Dealing with Heritage: New Policy Approaches
Thursday, May 19 - Friday, May 20
Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society
5701 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Please RSVP for the conference
Open to the public. All are welcome.
The massive looting of archaeological sites in Syria has focused global attention on a problem that has been festering for decades everywhere from China to Peru. Better policies and strategies are desperately needed to preserve sites from looting. If more effective policies are to be designed, it is crucial to understand how the existing legal trade in antiquities works and how it might play a role in addressing the problem of archaeological site looting. At the same time, such policies need to be balanced with the public interest in access to and preservation of antiquities.
Join us for a curated conversation about the legal trade in antiquities. The conference will bring together scholars and professionals from the museum world, antiquities dealers and auction houses, and collectors to address the question: What specific steps, if any, does the collecting community think could and should be taken to better prevent the looting of archaeological sites in the future?
“Dealing with Heritage” is a conference of The Past for Sale: New Approaches to the Study of Archaeological Looting, an interdisciplinary project sponsored by the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. The conference is co-sponsored by the Department of Art History.
Conference Agenda
Thursday, May 19
1:15-1:30 pm – Welcome
Lawrence Rothfield, Associate Professor, Department of English and of Comparative Literature, The University of Chicago
1:30-3:00 pm – Panel 1, Perspectives from the Trade
Moderator: Morag Kersel, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology at DePaul University
Aaron Berk, Owner, Vice President and Director, Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., Chicago, IL
Randall Hixenbaugh, Director, Hixenbaugh Ancient Art, New York, NY
Sue McGovern-Huffman, Director, Sands of Time Ancient Art, Washington, D.C.
Molly Morse Limmer, Founder and Principal, 2050 Art Services, Inc., Former Vice President and Department Head, Antiquities, Christie's, Chicago, IL
3:00-3:30 pm – Coffee break
3:30-5:00 pm – Panel 2, The Legal and Regulatory Environment
Moderator: Patty Gerstenblith, Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law; Director, Center for Art, Museum, & Cultural Heritage Law
Lori Breslauer, General Counsel, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL
Stephen J. Knerly, Jr., Partner, Hahn Loeser LLC, Cleveland, OH
Jane Levine, Worldwide Director of Compliance, Sotheby's, New York, NY
5:00 pm – Wine and cheese reception
Friday, May 20
8:30-9:00 am – Coffee
9:00-10:30 am – Panel 3, Going Forward/Prospects for Policy Cooperation
Moderator: Fiona-Rose Greenland, Research Director, The Past for Sale Project
Alexander Bauer, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Queens College--CUNY, Flushing, NY
Sandra Cobden, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Christie's, New York, NY
Charles Stanish, Professor of Anthropology and, Director, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
10:30-11:30 am – Keynote Address: Maxwell L. Anderson
Keynote Address
Transparency: A Path to Licit Trade
Maxwell L. Anderson
Moderator: Lawrence Rothfield, Associate Professor, Department of English and of Comparative Literature, The University of Chicago
Hundreds of thousands of antiquities will come to light in the future, through state-sponsored excavations, scavenging, looting, and chance finds. The fate of these works is uncertain. But there are signs that the 'retentionist' philosophy common to most source nations, which many believe actually drives the antiquities market underground, may be open to review. India's new minister of culture has, for example, recently proposed the creation of a regulated antiquities market in India, devised to undercut the incentive to loot. In his keynote address, Maxwell Anderson will review the most promising path to encouraging new attitudes within source countries, through greater transparency and public access in market nations, enhanced due diligence, and prompt response to claims.
Maxwell L. Anderson is Executive Director of the New Cities Foundation, and past chair of AAMD's (Association of Art Museum Directors) Task Force on Archaeological Materials & Ancient Art. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in the field of classical art, and served as assistant curator of Greek & Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is the author of the forthcoming book "Antiquities: What Everyone Needs to Know" (Oxford University Press, 2016).
