A nice story about good intention and honest effort that don't yield the desired results. While the regular person does not usually concern themselves with return of museum artifacts to the country they were removed from, there are elements of this story that we can all relate to:
Using state-of-the-art technology in a warehouse-like workshop, digital archaeologist Roger Michel and his team are recreating the hotly contested Parthenon marbles.
The idea behind it is simple — make exact 3D replicas of the marbles and donate them to the British Museum in exchange for the return of the original sculptures to Greece.
But when the British Museum shut down an official request by Roger's team to go and get the 3D scans, the team decided to get them anyway, "guerilla-style"
At work a junior employee has a good idea that they are passionate about and are happy to invest their personal time in building (for the greater good of the company - not for any reward other than the greenlight from management to proceed). Their idea is either ignored or shot down. The employee is relentless and decides to go ahead anyway - with or without sanction. They get the job done, the results are great and they never missed a beat on their assigned work.
A great situation all around one would imagine. But as it often turns out, this thing that the "over-zealous" employee has built does not sit well within how decision-makers in the company see the puzzle pieces fit. So the thing gets cast aside, never adopted and put to practical use. The junior employee moves on with their life. But not everything is in vain. Someday, the efforts of their guerilla artists maybe the reason the Parthenon marbles find their way home. Likewise, someone in the company might dust of the junior's employee's project and see great success. These events will unfold at a time that the people who pushed for change do not control.
The issue with the Parthenon marbles can appear simple or complex based on perspective. Did the marbles come into British possession by legal means or were they removed without proper authorization. Does a lawful action that took place in the past, make it irreversible in the present when the tide of public sentiment has turned. While nearly not as complex, some of reasons that are not immediately obvious sealed the fate of the junior employee's project.
At work the junior employee might have been better served to understand why stakeholders were not as enthused about his idea as they should have been. The guerilla artists with their plan for the Parthenon marbles could have partnered with likeminded organizations to create grass-roots support for their plan, demonstrated how the British museum would have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Comments