The Empty Showcase Syndrome

Know about the book -

The Empty Showcase Syndrome is written by Jos Beurden and published by Taylor & Francis. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1040773990 (ISBN 10) and 9781040773994 (ISBN 13).

European countries, including the Netherlands, are increasingly more willing to return looted art to their former colonies. In doing so, however, they are confronted with hard choices. In The Empty Showcase Syndrome, Jos van Beurden explores three of the toughest questions that countries and governments face. First, former colonial powers often hesitate to relinquish control over the provenance research into the looted items to their former colonies. Secondly, most private owners keep quiet about their collections, while these collections should also be included in the restitution debates. Finally, many former colonies struggle with the question of where exactly the returned collections should go: to their national museums or to the old royal houses or indigenous communities from which these collections were stolen. In this book, Jos van Beurden uses many examples from the Netherlands, which has recently returned stolen art to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.