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Question and Answer Tracking Details

276 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ARTISTIC TREASURES

Hornery, Sonia to the Premier representing the Special Minister of State, Minister for the Public Service and Employee Relations, Aboriginal Affairs, and the Arts, Vice-President of the Executive Council

Have cultural institutions in New South Wales played any role in preserving archaeological and artistic treasures from the Middle East during recent conflicts?

 

Answer -

I am advised:

The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences is in the process of acquiring a 3D printed sculpture, 'King Uthal', designed and created by the Iranian born American artist Morehshin Allahyari in 2016. It is one of 12 objects from the 'Material Speculation: ISIS' series produced in 2015 - 2016. This object is a digital fabrication which resembles, as closely as possible, the 'real' King Uthal sculpture destroyed by ISIS forces in 2015 as part of a program which claimed it sought to erase statues and figures that promote idolatry.

In 2014, the Art Gallery of New South Wales hosted Afghanistan: hidden treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, an exhibition of ancient artefacts that had been hidden by museum staff in Kabul to protect them from bombs, looters and a Taliban decree to destroy all 'idolatrous' images. The exhibition featured art and cultural treasures spanning a period from 2200BCE to 200CE and derived from important Silk Road archaeological sites.

 


Question asked on 30 May 2019 (session 57-1) and printed in Questions & Answers Paper No. 6
Answer received on 4 July 2019 and printed in Questions & Answers Paper No. 13