ARCA's Sixth Annual Interdisciplinary Art Crime Conference in Amelia, Italy - June 27-29, 2014

Amelia, Italy

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) will be hosting its sixth annual Interdisciplinary Art Crime Conference the weekend of June 27-29, 2014. This 2-day conference is open to the public and all are welcome. Registration is required, but the conference is free of charge subject to space availability.

Held in the beautiful town of Amelia (Umbria), the seat of ARCA’s Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection. The conference will include multidisciplinary panel sessions, key note speakers, an ice-breaker cocktail reception and an awards dinner on Saturday evening honoring this year’s recipients of ARCA’s annual award for outstanding scholarship and professional dedication to the protection and recovery of cultural heritage.

Porta de la valle, Amelia

Providing an arena for intellectual and professional exchange, this annual art crime conference highlights the nonprofit’s mission and serves as a forum that aims to facilitate a critical appraisal of the protection of art and heritage worldwide. Bringing together international scholars, law enforcement experts, art professionals, the general public and participants in ARCA’s postgraduate certificate program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection, attendees have the opportunity to examine contemporary issues of common concern in this important field.

To reserve a placement for one or both day’s sessions, please write to the association conference coordinators at: italy.conference (at) artcrimeresearch.org. Provide your full name and names of those attending with you, your email address, and your preference for either or both day’s sessions.

The 2014 ARCA Award Winners are:

Art Policing, Recovery, Protection and Security

Dr. Daniela Rizzo and Mr Maurizio Pellegrini, Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici Etruria Meridionale – Villa Giulia

Past winners: Vernon Rapley (2009), Francesco Rutelli (2009), Charlie Hill (2010), Dick Drent (2010), Paolo Giorgio Ferri (2011), Lord Colin Renfrew (2011), Stuttgart Detective Ernst Schöller (2012), Karl von Habsburg and Dr. Joris Kila (Jointly – 2012), Sharon Cohen Levin (2013), Christos Tsirogiannis (2013)

Eleanor and Anthony Vallombroso Award for Excellence in Art Crime Scholarship

Simon Mackenzie, Trafficking Culture project at the University of Glasgow

Past winners: Norman Palmer (2009), Larry Rothfield (2010), Neil Brodie (2011), Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino (Jointly – 2012), Duncan Chappell (2013)

Lifetime Achievement in Defense of Art Award

Anne Webber, founder and director of The Commission for Looted Art In Europe

Past winners: Carabinieri TPC collectively (2009), Howard Spiegler (2010), John Merryman (2011), Dr. George H. O. Abungu (2012), Blanca Niño Norton (2013)

The list of presenters and topics scheduled for the 2014 Art Crime Conference:

Panel I:  Highlights from Recent US and EU Investigations

The Fall of the House of Knoedler: Fakes, Deception and Naiveté

James C Moore, Esq

Arbitrator and mediator of commercial disputes

Formerly, partner and trial lawyer with large New York law firm and president of New York State Bar Association

Hello Dalí: Anatomy of a Modern Day Art Theft Investigation

Jordan Arnold Esq.

K2 Intelligence

Former Assistant District Attorney and Head, Financial Intelligence Unit, New York County District Attorney’s Office

The Gurlitt Case: German and international responses to the legal and ethical questions to ownership rights in looting cases
Duncan Chappell, PhD Lawyer and Criminologist, Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney
 and
Saskia Hufnagel, PhD
Lecturer in Criminal Law, Queen Mary University of London
Rechtsanwalt – Fachanwalt Strafrecht, Hufnagel und Partner

The Gurlitt Case: An Inside View From Christopher A. Marinello, Lawyer and Representative for the Heirs of Paul Rosenberg

Christopher A. Marinello, Esq

Director and Founder, Art Recovery International

Panel II: The Many Faces of the Illegal Heritage Trade - Panel led by Christos Tsirogiannis PhD.

