Unfolding an Exquisite Corpse

Late last month, the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) held its annual conference in Pittsburgh. While the event concluded on May 1, the SAH sponsored a series of virtual discussions through the end of the month. The last of these saw keynote speaker Itohan Osayimwese, an associate professor at Brown University, in conversation with Antonio Pacheco, a doctoral student at MIT, about the politics of cataloguing, exhibiting, and repatriating colonial plunder. Osayimwese has researched the ramifications of returning the Benin Bronzes, as well as other dismembered architectures, to their place of origin (present-day Nigeria, in the case of the Bronzes). She likened her methodology to the “exquisite corpse” model, in which a drawing done by many hands can yield surprising, even insightful results. Likewise, a researcher returning to well-trodden archives may seize on overlooked details, prompting new, perhaps serendipitous, lines of inquiry.

The talk had been organized for grad students, yet the questions all came from seasoned practitioners thirsty for insight. Sp…