In his intrepid—even heroic—on-the-ground exploration (here, here, here and here) of the deplorable endangerment of embattled Ukraine’s cultural heritage, Jason Farago of the NY Times has gone where most art journalists would fear to tread: He has provided moving personal accounts of ad hoc actions by Ukrainian art professionals and concerned citizens who have valiantly struggled to secure expert advice (not to mention bubble wrap and other packing materials) “to preserve the country’s valuable art.” But he omitted mention of what international cultural officials and professional organizations ought to do (and, in some cases, have already started to do) to address this crisis.
So let’s get to it:
One deep-pocketed potential supporter is the J. Paul Getty Trust. In his President’s Message for the Spring 2022 issue of Getty Magazine (p. 2), James Cuno, who retired this month from his 11-year presidency of the Getty Trust, pulled no punches, stating: “Putin has adopted a strategy used by Hitler: destroy a society’s cultural objects to hasten the destruction of its people….We stand in solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues….What is taking place in Ukraine is a tragedy of monumental proportions.”
Photo from Spring Issue of Getty Magazine
Strong rhetoric, to be sure. But what is the Getty doing about it? Its spokesperson said this, in response to my query: “We’ve been talking about how best to help in Ukraine, and we look forward to involving our new CEO in those ongoing conversations.” The only concrete action mentioned by Cuno (who on Aug. 1 was succeeded by Katherine Fleming as president and CEO) is the Getty’s planned publication next month of Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities, a 636-page paperback that he co-edited with with Thomas Weiss, professor of political science at the City University of New York Graduate Center, which sets forth “strategies and policy agendas to address the dual challenge of protecting culture and people,” with essays by 38 “distinguished experts in their respective fields.” (Cultural Heritage under Siege, 2020, is an online 81-page preview of that book.)
Here’s what one of the book’s essayists—Benjamin Isakhan, associate professor of Politics and Policy Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne—had to say in the section on “Military Perspectives and the Cost of War, Occupation and Intervention” (p. 31):
The Hague Convention [ratified by Russia]…demands that combatants…take on risks—that is, risks to their lives—for the sake of protecting heritage. Article 12 also implies that combatants can be required to impose greater risks on civilians in order to avoid damaging heritage. So again, even if making use of a cultural site would, for example, draw fire away from a civilian population, it requires that they not use the site….
The question here is not whether we think it is permissible to ask combatants to do these things. This is just a conceptual point about the fact that protecting heritage can come at the cost of increased risk to people. It is a separate question from what we ought to do. It simply shows that it is not the case that protecting heritage cannot conflict with protecting people.
Here’s some more lip service, in a statement issued on Feb 28 by the Association of Art Museum Directors:
The Association of Art Museum Directors stands with the global cultural heritage community in condemning the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Risks facing civilians—including artists and museum professionals—and threats to cultural heritage because of this armed conflict are deeply alarming. AAMD urges its members to be a resource and an ally to the museum professionals and artists of Ukraine.
More directly helpful is the American Alliance of Museums’ list of Resources to help Ukrainian Museum Colleagues, including links for donating money or supplies. AAM also links to the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund, wherein you can “directly support independent artists, curators, and cultural workers in Ukraine.”
More action-oriented is the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM’s) Feb. 28 Statement Concerning the Russian Invasion into Ukraine:
ICOM calls for a swift ceasefire, immediate mediation between belligerents, and coordinated efforts to ensure the safety of museum personal and protect cultural heritage. In times of conflict and uncertainly like these, ICOM must also express its deep concern the implications this uncertainty will have on the safety and security of ICOM members, museum personnel and cultural heritage in Ukraine.
After first securing their own safety, ICOM advises all its members to recall their professional obligations under the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums to preserve, maintain and promote heritage and ensure their museums and collections are protected against all varieties of risk, including in conflict. Furthermore, ICOM advises all interested parties that there are many online free and accessible tools which can help in crises such as this, including but not limited to: ICOM and UNESCO Museums Security and Disaster Preparedness in Running a Museum: Practice Handbook; ICCROM [International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property] First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis – Toolkit or UNESCO and ICCROM Endangered heritage: emergency evacuation of heritage collections.
ICOM also cautions about the likelihood of looting—always a danger in such an unstable political situation:
Outside of the immediate area of conflict, this crisis will provide an opportunity for unscrupulous individuals to profit from the threats to heritage. ICOM warns all interested parties to be vigilant for potential increases in the smuggling of cultural materials coming from the region, and ICOM reminds all national governments in the region of their international legal obligations to protect moveable cultural heritage under the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, not to mention the other international cultural conventions for the protection of humanities common cultural heritage.
At its General Conference on the Power of Museums, Aug. 20-28 in Prague, ICOM will present an 11-member expert panel on Heritage Protection Responses in Ukraine, which will “spotlight actions already carried out, as well as offer an opportunity to exchange on future needs for the museum community in Ukraine.” According to the description of that panel, ICOM has “worked closely with its members both inside and outside Ukraine to ascertain the needs of museums and museum professionals in Ukraine and to understand what support other museums and museum professionals elsewhere in the ICOM network can offer their Ukrainian colleagues”:
As part of its effort to protect the cultural heritage of Ukraine, ICOM states that it has been “supporting the efforts of its National Committee in Poland, and has provided ICOM Poland with emergency funding.” It also has issued a Call For Donations from its members, “to support Ukrainian museums and museum professionals.”
UNESCO is also on the case, providing a means to donate and publishing a detailed list of 175 cultural sites in Ukraine that have been damaged since Feb. 24: 74 religious sites, 13 museums, 34 historic buildings, 29 buildings dedicated to cultural activities, 17 monuments, 8 libraries. “To date, no UNESCO World Heritage site appears to have been damaged.”
But when it comes to outside-the-box thinking for envisioning new ways to support Ukraine’s struggle, nothing beats this (as reported yesterday by the Kyiv Independent):
I suppose this is no time to be prudish. (Desperate times call for desperate measures?)
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