I was pleased to attend last week in Geneva “Building an Art Market for the Future—Guidelines for Countering Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Threats” hosted by the Fondation pour le Droit d’Art (Art Law Foundation) and the Art Law Centre of the University of Geneva. The conference was the official launch of the Responsible Art Market initiative, and offered valuable, market-focused discussion about the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing in the art market. Refreshingly, the day’s panel discussions focused on best practices and goals, rather than the oft-heard lamentations about problems with the art market. The implicit point that came through was a powerful one: as both private sellers and law enforcement speakers explained, art dealers are not engaged in large-scale shadowy financial dealings. But art dealers and buyers are at serious risk of being used by criminals engaged in money laundering, which can have serious consequences. Because willful blindness is no defense, the conference and the initiative provided valuable practical advice.
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Topics:
Pierre Gabus,
Anne Laure Bandle,
Art Dealers Association of Switzerland,
Art Law Foundation,
Geneva,
Sandrine Giroud,
Luxembourg,
Switzerland,
Art Law Centre,
University of Geneva,
AML,
Terrorist financing,
Sylvia Furrer Hoffmann,
Ricardo Sansoletti,
Ursula Cassani,
Simon Studer,
Mathilde Heaton,
Fondation pour le Droit d’Art,
Jean-Bernard Schmid,
Rakhi Talwar,
Ralph Wyss,
Responsible Art Market initiative,
Money laundering,
Stiftung Kunsthalle,
Bern,
Deloitte
I won’t be in the neighborhood, but the Oskar Reinhart Museum in Winterthur (Switzerland) is putting on a conference for the second year in a row on August 31. 2015 wrestling with the issue of “flight goods” in particular. “Flight goods” refers to property that was not stolen outright, nor sold under duress, but left behind because of a flight in haste from persecution. Awareness has increased in recent years about this as a category of looted property to be addressed. As with other categories, issues of law, morality, and the rights of subsequent good faith owners/possessors make for interesting discussions. Notable presenters include Matthias Frehner, whose Kunstmuseum Bern is grappling with the Gurlitt bequest, and Anja Heuss, whose Staatsgalerie Stuttgart recently restituted a work to the heirs of I. Rosenbaum. All the speakers and topics look excellent.
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Topics:
Berlin,
Dr. Peter Raue,
Walter Feilchenfeldt,
Esther Tisa Francini,
Museum Rietberg,
Olaf Ossmann,
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Marc Fehlmann,
Art Dealers Association of Switzerland,
Between Fairness and Justice for Successors and Po,
Oskar Reinhart Museum,
Anja Heuss,
Kulturstiftung der Länder,
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste,
Claudius Ochsner,
Matthias Frehner,
Alexander Jolles,
Winterthur,
Dr. Stephanie Tasch,
Kunsthandelsverband der Schweiz,
Karin Salm,
Universität Salzburg,
Thomas Buomberger,
Restitution,
Events,
Johannes Nathan,
Looted Art,
World War II,
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart,
Switzerland,
Kunstmuseum Bern,
Andrea Baresel-Brand,
flight goods,
Zürich,
Prof. Dr. Georg Graf,
Radio SRF 2,
I. Rosenbaum,
Sibylle Ehringhaus
