SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - The Museum of Art and Archaeology

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:58:07 GMT

Barker has worked in several kinds of museums—natural history museums and anthropology museums. “No one feels uncomfortable going into a natural history museum without knowing about bird taxonomy or going into an anthropology museum without knowing the latest details about the origins of humans,” he says. “But a lot of people are uncomfortable coming to an art museum if they don’t know a lot about art, and that is not a good thing.” Fortunately, the Museum of Art and Archaeology combines art with classical archaeology, offering a view of the changes of art over a very long period of time. Barker has been trying to make people more comfortable with the idea of coming into the museum and having their own experience with art—engaging authentic objects, whether from antiquity or from more recent periods, on their own terms.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Museum Ethics (cont.)

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:03:12 GMT

As a museum director and archaeologist, one of Barker’s most pressing research agendas concerns ethics and the question of who owns the past. Although many objects in the museum’s collection predate modern acquisition guidelines, this remains a real concern for museum staff. Finding himself torn between competing and often contradictory claims to the past’s remnants, Barker struggles with how to ethically handle the acquisition of antiquities in a way that seeks to protect the archaeological record and the sovereignty of the countries from which the objects originate, but also to benefit the public today.

SyndicateMizzou Video Podcast

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - The Museum of Art and Archaeology

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Museum Ethics (cont.)