Public Gallery or Antique Shop Window: Dance with the NGA’s Dancing Shiva

A statue named the "Dancing Shiva," thought to be of Indian origin, was purchased from the United States in 2008 by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). The statue was then found to have been "looted" prior to its purchase. Subsequently, in September of 2014, the prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, handed the statue over to the Indian government. It was one of the most significant scandals in Australian Art administration. It vindicated those critics who believed that there existed a gap between arts administration and collection of cultural materials by Australia's major institutions. The Minister for the Arts, George Brandis, stated that "Australians have been victimized by NGA's incaution." In the case of the Shiva scandal, there appears to have been institutional ignorance and a lack of accountability. This is at odds with the Australian public's expectation that its galleries are supposed to be the authorities and educators on cultural matters. This review will discuss the NGA scandal together with known examples of other cases and put forward solutions to help resolve the problem in arts administration.