This episode of Artfully Said brings together Irving Finkel (British Museum curator and Assyriologist) and Sarah Burles (museum educator and collections specialist). Together, these Arts Society accredited lecturers embark on in-depth conversation about collecting, museum collections, and what drives humans to gather, preserve, and care for objects. Well known for his work on cuneiform tablets, ancient Mesopotamia, and the hidden stories of the British Museum, Irving Finkel explores the philosophy and history of collecting at every scale, from global institutions to deeply personal collections. Sarah Burles brings examines educational and curatorial perspectives, focusing on accessibility, learning, and how collections are interpreted for the audiences of today.Together, they discuss the origins of museum collections, the role of collectors in shaping public institutions, the difference between collecting and hoarding, and how to balance preservation, display, ethics, and relevance in the modern world.
Irving Finkel is a British philologist and Assyriologist. He is currently Senior Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he specialises in cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia. He also studies the history of board games, and among his breakthrough works is the determination of the rules of the Royal Game of Ur. Irving founded the Great Diary Project, a project to preserve the diaries of ordinary people. In association with the Bishopsgate Institute, he has helped to archive over 20,000 personal diaries. Irving has written a number of works of fiction for children, including The Princess Who Wouldn't Come Home and Swizzle de Brax and the Blungaphone. Sarah Burles studied History of Art at Cambridge University before doing a master’s degree at University College London. She went on to have a career in museum and gallery education, establishing new services in three different museums before working at the Fitzwilliam Museum for many years. Sarah is the founder of Cambridge Art Tours, which runs tours and courses in and around East Anglia, as well as online. She is a Tour Director for an award winning travel company and has led tours to Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and America. Artfully Said is a video podcast brought to you by The Arts Society.
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