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Showing posts with label Looting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Looting. Show all posts

October 28, 2024

Monday, October 28, 2024 - ,,,,,,,, No comments

Protecting the Past, Shaping the Future: ARCA’s Two 2025 Postgraduate Certificate Programmes in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage


In 2025, ARCA is breaking new ground by offering not one, but two Postgraduate Certificate Programmes in art crime and cultural heritage. When ARCA launched its original interdisciplinary programme in 2009, it was the first of its kind, addressing the urgent need to train professionals in understanding the hidden networks and illicit activities within the art world.  Through an intensive, hands-on approach, ARCA’s summer program has since trained individuals from forty-two countries in tackling and exploring the complexities of art crime and cultural heritage preservation. 

If you've been keeping an eye on recent news, you're aware that incidents like museum thefts, forgeries, looting, and the illicit trade of cultural goods are far from isolated. These crimes contribute to a larger web of criminal activity that includes intentional destruction and plunder of cultural heritage during and after conflicts, incidences known to fuel instability in regions worldwide.

Despite the clear threat, many galleries, auction houses, and museums still struggle to vet acquisitions to problematic material, leading to lengthy and ongoing challenges regarding the provenance and ethical acquisition of material.  ARCA’s programmes give trainees the skills to recognise and confront these issues head-on, looking at the big picture of art crime across borders, time periods, and legal systems to see just how profoundly these issues impact global cultural heritage.

This legacy is more than history—it’s a shared treasure, one that defines and connects us all. Protecting it is essential to preserving our cultural future. ARCA’s programs, still the longest-running and most comprehensive of their kind, have equipped countless professionals with the tools to do just that.

Here are five reasons to apply to one (or both!) of our Post Lauream Certifications in: 

Art and Antiquities Crime 
and 
Acquisition & Interpretation of Cultural Property:

  1. Unique Dual-Program Offering: 2025 marks the first year you can choose between two unique tracks—or combine them for a comprehensive education covering all facets of art crime and cultural heritage protection and receive two certifications in one summer.

  2. Expert-Led Instruction: Learn directly from field-leading experts and practitioners whose real-world experience will give you a critical understanding of the art world’s complexities and the dark side that threatens it. ARCA's lecturers are international thought-leaders on the topic of art crime who actively work directly in this sector. 

  3. Practical, Real-World Training: Go beyond traditional studies with an interdisciplinary approach that brings together criminology, art history, law, and cultural preservation for a complete understanding of this global issue. ARCA’s immersive summer format delivers hands-on learning, allows you to engage deeply with the subject, practicing skills in real-world contexts that mirror the challenges faced by today’s professionals.

  4. Interdisciplinary Insights: Each course in each programme integrates multiple disciplines, offering perspectives that connect the dots between criminal motives, legal issues, and the protection of cultural heritage.

  5. Join a Global Network of Alumni and Professionals: Graduates of ARCA’s program are making waves in cultural institutions, law enforcement, museums, and legal spheres worldwide, and you’ll join a supportive network dedicated to combating art crime.

Protecting cultural heritage is an urgent and rewarding calling—why not apply to join us in changing the status quo.  For more information please see ARCA's website here.

To request further information on ARCA's Post Lauream I & II in Art and Antiquities Crime and the Acquisition & Interpretation of Cultural Property or to receive the 2026 prospectus and application materials, please email us at:

programmes (at) artcrimeresearch.org

October 18, 2018

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ARCA's Postgraduate program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection is now accepting applications.


Who studies art crime?

ARCA's Postgraduate program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection is now accepting applications.

 Early applications will be accepted through 30 November subject to census limitations. 
In 2009, ARCA started the very first interdisciplinary program to study art crimes wholistically.

Designed to give participants a unique opportunity to train in a structured and academically diverse format, ARCA's summer-long postgraduate program was designed around the study of the dynamics, strategies, objectives and modus operandi of criminals and criminal organizations who commit a variety of art  related crimes.  

Turn on the news (or follow this blog) and you will see over and over again examples of museum thefts, forgeries, antiquities looting and illicit trafficking of cultural goods.  Intentional heritage destruction and religion-based iconoclasm during armed conflict, once a modern-day rarity, has affected multiple countries and adds to regional instability in many areas of the globe.


Looted art, both ancient and Holocaust-related, can and often does find its way into the world's premiere auction houses and the galleries of respected museum institutions while dealers working in the field continue to be less than adept at distinguishing smuggled and stolen art, from art with a clean provenance. Thus making dealing with art crime an unrelenting problem and one without any easy solution.

Taken incident by incident, it is difficult to see the impact and implications of art crime as a global concern, but when studied across disciplines, looking at the gaps of legal instruments, country to country, one begins to have a clearer picture of the significance of the problem and its impact on the world's collective patrimony.

The world's cultural heritage is an invaluable legacy and its protection is integral to our future. 

One summer, eleven courses.

At its foundation, ARCA's summer-long program in Italy draws upon the overlapping and complementary expertise of international thought-leaders on the topic of art crime – all practitioners and leading scholars who actively work in the sector. 

In 2019, participants of the program will receive 220+ hours of instruction over 11 courses taught by a range of experts actively committed to combatting art crime from a variety of different angles.

For more information on the summer 2019 postgraduate professional development program, please see ARCA's website here.

To request further information or to receive a 2019 prospectus and application materials, please email:
education (at) artcrimeresearch.org

Interested in knowing more about the program from a student's perspective?

Here are some blog posts from and by students who have attended in 2016, 2015, 2014, and in 2013.



