AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

Cultural heritage is a non-renewable resource that often finds itself in jeopardy, affecting the plundered country and the entire global community. Experts believe that cultural racketeering supports terrorist organizations and extremist groups, and is one of the largest financial sources for international criminal activity. Nevertheless, it is not monitored or studied like the drug trade or wildlife trafficking. In this session, Northwestern University lecturer Oya Topçuoğlu will discuss the growing problem of looting of archaeological sites and the illegal trafficking of antiquities in Syria and Iraq. She will address the challenges of quantifying looting in conflict zones and tracking looted artifacts. Dr. Topçuoğlu will also discuss potential strategies and methods for identifying looted objects and the pressing need to inform dealers, collectors, and the general public about the wide-ranging effects of looting to curb demand on the art market for these objects. Eden Burgess, a partner with Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC and an FAIC Board member, will review recent cases and legal issues involving looted antiquities. She will also discuss the potential consequences of collecting such objects, and how collectors and museums can meet the increasing pressure to acquire antiquities responsibly. Dawn Rogala, a paintings conservator with the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Conservation Institute, will speak about the expectations and limitations of working as a subject matter expert in cultural heritage cases. She will talk about what she has learned from law enforcement experts regarding the kinds of information that are useful to cultural heritage investigators and how to best present or discuss your findings with law enforcement agents and legal counsel.
A Learn with Lunch program, cost $39.