Ex Situ: An Open-Source Spatial Index of Displaced Cultural Artifacts

Ex Situ: An Open-Source Spatial Index of Displaced Cultural Artifacts

Ex Situ is an open-source spatial index designed to visualize the movement of cultural artifacts from their original locations to the museums where they are currently held. By mapping these displacements, the project provides a data-driven perspective on the history of colonial rule and the acquisition of global art collections.

Data Distribution and Museum Collections

Ex Situ tracks 145,387 artifacts across nine major collections. The data reveals a high volume of displaced objects originating from regions with a history of colonial exploitation.

Artifacts by Origin

According to the index, Japan (20,549 artifacts), Peru (15,341), Egypt (12,393), Iran (9,397), and India (9,365), are among the countries with the highest number of displaced artifacts. Other significant numbers include Mexico (8,866), China (8,756), and Italy (6,546).

Primary Holding Institutions

The project indexes artifacts from the following collections:

  • Ethnologisches Museum: 57,384 artifacts
  • Art Institute of Chicago: 33,890 artifacts
  • Art Institute of Chicago: 31,465 artifacts (Wait, the source data lists Victoria and Albert Museum as 21,465)
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 18,309 artifacts
  • Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung: 5,517 artifacts
  • Museum für Islamische Kunst: 3,219 artifacts
  • Antikensammlung: 2,418 artifacts
  • Museum für Asiatische Kunst: 2,396 artifacts
  • Vorderasiatisches Museum: 789 artifacts

Technical Implementation

The project utilizes Protomaps and OpenStreetMap contributors for its mapping interface. From a technical standpoint, the project's README (as referenced in user comments) mentions the use of web workers for arc aggregation to handle the large volume of data points.

Community Insights and Critique

Community members on Hacker News discussed the project's ability to provide a historical lens into colonial history. One user noted that the project is "truly very useful not only for art history but also for the history of colonial rule."

However, users identified several areas for improvement regarding the data coverage and user interface:

Data Gaps

Users pointed out that the project currently focuses heavily on Western/Euro-American institutions. One user suggested that more lines should be mapped to Moscow, specifically from areas like Crimea, to provide a more complete picture of displacement.

User Experience (UX) Issues

Users noted that thele the toggle button for the right panel is placed in an unconventional location (top of the left panel), making it difficult to find. Some users also requested features such as filtering capabilities to see specific source or destination cities (e.g., Cusco or Berlin) and directionality in the lines to better indicate the flow of artifacts.

Data Resolution

Technical users questioned the accuracy of the fuzzy matcher used to resolve provenance text to origin sites, questioning how many of the 200,000 artifacts in the README required manual correction.

Potential Expansions

Users suggested expanding the data to include artifacts from the British Museum, specifically those in basement storage, and adding a database of cultural artifacts destroyed by their countries of origin.

Sources