A TALE OF TWO HEISTS

A tale of two heists: Recent thefts from the British Museum and the Louvre, and what they can tell us about art and museums. Thefts from both the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris have made international news in the last few years, putting the spotlight on these institutions, their collections, and their practices. This lecture looks at these incidents and explores what they might reveal about art and the value and meanings attributed to it. Furthermore, the lecture considers how art crimes of this sort highlight assumptions about museums and how they operate and thinks about the extent to which museological narratives reflect these institutions' changing environments. Rosie Ibbotson is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury.