Session: #714

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
3. Heritage Narratives and Representations
Session format:
Round table (without formal abstracts, only list of confirmed discussants / session co-organisers to be provided)

Title & Content

Title:
Repositories and Datasets as Operational Tools in Countering the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Goods
Content:
In the last twenty years, the massive devastation of archaeological sites, particularly in areas of the Middle East impacted by conflict, has increased public awareness of the dangers of looting and illicit trafficking in cultural heritage. Both European and US legislations now include stronger restrictions for the commercialisation of artworks of dubious origin. Law enforcement agents still struggle, nonetheless, to identify looted objects and connect them to their place of origin.
Databases of stolen objects and provenance research activities have been developed by dedicated units, such as the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Italy, the French OCBC, and INTERPOL’s Works of Art Unit. The potential of informatics and social network analysis applied to web-scraped content is currently being investigated to track illicit online sales and identify active criminal networks by cross-referencing the objects offered on the art market to those included in such datasets. This technical evolution brings forth the practical need for increased availability of open, searchable repositories of antiquities, such as specific sales archives, museum acquisition archives, private collections catalogues, and other types of datasets.
This session invites short presentations (6 minutes max., Pecha Kucha fashion) dealing with the creation of digital repositories of acquired, sold, or stolen archaeological goods (public and private), as well as research catalogues of specific sets of objects with clear geographic provenience, and beyond. Presentations will be followed by a structured discussion: the roundtable aims to engage the participants in critical dialogue, in order to highlight how to effectively connect these datasets and make them exploitable by law enforcement experts.
The session is organised within the framework of the HE RITHMS project, which aims to create an interoperable digital Platform able to identify organised criminal networks involved in the trade of cultural property, thus providing investigators with valuable intelligence.
Keywords:
Cultural Heritage, Repository, Database, Art Market, Collection, Auctions
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:

Organisers

Main organiser:
Arianna Traviglia (Italy) 1
Co-organisers:
Marianne Mödlinger (Austria) 2
Michela De Bernardin (Italy) 1
Affiliations:
1. Italian Institute of Technology
2. University of Salzburg