• Digital Benin

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Screenshot of the landing page for the “Digital Benin” Platform.

Description

Digital Benin brings together all objects, historical photographs and rich documentation material from collections worldwide to provide a long-requested overview of the royal artefacts from Benin Kingdom looted in the late nineteenth century. The historic Benin objects are an expression of Benin arts, culture and history, and were originally used as royal representational arts, to depict historical events, to communicate, to worship and perform rituals.

The digital platform introduces new scholarship which connects digital documentation about the translocated objects to oral histories, object research, historical context, a foundational Edo language catalogue, provenance names, a map of the Benin Kingdom and museum collections worldwide. Digital Benin connects data from 5,246 objects across 131 institutions in 20 countries.

Contributors

Kokunre Agbontaen-Eghafona | Felicity Bodenstein | Jonathan Fine | Anne Luther | Barbara Plankensteiner

Institutional Affiliation

MARKK (Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt) | Sorbonne University | Institute of Benin Studies | Welt Museum Wien | Benin City Nigeria

Sponsors

MARKK (Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt) | Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung

Live URL/Web Address

https://digitalbenin.org/

Is this project Alive?

Yes

Year: Known Start

2018

Decades

2010-2020 | 2020-2030

Software and Technologies

Database | HTML | OpenStreetMap | Python

Reviewed

Yes

Project Reviews

ARLIS/NA Multimedia and Technology Reviews | https://doi.org/10.17613/2xcb-p513

Project Images

Screenshot of Digital Benin Evo Oto page
Screenshot of “Ẹyo Otọ” page, accessible from the main menu on Digital Benin’s “landing page.”
Screenshot of Digital Benin Catalogue page
Screenshot of the “Catalogue” page, accessible from the main menu on Digital Benin’s “landing page.”
Screenshot of Digital Benin Provenance page
Screenshot of the “Provenance” page, accessible from the main menu on Digital Benin’s “landing page.”
Screenshot of Digital Benin Interactive Map page
Screenshot of the “Interactive Map” page, accessible from the main menu on Digital Benin’s “landing page.”
Screenshot of Digital Benin 3D Image Archive page
Screenshot of the “3D Image Archive” page, accessible the gallery menu on the on Digital Benin’s “Media” page, which is accessible from the Digital Benin’s “landing page.”
Screenshot of the landing page for the “Digital Benin” Platform.
Screenshot of the landing page for the “Digital Benin” Platform.
Screenshot of Digital Benin Evo Oto page DB-3
Screenshot of Digital Benin Catalogue page DB-4
Screenshot of Digital Benin Provenance page DB-5
Screenshot of Digital Benin Interactive Map page DB-6
Screenshot of Digital Benin 3D Image Archive page DB-7
Screenshot of the landing page for the “Digital Benin” Platform. DB-Cover