November 12, 2019
The Roosevelt Hotel - New York
45 E 45th St
New York, NY 10017
Partner Megan Noh will be a speaker at the Fall 2019 Business of Art Observed event. Her panel is entitled "Zombie Statistics, Draconian Laws, Media Complicity: The End of the Global Antiquities Trade."
The media has helped to propound a myth – that the illegal trade in cultural goods is a pillar of organized crime. That trade in antiquities is part of a multi-billion dollar network with links to the drug and arms trade, to money laundering and terrorist financing. Recent studies intended to substantiate these allegations have found no evidence for such claims. 'Cultural racketeering' turns out to be a giant hoax – but with real consequences for the art market and future global circulation of art. At the same time, there is widespread acceptance of dictatorships use of art for political promotion and control, conflating unbridled nationalism with anti-colonialism. This does more than threaten the existence of the antiquities trade. It encourages a narrow, highly-politicized view of culture that justifies academic censorship and limits the ability of museums around the world to preserve art, study it, and show it to the public.
To learn more about this event, please click here.
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