appreciation of the beauty of art that drives people to commit thievery and seize admired pieces from museums and collections? Who is to decide what is good or bad art? In contrast, would hatred and disapproval of certain art forms or styles eventually cause destruction through criminal