“Do you steal something stolen?” This is the question asked in the trailer for “Relooted,” a video game in which players form a crew and plan a robbery to regain actual African artifacts held at Western museums.
Created by South African game developer Nyamakop, the game has been released on PC and Xbox and is set in the future of South Africa Johannesburg. The crew consisted of scientists, computer programmers and MMA fighters (not veteran criminals), led by Professor Grace of the Ice Age and led by Grace, an art historian of the Ice Age.
The Western collection features hundreds of thousands of African artifacts. When European countries colonized Africa, they took art and valuables. Some of the Benin bronze and other parts were taken away by force. This collection of thousands of sculptures and plaques once decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria and was photographed by British soldiers in 1897.
Some African artifacts were acquired through enforcement, while others were purchased.
Asante Golden Head: This gold trophy head was plundered by the British troops during the Anglo-Asante Wars of 1873-74 from the Royal Palace of Asante King Kofikrikrique. After passing through the European art market, it was purchased in 1874 by British collector Sir Richard Wallace and resides in the Wallace Collection in London. “class=”class=”class=”image __dam-img image__dam-img-” onload = ‘this.classlist.remove(‘ image__dam-img– loading ‘) width = “4290” loading = ‘lazy’/>
Asante Golden Head: This golden trophy head was plundered by the British troops from the kingdom from the King of Asante from the Royal Palace from the present King of Ghana, King Kofikrikri. After passing through the European art market, it was purchased in 1874 by British collector Sir Richard Wallace and resides in the Wallace Collection in London. “class=”class=”class=”image __dam-img image__dam-img-” onload = ‘this.classlist.remove(‘ image__dam-img– loading ‘) width = “4290” loading = ‘lazy’/>
Benin Bronze is thousands of plaques and sculptures that adorn the royal palace of Edo, today Nigeria. Bronze was looted from Benin by British soldiers at the end of the 19th century, with some being repatriated to its home country, but most are housed in museums in Europe and North America. ‘class=”class=”image__dam-img img-img – “onload = ‘this.classlist.remove(‘ image __dam-img ‘on” height = “2800” width = “4200” loading = ‘lazy’/>
It is housed at the British Museum, and its website estimates it from at least 1750, or the first millennium ads. Load = ‘lazy’/>
It was acquired by Sir Hans Sloan, the founder of the British Museum in Biliguinea, North America. It is likely that he was on a slave trade ship. “class=”ymage __dam-img image__dam-img– “onload = ‘this.classlist.remove height = “2500” width = “1876” loading = ‘lazy’/>
It is currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. “class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img-loading “onload = ‘onload =’ classlist.remove(‘image__dam-img– loading’) ‘onerror=”imageloaderror(this) “height=”3049″=”3811″lazin
85 returned in 2023 by four US museums.
Gallery: African artifacts at Western Museum
Although accurate numbers are difficult to see, a 2009 report from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that 90-95% of the arts in sub-Saharan Africa are held outside the continent. The impact of their absence was immeasurable, Chika Okeke Agle, a professor of art history at Princeton University, told CNN. It’s like a European civilization “without all the cultural relics of Greece, Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the Renaissance,” he said.
Many African artifacts can be found in museums around the world, but travelling there is not always a realistic option. “These museums are only accessible to the same people they were built,” Okeke Agur said, “Americans, Europeans, and their fellow nations.”
This game features 70 stealing artifacts. Some of it is one of the most controversial in the ongoing debate over compensation.
The artifacts are real, but the museums aren’t. Things like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum in London have been replaced for future depictions of cookie cutters in Western Museums.
According to Ben Myres, CEO and creative director of Nyamakop, the developers “wanted to do the same thing in the West,” in the way Western countries characterized Africa as merely a “mud hut,” Europe, known in the game as the Old World, is generally old and suffocating, and the US, known as “shiny places,” is a mix of Las Vegas and Times Square.
The game is non-violent. “We wanted to contrast the extremely violent ways in which artifacts are often filmed. The way artifacts are played is not overwhelming with brute force, but around the exact same system and institution that took the artifact.”
The developers are asserting that they don’t want the idea of seriously regaining cultural artifacts. Rather, they hope that the game “reflects general frustration about repatriation.”
Many African governments have formally requested the return of cultural artifacts. Legal restrictions by some governments of museums, such as the British Museum Act of 1963 and the French Inert Act, have stopped some museums from returning items. But progress has been made, and the French Senate is set to vote for this year’s law, which simplifies restoration.
This comes after the French government commissioned a report on African artifacts held in 2018 at a French public agency. The report sets up a process of returning artifacts, but to date only 30 people have been returned to African countries, of which 26 were in Benin, West Africa. In August, France returned three skulls to Madagascar. This was thought to be King Toera, the king of Malagascar, executed by the French army in 1897.
The British Museum told CNN via email that “understand and recognize the importance of the issues surrounding the return of objects and share collections as widely as possible with communities, colleagues and museums around the world,” adding, “the ambition is to lend or exchange them with other museums around the world.” Alongside the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the British Museum lends gold assante artifacts to Ghana.
In 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the return of three brass pieces to Nigeria. The museum did not respond to requests for comment.
Mohale Mashigo, the story director of “Relooted,” says the game is “African futurist,” not Afrofutism, as seen in the film “Black Panther.” While Afrofuturism is “a pot of this melting pot of all cultures we can find, African futurism remains true to the culture that exists,” she said.
The futuristic Johannesburg of the game has landmarks familiar to South Africans. This is what Myles said is not a common experience for African gamers. “We won’t be able to see Africa frequently in the future. Africa is dreaming and does not seem to be allowed to expect what the future will look like.”
The success of “Black Panther” shows that Myles may be able to find an audience between the African diaspora and Western gamers, and in doing so they may also raise awareness of the issue of reparations.
Okeke-Agulu believes video games are the perfect format. It’s far from the smallest of discussion, making it accessible. “ReLooted producers use this knowledge production platform to point out this important history and topic related to Africans. I’m all in it.”
The developers hope that “Relooted” will encourage Western gamers to be interested in African history. “The whole game is this invitation to learn,” Myles said.
The game doesn’t have a launch date yet, but a demo has been released on Steam.
