News on cultural heritage vandalism and destruction occurring around the world is depressing. However, these acts have been taking place for millennia. Leila had an opportunity to discuss these topics last month at Rago Arts and Auction Center. Click below to watch the lecture.
Last week the United Nations hosted high level meetings for many of its members and organizations. During this period, President Obama addressed the UN General Assembly. UNESCO also hosted a meeting on heritage. Entitled “Protecting Cultural Heritage: An Imperative for Humanity,” it was organized by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN, the Permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Interpol, UNESCO, and the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). The meeting, attended by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, was a culmination of the UNESCO meetings held in NYC during this past spring. The event addressed the initiatives taken by UNESCO in furthering the protection of heritage. The speakers highlighted the importance of heritage and its power to unify people and its existence as a non-renewal resource. They also noted the importance of criminalizing heritage destruction, the need to involve young people globally in its protection, and the benefits of fostering respect for humanity’s shared heritage. Other speakers emphasized the importance of collaboration and the exchange of information and expertise amongst law enforcement agencies.
stributed during last week’s assembly noted a topic that I raised during the May meeting– the importance of involving private collectors and the public in these dialogues. It is essential to develop public-private partnerships in order to further UNESCO’s mission, educate the public, and raise awareness in “civil society.”
With the summer over, Amineddoleh & Associates is looking forward to a busy autumn full of wonderful art events.
Back in April, Leila was featured on the Asset Search Blog in an entry that she wrote about the connection between art collectors and the scandal involving the “Panama Papers.” Recent news has drawn attention to the role of the art market in the obstruction of justice and concealment of ill-gotten or improperly retained funds. Two weeks ago, the NY Times (and Artnet News) addressed these issues in articles explaining the ways in which art collectors hide funds and launder money through the art market. Wealthy individuals use artwork as an investment tool and shield these holdings through shell companies and misleading tools. In addition, collectors use artwork to secure loans through auction houses and art corporations, thereby avoiding scrutiny of the regulators that oversee banking institutions. In light of this information becoming public, the art world is once again coming under scrutiny.
Photo: Courtesy of Christie’s
Graffiti art has been garnering a great deal of attention in the art world, particularly as this once “subversive” style of art has gained acceptance. In turn, prices for some urban artists’ works have risen. Predictably, these artists are now also being copied and infringed, most notably by fashion companies. A few high profile copyright cases involving graffiti were filed in 2015 and earlier this year, and hopefully the outcomes of those litigations will provide more guidance for artists, fashion companies, and their legal representatives. Leila Amineddoleh was cited in The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month questioning the status of intellectual property protection for artists who used illegal means to create their art. Although courts have found that the Visual Artists’ Rights Act (VARA) does not protect works of art created illegally, it is unclear whether US copyright law does protect those works. Hopefully pending lawsuits will finally clarify the application of US intellectual property law and whether those protective tools protect all graffiti artists, even those using illegal means to create their art.