Heritage Value of the Malayness Socio-Cultural Symbols in Millennium Artist Series of Arts: A Research Analysis in Semiotics

This study explains the analysis of the semiotics in the painting artworks of the Din Omar, who focuses on the forms of heritage values in his creations. This study is also important for the documentation of the Malay culture, which has customary and culturally-related elements, where the human value is given a touch of heritage elements, as portrayed in the production of the serial works Tepak Sirih Series, Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu siri 5, and Ukiran Indah di Puncak Indah by Din Omar. The study looks into more details the description of the meaning of semiotic approach analysis by Ferdinand De Saussure, which is interview with the curator and analysis of three selected artworks. The researchers are also providing exposure to elements behind the cultural materials, such as the Tepak Siri Series, Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu Siri 5, and Ukiran Indah di Puncak Indah. The findings of the study revealed that the Tepak Sirih series artwork possesses the value of non-verbal communication in community engagements and weddings. The legacy and Malay culture in the Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu siri 5 work carries the meaning of customary wealth in official ceremonies, but not suitable for arbitrary activities. In the Ukiran Indah DiPuncak Indah artwork, Hulu Keris Patah Tiga gives the meaning of a Malay traditional weapon used to complement Raja sehari or the Malay wedding dress. Para pandai besi produced a dagger with a Malay identity and spiritual elements which will not be extinct and is always kept as national treasures. Received: 29 March 2021 / Accepted: 23 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Exhibition Review Essays

The Museum of Removals in Vila Autódromo, Rio de Janeiro by Bruno Brulon SoaresDifferent Histories: A Story of Three Exhibitions in Canberra by Jennifer CoombesNational Treasures: Airing New Zealand’s History on the Small Screen by Ailish Wallace-BucklandE Hina e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori/Maoli of Past, Present and Future by Hollie Tawhiao

National Treasure Tea Bowls as Cultural Icons in Modern Japan

Tea bowls hold profound significance in Japan today as loci of tea ceremony aesthetics and ideology. While tea bowls have come to be understood as embodiments of particular Japanese national aesthetics and value systems, their status as the most significant objects within tea rituals is a modern phenomenon. This essay explores the cultural iconicity of the eight tea bowls that were designated Japanese National Treasures in the 1950s and that continue to draw much attention. Each signifies something beyond the ordinary and encapsulates a particular aspect of Japanese national identity. As a group, they manifest idealized aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony, reinforce power structures, and inspire contemporary potters to reproduce them.

The concept of national treasures under Polish and EU cultural heritage law

"National treasure" is one of the key notions of cultural heritage law. It is of particular relevance for the European Union in the context of the free movement of goods in the Single Market and the permitted exceptions to this freedom. In principle, it refers to those objects "possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value" whose preservation is in the vital cultural interest of the Member State concerned. Hence national law constraints on their import and export do not violate treaty obligations in force so long as such constraints are not arbitrary or do not constitute disguised restrictions on trade between Member States. The question arises, however, as to the practical meaning of this notion, i.e. whether Member States can freely determine what constitutes a "national treasure". This article seeks to answer that question by analysing how the notion of national treasures was transposed into the Polish legal system in 2017, and what the consequences of this recent regulatory intervention might be.

Part II Substantive Aspects, Ch.22 National Treasures at the Intersection between Cultural Heritage and International Trade Law

This chapter analyses the extent to which international trade law accommodates the export and import control measures that States commonly adopt in order to prevent illicit trade in cultural property in accordance with the 1970 UNESCO Convention. It examines the exception for ‘national treasures’ found in World Trade Organization (WTO) law and other international economic agreements. The definition of cultural property in the relevant UNESCO treaty is not necessarily identical to the meaning of national treasures in WTO law. Moreover, the WTO Appellate Body has shown reluctance to apply non-WTO law in determining WTO disputes, so a conflict between UNESCO and WTO provisions or domestic regulations might not necessarily be resolved as expected. This conclusion provides one example of the limitations of the current Appellate Body approach to international law and suggests, with respect to cultural property, that closer alliance in treaty drafting may be required to enhance coherence.

Why becoming a national treasure matters: Elite celebrity status and inequality in the United Kingdom

This article presents the first academic analysis of ‘national treasure’ as a status designation for an elite category of British celebrities who hold a unique position in the Great British hall of fame. The emergence of this status designation is situated in the context of two intersecting processes of cultural change in the post-War period – the rise of celebrity culture and the popularisation of the state honours system. It is proposed that national treasure status results from the accumulation of three interlocking forms of validation: peer, state and media. After reviewing these underpinning forms of validation, we consider one of Britain’s most celebrated national treasures – Dame Judi Dench. The aim is to illustrate empirically the status elevation and sedimentation processes through which particular elite celebrities become national treasures, and the various ways in which they might respond to this status designation. Although the term ‘national treasure’ for many – including those so-designated – may seem a trite term of endearment, we argue that it is in fact an ideological assemblage invested with significance. On one hand, national treasures help revalidate the notion of the authentic celebrity within an apparently meritocratic system that recognises and rewards talent, hard work and dedication. In the context of a relentlessly bleak news cycle, they are a wholly virtuous expression of national identity, signifying all that is great about Britain. On the other hand, although national treasures are constructed as being ‘of the people’, by authenticating the underpinning institutional forms of validation, their status transformation contributes to the legitimation and reproduction of status hierarchies, cultural authority and inequality in the UK.

Article 36 TFEU

Article 30 EC The provisions of Articles 34 and 35 shall not preclude prohibitions or restrictions on imports, exports or goods in transit justified on grounds of public morality, public policy or public security; the protection of health and life of humans, animals or plants; the protection of national treasures possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value; or the protection of industrial and commercial property. Such prohibitions or restrictions shall not, however, constitute a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member States.