The problem is that you have already been informed that the some of the soil was obtained illegally and that more of it as transported across borders illegally - a felony. By being a party to having these things on your property and exhibiting them you put yourself and institution in legal lliability as well as crossing ethical lines. Calling it "Art"does nothing to change this.

Talk to your lawyer and board on how this should be handled.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator and Museum Consultant
Los Angeles, CA

On May 31, 2012 9:07 AM, "Nina Simon" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
This one is for the museum lawyers and collection management gurus out there.

For an upcoming temporary exhibition on collections, we would like to show a collection of vials of dirt that a local naturalist collected on her travels around the world. The challenge is that much of this dirt was transferred into the US illegally (i.e. from countries where they are strict about making sure that organic material doesn't enter or leave the country) or was obtained with some trespassing (i.e. from celebrities' yards). She is nervous about exhibiting the dirt in public for this reason.

My sense is that if we can call this art, it might not be a problem. Frankly, I don't think it's a big problem period - there's no real risk or danger to the dirt - but I want to learn more about how to address this issue. Do you know anyone who might have some expertise to bear in this arena?

Thank you,

Nina

Nina Simon
Executive Director
Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

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