China's art shenanigans

Fascinating read about what is and hwat can be expected. Yes, I know the pain of our stolen art shown in galleries or private collections all over the world. But this kind of behavior ain´t kosher. Not even in a Jacky Chang movie.

At the KODE, there was a silver lining to that second heist. Amid all the unwanted attention, authorities got a lucky tip about a piece taken in the first break-in. They were told it had made its way back to China and was now on display at a Shanghai airport. But even this possibility came with its own frustrations: Bergen police lacked the power to follow up, and Norwegian officials, wary of upsetting a delicate relationship with China, did nothing. “If we say an item is in China, they say, ‘Prove it,’ ” said Kenneth Didriksen, the head of Norway’s art-crime unit. So, he told me, they stood down. “We don’t want to insult anyone.”

Eliassen believed that the best thing for the museum to do was to protect the art that remained. The pieces were probably never coming back. “The government in China doesn’t think they’re stolen objects,” he said. “They think they belong to them. They won’t take it seriously, won’t follow the trail. That’s the biggest problem.”

Even art-crime experts, though, are quick to acknowledge that the situation might look different from China’s perspective. Noah Charney, a professor of art history and founder of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, says that when it comes to winning back their lost art, the Chinese can’t imagine how such a thing would be wrong. “It’s almost like there’s a fog around it from a criminological perspective,” he said. “It’s like another planet, in terms of the way people think about what art is, what authenticity is, what is socially unacceptable to do.”

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Didn’t the Generalissimo abscond with some artwork?

Anybody who’s anybody steals fine art.

How much fine art have you got?

I’ve got this classic painting of dogs playing poker that’s to die for.

Seriously… given modern technology, art is just information. You want the Mona Lisa? Buy some color toner, download from the Internet, and hit “print.” It won’t be actual paint but what’s special about paint anyway?

You want a giant jade cabbage crawling with bugs? It won’t be long before 3D printers can churn out a reasonable facsimile. It won’t be real jadeite, but you’ll hardly notice.

Art is as superficial as superficial gets. It’s all about appearance. That’s the whole point.

So, you’ve yet to steal any.

As Bill Clinton might put, it depends what the definition of “steal” is. Which in turn, depends on how seriously you take copy restrictions.

I have from time to time defeated the purpose of copy protection.

I suspect that has already been in the Mainland a while.

Scuttlebutt is that a lot of artwork from the Palace Museum here has been replaced by copies and the originals sent back to China. It is a persistent rumor that has been going on a while.

Off topic, but relevant:

As often happens on Slashdot, the comments are more interesting than the linked article.

Your lost me at shenanigans.

Lol. Hypocrisy from europeans stuffing their museums with loot from all over the world.