Theme:
1. The Material Record: Current Trends and Future Directions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Tracing & Protecting: Facing the Shadows of Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Goods
Content:
Cultural heritage across Europe is under threat, seemingly increasingly so, with several wars and conflict areas close to (and within) the continent's borders. The circulation of cultural goods with little or no information about their provenience or provenance in the licit and illicit market are glaring testaments to this. Trafficking in cultural heritage objects is an extensive and profitable crime area internationally with high profits and low risk. Moreover, the many actors involved in the illicit and 'grey' trade of cultural heritage are closely entangled.
Despite the most recent positive trends in the recovery of stolen/looted artworks, challenges persist due to inadequate general preparedness to dramatically address and prevent the issue. As international agreements and resolutions emphasize, information exchange and collaboration between researchers, museums, government institutions, actors in the art- and antiquities market, international NGOs and IGOs, and technology developers are needed to counteract and minimize the phenomenon.
By highlighting the urgency and complexity of the problem, this session is conceived as a joint event fostering a cooperative environment and cross-disciplinary alliances among interested stakeholders to deter and tackle the illicit trade.
We welcome contributions dealing with:
• current cross-national collaborative initiatives to fight illicit trafficking in cultural goods
• the development of technological tools to increase the antiquities market security and support the Law Enforcement Agencies’ endeavours
• practical and theoretical challenges and solutions related to the prevention of cultural heritage crime.
• (un)successful examples of tracing different types of cultural goods, such as portable heritage objects after being uncovered from the ground.
• experiences from cross-sectoral collaboration on seizures and restitution of illicit cultural heritage artefacts.
The session is also seamlessly integrated into the collaborative framework of RITHMS HE Project (G.A. 101073932, coordinated by the Italian Institute of Technology) and DECOPE Project (JPI Cultural Heritage network, partnered by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos).
Keywords:
cultural heritage crime, illicit trade, crime prevention, provenance, object biographies and trajectories
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Irmelin Axelsen (Norway) 1
Co-organisers:
Arianna Traviglia (Italy) 2
Siv Rebekka Runhovde (Norway) 1
Ana Vico Belmonte (Spain) 3
Affiliations:
1. Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
2. Italian Institute of Technology
3. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
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