Crimes Against Art: Thieves, Frauds, Vandals, and You

Catalog description

Starting with a brief exploration of our everyday ideas about the value of art, this course digs into historic and current intersections of art and crime internationally over the past two centuries; including looting and repatriation, vandalism and restoration, fakes and forgeries, censorship and freedom of expression, illicit trafficking and financial crimes, and new media (NFTs, Artificial Intelligence, etc). Seminar discussions are paired with class visits from artists, arts professionals, researchers, policy-makers, and lawyers in the field. Students read/watch assigned materials, lead class discussions, maintain a reflection journal, and complete a 12-15pp final paper/project.