Loot – 10 stories

Loot: 10 stories uses next-generation storytelling techniques to explore the topic of looted art and restitution. The exhibition was initiated by the Mauritshuis in The Hague, where it opened in 2023 before moving to the Humboldt Forum in Berlin in 2024. The Mauritshuis commissioned guest curators and creative directors Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill (Jongsma + O’Neill) to create an immersive experience that uses virtual reality, documentary filmmaking and installation design to create an artistic intervention into the museum space.

Jongsma + O’Neill sum up the project thusly: “Loot is both a collection of contested objects, and a vision of a possible future. In this vision, museums openly confront the topics of theft and restitution. All aspects of the discussion—from the impact of retaining looted works in museum collections to the philosophical and ethical quandaries unleashed by creating and displaying digital replicas— are addressed fearlessly and in public. The museum we long for acknowledges that looting erases the histories of its victims, and employs cutting-edge storytelling and cross-cultural collaboration to reflect on what has been lost. Form and content are inseparable, and justice and beauty both receive their due.”