On October 18, the British Museum is set to open its doors to around 800 guests and new controversy as it hosts a fundraising gala à la the Met in an attempt to directly fund international projects whilst allowing renovations worth £1bn.
The ball is set to occur the concluding weekend of the Museum’s exhibition, ‘Ancient India: Living Traditions.’ Inspiration for its dressing theme, “pink” is said to be from the “colours and light of India“, with the Museum’s director going as far as to instruct, “[i]t has to be this pink that almost has a bit of purple. It can’t be too blush, or too garish. It can’t be Barbie pink. It’s got to be right.” Brilliant and British is the gauzy expectation for a single permissible shade of pink to bring the colours and light of vast cultures. The prospect tickles in reductive whimsy.
The event is to be co-chaired by Director Nicholas Cullinan and Indian heiress Isha Ambani. I am thoroughly conscious of the latter’s presence in spaces of heritage, given her travesty of a home and its garish incongruity with the rest of Mumbai’s historic Worli Sea Face. If last year’s wedding festivities are any indication, however, she seems more attuned to couture; so sure, we’ll give it a pass. Whilst the Museum has been in discussion with luxury brands for the gala, details thus far remain unknown.
Importantly, climate campaign group Culture Unstained has been critical of the Museum’s “deepening of ties to fossil fuel majors”, noting the collaboration with Ambani, of Reliance Industries (oil, gas, petrochemicals). Calling the decision “out of touch”, a spokesperson condemned dealings with “climate criminals” and clamoured for an ethics committee “invit[ing] constructive dialogue” with Museum staff, especially in the light of protests against the evening reception for the Israeli embassy earlier this year.
A replication of the Met Gala at the British Museum is a reach – even conceptually so. Of its status as a celebration of London’s art and culture realm, Zuzanna Lachendro of the New Statesman correctly points to the British Museum’s history as tied to Egyptian and Greek excavations and firmly disconnected from London’s couture scene, suggesting the V&A a more suitable location – in a new exhibition it promotes disabled, deaf and neurodivergent designers shaping the cultural zeitgeist whilst displaying only the floor below, Cartier’s legacy of art and design.
There is a certain comedy of sorrows to much that surrounds the event. Ultimately, be it logical or otherwise, there is no question of it being unethical – the ball’s purpose is to keep afloat a venue that has long been contested on these grounds, perhaps more famously its procurement of priceless artefacts as loot. Nothing about the museum’s courting of the wealthy is novel, with the event managing to entirely sell out its tables of ten, worth £20,000 each. Good news, it seems, especially as the threat of “the roof … fall[ing] through” looms large.
“British Museum Panorama, London” by Ian Muttoo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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The British Museum’s ‘Met Gala’ and the Ethics of Celebration
On October 18, the British Museum is set to open its doors to around 800 guests and new controversy as it hosts a fundraising gala à la the Met in an attempt to directly fund international projects whilst allowing renovations worth £1bn.
The ball is set to occur the concluding weekend of the Museum’s exhibition, ‘Ancient India: Living Traditions.’ Inspiration for its dressing theme, “pink” is said to be from the “colours and light of India“, with the Museum’s director going as far as to instruct, “[i]t has to be this pink that almost has a bit of purple. It can’t be too blush, or too garish. It can’t be Barbie pink. It’s got to be right.” Brilliant and British is the gauzy expectation for a single permissible shade of pink to bring the colours and light of vast cultures. The prospect tickles in reductive whimsy.
The event is to be co-chaired by Director Nicholas Cullinan and Indian heiress Isha Ambani. I am thoroughly conscious of the latter’s presence in spaces of heritage, given her travesty of a home and its garish incongruity with the rest of Mumbai’s historic Worli Sea Face. If last year’s wedding festivities are any indication, however, she seems more attuned to couture; so sure, we’ll give it a pass. Whilst the Museum has been in discussion with luxury brands for the gala, details thus far remain unknown.
Importantly, climate campaign group Culture Unstained has been critical of the Museum’s “deepening of ties to fossil fuel majors”, noting the collaboration with Ambani, of Reliance Industries (oil, gas, petrochemicals). Calling the decision “out of touch”, a spokesperson condemned dealings with “climate criminals” and clamoured for an ethics committee “invit[ing] constructive dialogue” with Museum staff, especially in the light of protests against the evening reception for the Israeli embassy earlier this year.
A replication of the Met Gala at the British Museum is a reach – even conceptually so. Of its status as a celebration of London’s art and culture realm, Zuzanna Lachendro of the New Statesman correctly points to the British Museum’s history as tied to Egyptian and Greek excavations and firmly disconnected from London’s couture scene, suggesting the V&A a more suitable location – in a new exhibition it promotes disabled, deaf and neurodivergent designers shaping the cultural zeitgeist whilst displaying only the floor below, Cartier’s legacy of art and design.
There is a certain comedy of sorrows to much that surrounds the event. Ultimately, be it logical or otherwise, there is no question of it being unethical – the ball’s purpose is to keep afloat a venue that has long been contested on these grounds, perhaps more famously its procurement of priceless artefacts as loot. Nothing about the museum’s courting of the wealthy is novel, with the event managing to entirely sell out its tables of ten, worth £20,000 each. Good news, it seems, especially as the threat of “the roof … fall[ing] through” looms large.
“British Museum Panorama, London” by Ian Muttoo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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