Papyri, collectors and the antiquities market: a survey and some questions

Roberta Mazza, PhD University of Bologna

Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Classics and Ancient History, University of Manchester Research Fellow, John Rylands Research Institute – John Rylands Library

Using open-source data to identify participation in the illicit antiquities trade: A case study on the intercommunal conflict in Cyprus, 1963-1974

Sam Hardy, DPhil University of Sussex

Illicit antiquities trade researcher

Research Associate, Centre for Applied Archaeology, University College London

The Dikmen Conspiracy: The Illicit Removal, Journey and Trade of Looted Ecclesiastical Antiquities from Occupied Cyprus

Christiana O’Connell-Schizas, LLB University of Kent, LPC University of Law

Baker & McKenzie, Riyadh

Panel III: The Vulnerabilities of Sacred Art In Situ: Yesterday and Still Today

The Theft and Ransom of Caravaggio’s “St. Jerome Writing”, Co-Cathedral of St. John

Rev. Dr. Marius Zerafa, O.P. S.T.L., Lect. Th., A.R. Hist. S., Dr. Sc.Soc

Founder of the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, Malta

Former Curator and Director of the Malta Museums

Fighting the Thieves in Italian Churches

Judith Harris, Journalist (ARTnews; www.i-italy.org)

Author, Pompeii Awakened, The Monster in the Closet

Evacuate the objects from vulnerable religious sites? No, protect them in situ!

Stéphane Théfo

Police Officer/Project Manager, INTERPOL Office of Legal Affairs

Panel IV: The Genuine Article: Fakes and Forgeries and the Art of Deception

Would the real Mr. Goldie please stand up?

Penelope Jackson M. Phil, University of Queensland, MA University of Auckland

Director, Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga, New Zealand

Forgery and Offenses Resembling Forgery

Susan Douglas, PhD Concordia University

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) Contemporary Art and Theory, University of Guelph

In the Red Corner: “Connoisseurship and Art History”, and the Blue Corner: “Scientific Testing and Analysis” – Who’s right in determining Authenticity?

Toby Bull, Senior Inspector of Police, Hong Kong Police Force

Founder, TrackArt (Art Risk Consultancy), Hong Kong

Panel V: Looting, Litigation and Repatriation

Will it be the Getty Bronze or L'atleta di Fano? Italy's ongoing case for the return of the bronze statue of the Victorious Youth
Maurizio Fiorilli. Avvocato della Stato, Italy (Ret) and Stefano Alessandrini, Consultant

The Duryodhana, the Balarama and the Bhima: a Cambodian perspective on the return of three pre-Angkorian sandstone statues from Prasat Chen at the Koh Ker temple complex
His Highness Sisowath Ravivaddhana Monipong of Cambodia

Panel VI: The Mental Condition and its Role in Art Crime

'It's beyond my control' An historic and psychiatric investigation into the claim of bibliomania
Anna Knutsson MA (Hon) University of St. Andrews
Research Editor Smith Library

Art Vandalism from a Forensic Behavioral Perspective
Frans Koenraadt PhD
Professor, Universiteit Utrecht, Willem Pompe Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology

Panel VII: Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict, Reflections from Past and Present

File Zadar: New insights on art works taken from Zadar to Italy during World War II

Antonija Mlikota, PhD University of Zagreb
Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Zadar

IMCuRWG Blue Shield cultural assessment mission to Timbuktu

Joris Kila, PhD University of Amsterdam

Chairman of the ‘International Military Cultural Resources Work Group’ (IMCuRWG).

Universität Wien, Kompetenzzentrum Kulturelles Erbe und Kulturgüterschutz, Universität Wien, Alois-Musil-Center für Orientalische Archäologie, U.S. AFRICOM

A modern look at an Eternal Problem: Sixty years after the creation of the 1954 Hague Convention

Cinnamon Stephens, JD

Esquire

Panel VIII: Smart Collecting and Connoisseurship and When Art is Stolen

What’s wrong with this picture? Standards and issues of connoisseurship

Tanya Pia Starrett, MA HONS LLB, University of Glasgow

Solicitor

Crossborder Collecting in the XXI Century: Comparative Law Issues

Massimo Sterpi, Avvocato

Partner, Studio Legale Jacobacci & Associati 

Bicycles vs. Rembrandt

Martin Finkelnberg

Head of the Art and Antiques Crime Unit

National Criminal Intelligence Division, The Netherlands

Key Note Closing – A Look to the Future

Is International Law for the Protection of Artistic Freedom Adequate?

Eleni Tokmakidou – Moschouri, PhD University of Manchester

MJur University of Birmingham

Attorney at Law at the Supreme Court of Greece

This event opens with a icebreaker cocktail on Friday, June 27th at the Palazzo Farrattini. The conference will be held Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29, 2014 at the Sala Boccarini, inside the cloister of the Biblioteca Comunale L.Lama adjacent to the Museo Civico Archeologico e Pinacoteca “Edilberto Rosa” in Amelia, Italy. Sessions begin promptly at 9:00 am, with a break for coffee and optional Saturday lunch as well as an optional Italian slow food dinner Saturday evening.