Art crimes are often portrayed as glamorous, without victims except for wealthy collectors. However, art crime is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with ties to crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, money laundering and extortion, violence and murder, and the narcotics and arms trades. The theft of fine art from private homes and museums often attracts the most attention. On the other end of the spectrum, the illicit trade in antiquities often go unpublicized. This trade harms humanity, destroying our collective history and memory. Crimes are committed when tomb raiders and illicit diggers loot artifacts from the ground and then sell these objects to middlemen and antiquities.

During war, millions of objects are vulnerable to theft and destruction. And since ancient times, art has been used as propaganda. Ancient rulers exhibited looted objects to demonstrate their might over enemies. But art was also obliterated for the same reasons—the destruction of art is a means to degrade an enemy or weaken opposition. Art has also been damaged to make political or social commentary. Although some art criminals remove objects from the market or destroy them, others create forgeries and sell these offending pieces at sky-high prices.

The exhibition, Art Crimes, explores the history of art crimes around the world. It is the first exhibition of its kind, exploring theft, looting, forgeries, and vandalism. Read the press release here: http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2016/december/_art-crime-_-a-visual-documentation-of-stolen–vandalized—-for.html