In her research, Professor Erin Thompson (John Jay College, CUNY) focuses on the legalities and ethics of art theft, curation and repatriations of heritage objects, antiquarian and archaeological foragies, the destruction of archaeological sites, and digital reproductions of cultural heritage sites.

How common is the problem of art crime, and what forms may these crimes take? What circumstances need to align in order for there to be a successful legal prosecution relating to the committing of art forgery, theft or destruction? How do issues of cultural object ownership or destruction (as a strategy in war) get further complicated in transnational cases? What would the results be if states or bodies of individuals do get held to account in a criminal court?

We also talk about what first motivated Erin to pursue this line of work, and her experience of studying antiquities, art and law in a unique career trajectory to get to the point she is at now. In Erin’s journey to professorship, when and how did she realize that there was a ‘myth of neutrality’ in the field of classical archaeology?

Hear Erin’s episode below, by subscribing to our RSS feed, or finding us on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes or anywhere else you typically find podcasts!

Show notes

You can find Erin on Twitter or her website if you have any feedback or questions.

Check out Art from Guantánamo Bay, which Erin curated at an exhibit. Online, you can also read more about the targeting of cultural sitesa as a military strategy, the 5Pointz Graffiti case, the ethics of digital reconstructions of Palmyra, and the case on the destruction of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Timbuktu.

Below are two short videos of Erin describing the online market for (fake) antiquities using an example of a fake mummified penis.

You can find Michael Rivera on Twitter and Instagram as well.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

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