CO-OP
The Acquisition of Cambodian Artifacts by John D. Rockefeller 3rd Through the Guidance of Sherman E Lee by Ing Morokoth This case study is part of research in U.S. archives by three CO-OP interns from October 2024 – March 2025. Find the other case studies on the project page. […]
The Quiet Edits: Curating Around Controversy in the 1969 Ancient Cambodian Sculpture Exhibition by Phuy Meychean This case study is part of research in U.S. archives by three CO-OP interns from October 2024 – March 2025. Find the other case studies on the project page. Introduction The 1969 Ancient Cambodian Sculpture exhibition, curated by Sherman
Reflections on the International Conference on Heritage Recovery by Pim Fitzpayne In June 2025, three former CO-OP interns attended the International Conference on Recovery of Cultural Heritage, organized by Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign in Lalitpur, Nepal. Ing Morokoth and Phuy Meychean presented panel papers on their research into the trafficking and art market networks of
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Thinking Restitution through Theatre by Bonny Coombe CO-OP invited Lakhon Komnit Organization (LKO) to produce a theatrical response to the themes of looting, restitution and paradigms of conservation and display. LKO’s grassroots basis connected the project with a Cambodian constituency who might not ordinarily be reached by its research, nor included in the broader discourse
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Returning to belong? Reflections from “Scenes from a Repatriation” and more by Emma Efkeman Last month, a new play by playwright, Joel Tan, finished a four-week run at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Scenes from a Repatriation comprises a series of vignettes—first in London, then in mainland China—witnessed by, intervened in, and responding to
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Understanding the locale, or what’s restitution actually for? By Panggah Ardiyansyah In December 2024, I returned to Jakarta and visited the Repatriasi (Repatriation) exhibition at the National Museum of Indonesia. This temporary exhibition is part of the museum’s highly anticipated reopening after the September 2023 fire which centered on the theme “Reimagining Cultural Inheritances.” It
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Citing the consequences of commercially salvaged artefacts by Zainab Tahir The cohort’s visit in July 2024 to the Marine Heritage Gallery, a gallery managed by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in Jakarta, sparked conversation about the complexities surrounding the display. The Gallery features over three thousand commercially salvaged artefacts, recovered from the ninth-century
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A researcher’s profane jaunt in Central Java by Conan Cheong At a workshop in the foothills of Mount Merapi, the week before our CO-OP cohort met in Jakarta in July 2024, a European art collector challenged my commendation of the Dutch Government’s return of the Singhosari stone Bhairava, Nandi, Ganesha and Brahma statues to Indonesia
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Getting the joke. Difficult pasts and difficult sites of learning in Thailand and beyond by Marieke Bloembergen To me, as an Indonesianist, or ‘Island Southeast Asianist’ as Panggah Ardiyansyah, Zainab Tahir and I would call ourselves initially in the CO-OP context, our first group visit and traveling seminar, to Thailand in January 2024, was full
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Drifting ships: who owns the cargo? by Zainab Tahir It was strikingly sunny in early January 2024 when the CO-OP cohort visited the Plai Bat II site in Buriram Province, Thailand. The site lies atop a hill in the Prakhon Chai region, a perfect location for those who seek a connection to the past. Considering
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