December 27, 2014

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Viktorija Zupancic and Bojan Dobovšek publish on "Criminality Related to Cultural Heritage - Analysis of Interviews" in the Fall 2014 issue of The Journal of Art Crime

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin,
   ARCA Blog Editor-in-chief

In the Fall 2014 issue of The Journal of Art Crime, Viktorija Zupancic and Bojan Dobovšek publish on "Criminality Related to Cultural Heritage - Analysis of Interviews".  Here's the abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to define the existence of crime against cultural heritage and determine whether this type of criminality is on the rise around the world. By carrying out guided interviews with experts in this field, the authors wished to define guidelines for the fight against this type of criminality. By studying the available literature, the authors found that crime against cultural heritage is on the rise. Economically and socially less-developed countries, from which most antiquities originate, are most susceptible to this type of criminality. Such countries of origin include particularly the countries of South America and the Middle East, while the Western part of the globe is mainly market-oriented and represents the final destination of smuggled antiquities. This paper also aims to determine the adequacy and appropriateness of legal acts governing the protection of cultural heritage and the fight against this type of criminality. Problems are mainly related to the implementation and enforcement of such legal provisions and related sanctions in practice.
Viktorija Zupančič is a student at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of University of Maribor, Slovenia. Bojan Dobovšek is Associate Professor and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Slovenia.

Subscriptions to The Journal of Art Crime or individual copies of eEditions or printed issues may be obtained through ARCA's website here.

December 4, 2014

Thursday, December 04, 2014 - ,,,,,,, 1 comment

Review: Ai Weiwei “Zodiac” sculptures on tour to promote awareness of contested cultural heritage

By Hal Johnson, 2014 ARCA student and DNA Consultant

Few contemporary artists are more socially and politically conscious than Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei. His world views are often expressed in his work, which has become his most powerful means of communication now that the Chinese government has curtailed his attempts at free speech. He was once a celebrated artist and architect in his country and arguably still is. However, he ran afoul of authorities after criticizing the government’s handling of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the massive earthquakes in Sichuan Province that same year. He was an outspoken blogger – the forum where he expressed many of his frank political opinions – until it was shut down by the state. In 2011 he was detained for 81 days; upon his release his passport was revoked and he was slapped with charges of tax evasion. Undeterred, Mr. Ai continues to speak out whenever possible and has an active role in the exhibition of his work abroad. His sculpture group “Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads” is on tour to raise awareness of contested cultural heritage.

The twelve animal heads are inspired by similar bronze sculptures that originally adorned a fountain at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. In 1860, the fountain heads were looted during the Second Opium War when the palace was sacked by British and French troops. Over the years the heads ended up in several private collections. The two most famous pieces were the Rat and the Rabbit, which were owned by Yves Saint Laurent. After the fashion icon’s death in 2008, they went up for sale at Christie’s along with the rest of his art collection. Their status as war loot was common knowledge and the auction proceeded despite protests from China. Chinese bidder Cai Mingchao staged his own protest by winning the heads (with a bid of $19 million each) and then refusing to pay. They were later repatriated to China in 2013 by billionaire François Pinault. Several more heads from the old fountain remain in private hands outside of China.

Ai Weiwei is well aware of the history of the zodiac heads and that they have become a figurehead for contested cultural property. But true to form, his tour is also meant to highlight the inconsistency, even hypocrisy, of China’s efforts to reacquire its heritage: “They never really care about culture. This is the nature of a communist, to destroy the old world, to rebuild the new one. We’re not clear about what is most important in those so-called traditional classics. The Zodiac is a perfect example to show their ignorance on this matter.” Indeed, countless Chinese cultural property was wantonly destroyed by the Chinese themselves during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960’s. How much more has been sacrificed by China in its transformation into an economic superpower?

Mr. Ai’s “Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads” is actually several sculpture groups on separate tours – the 3-meter tall freestanding Bronze Series and the much smaller Gold Series. One of the Bronze Series is currently on display in Chicago. I visited them earlier this fall (see photos). They are aptly placed facing the Adler Planetarium on Chicago’s scenic lakefront, where they will remain on display until April 2015. A Gold Series is currently part of a large Ai Weiwei retrospective exhibit at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, UK. For more information on the “Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads” tour and the artist himself, please visit the following link: http://www.zodiacheads.com/index.html.

July 4, 2012

Wednesday, July 04, 2012 - ,,,,,,,, No comments

The Journal of Art Crime, Spring/Summer 2012: Aleksandra Sheftel on "Looting History: An Analysis of the Illicit Antiquities Trade in Israel"

Aleksandra Sheftel's article on "Looting History: An Analysis of the Illicit Antiquities Trade in Israel" is published in the Spring/Summer 2012 electronic issue of the Journal of Art Crime.
Abstract: The state of Israel has numerous historically and culturally significant archaeological sites. Some of these date back to as early as 8000-7000 B.C, and are important to three of the world’s great religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Unfortunately, many of these sites are targeted by looters who illegally excavate the sites and, in doing so, erase history. This paper is an overview of the antiquities looting problem in Israel. It discusses Israel’s existing laws regarding the antiquities trade, describes the effects that Israel’s wars have had on the illicit antiquities trade, and the different motivations and attitudes of the looters in Israel. The paper also discusses the market players in this trade, analysing the roles the middlemen, the dealers, and the collectors play. It discusses who the looters are, why they engage in their illicit activities, and how they go about their business. The paper discusses ways in which the Israeli government has tried to stop the trade in illicit antiquities, and the debates that surround these and other proposed solutions. The paper concludes by analysing three alternative solutions that Israel could consider implementing in order to curb the looting.
Aleksandra Sheftel graduated “With Distinction” from the ARCA Postgraduate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection in 2011.

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