Exhibition: The Missing: Rebuilding the Past

The Missing: Rebuilding the Past is the first exhibition to showcase the efforts of artists and scholars who resist the destruction of cultural heritage wrought by the so-called Islamic state, ISIS.

ISIS have marred cultural treasures in Iraq and Syria, taking sledgehammers and drills to statues at the Mosul Museum and delivering numerous blows to the ancient site of Palmyra. With no end to the destruction in sight, the documentation and preservation of such artefacts must be approached with a sense of urgency.

A number of projects that engage with existing and developing technologies have emerged in recent years to trace the histories and even reconstruct destroyed objects. While many of these respond to cultural loss from human conflict, still others are concerned with ever present sources of erasure, from looting and illicit dealing to weather and the passing of time.

The Missing: Rebuildng the Past examines how artists and scholars use creative means to protest preventable loss.

Curated by Erin Thompson, the exhibition is touring from the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City. It will coincide with the unveiling of a life-sized replica of the Palmyra Arch in both Trafalgar Square and Times Square, New York City on 19th April in conjunction with World Heritage Week 2016.