Ex Situ - Open-source spatial index of displaced cultural artifacts
Show HN: Ex Situ – open-source spatial index of displaced cultural artifacts
Ex Situ is an open-source platform that maps over 145,000 cultural artifacts displaced from their countries of origin to major global museums. By aggregating data from institutions like the Ethnologisches Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, it visualizes the global scale of cultural displacement. Users can explore interactive maps to see which nations have lost the most heritage and which collections hold these items. This tool empowers researchers, activists, and the public to understand the complex history of colonial looting and advocate for the repatriation of cultural heritage.
Ex Situ reveals the hidden geography of cultural loss by mapping 145,387 artifacts from 9 major collections, turning abstract historical injustice into a tangible, visual reality.
- theroadnotbacon
Huh! Was hoping to get, for example, a sense of scale of cultural artifacts stolen from Korea by the Japanese. But I don't see any provenance descriptions for Japanese institutions. Either way, this is super cool. Thank you for sharing this.
- txzl
I think much more lines should go to Moscow.
At least from such places as Crimea.
But I see you covered only western/euro-american institutions.
- iamacyborg
One day I really should dig up my great great great great grandfather’s[^1] diaries to see first hand how he justified bringing back so much stuff to the UK.
[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Richard_Hamilton
- taylorfinley
This is a really cool project. Is there any way to contribute data?
Hawaii's artifacts have been displaced far and wide, The British museum alone has a stunning collection that usually sits in a basement, e.g. a small sample of their collection documented here:
https://www.artoftheancestors.com/blog/hawaii-british-museum
- arendtio
> Coming from a design background
From a UX perspective, it is very weird to place the toggle button for the right panel at the top of the left panel... After I gave up to find a way to close the right panel, I found that button a few minutes later, when I looked around for other interactive elements.