The Getty Center will hold a talk on “Survivor Objects and Captive Sites: Art and Cultural Heritage in Genocide” on December 15, 2024 at 4 p.m. PST. The event will be held in person at the Harold M. Williams Auditorium at the Getty Center and live streamed on the GRI YouTube channel.
As scholars of genocide have shown, the genocidal process extends beyond the physical extinction of the targeted community to include the erasure, appropriation or transfer of the community’s cultural assets. During the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath, sites associated with Armenian culture, particularly religious sites, were destroyed, repurposed, appropriated, sold or transferred. Some became cultural heritage sites sundered from their connection to any remaining Armenian communities, while certain sacred objects were looted or relocated to museums far from the Armenian homeland. These sites and objects eventually acquire a “second life as heritage” and as works of art. This lecture considers the implications of genocide with the processes of making sites into patrimony and objects into museum pieces. It reflects on extinction and transformation into art and what this portends for art history and museums in the 21st century.
Sponsored by the Getty Research Institute Council, the annual Thomas and Barbara Gaehtgens Lecture series is dedicated to highlighting leading research in the field of global art history. Learn more about the series.
The conversation will be available on the Getty Research Institute YouTube channel following the event.
Event is included with free museum admission, which must be booked in advance. Please note there is a fee for parking. Visit the Getty Research Institute’s Exhibitions and Events page for more free programs.
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