In politics, Nepal
illustrated the spread in awareness of cultural property with plans to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention, which specifies the protection
of cultural property during armed conflict. A few articles commented on the
waning political
and aesthetic
merit of contemporary art. Italy displayed success of repatriation efforts with
an exhibition of antiquities at The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome. The
exhibition included descriptions of methods of trafficking antiquities.
In a combination of
politics and security, a workshop on trafficking in cultural property in
Botswana encouraged Southern African nations to establish a database of cultural artifacts. Similar collaboration in Latin America
occurred between Peru and Bolivia, which returned a mummified toddler that had been seized in route to France. In Australia,
a scholar at Deakin University studies wartime damage in Iraq and plans to look
at a potential link between violence and destruction of heritage sites.
In economics, art
collectors/investors in China
and the United States seem to be retreating to, and bidding up, safer masterworks
from more speculative, expanding,
contemporary art. At the same time, auction houses in China assertively pursue business internationally, and Hungary
may turn into the cutting edge of contemporary art in Europe with the success
of the second Art Market Budapest. A flurry of articles discussed the impact of hurricane Sandy on the New
York art market, while others considered the concern a distraction from getting back to business. The
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced the first partnership with the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to "identify and calculate the arts and
culture sector's contributions to the Gross Domestic Product."
Coincidentally, Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles boasted that last year's
art exhibition had an economic output of more than $280 million.
In a crossover of
economics and security, the market for contemporary art in China might benefit
from a downturn in the market for Chinese antiques. Reports held that
potentially looted antiques were withdrawn from auction. As a poignant indication of the challenges of protecting
cultural property during economic downturn, a short letter by Lawrence Rothfield pointed out that repatriation efforts do not
help ongoing looting in Egypt.
In security, Syrian
authorities seized a truck loaded with antiquities and bomb-making materials south of the port
city of Tartous. SANA news agency reported that the seizure included coins of
the Byzantine and Roman eras and several archaeological pieces along with
pieces of iron cyclone tubing for manufacturing explosive devices. An article
on the Gatestone Institute website provides historical background on the "Wahhabi despoliation" of tombs of historic
Muslim figures in North Africa as a trend leading up to publicized targeting of
shines in Timbuktu over the summer. Another article reported on the burning of a historic church in Pakistan in September.
On the softer side of
security, forgeries pose a problem in the market as demonstrated by a con
artist in Paris who gained the cooperation of a renowned Indian artist, M.F. Husain, in signing works
by others. To compound the problem, diligently seized forgeries in criminal
cases can reappear in the market.
For similar news, visit Cultural Security News.
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