Insights
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U.S. Museums Embrace Voluntary Repatriations of Cultural Property
Read more: U.S. Museums Embrace Voluntary Repatriations of Cultural PropertyIn recent years, there’s been a notable and promising trend of voluntary cultural property repatriations by museums, particularly in the United States. This isn’t primarily about Nazi-looted art or Native American human remains and other cultural items, which are separate categories. These cases rather focus on antiquities and other artifacts that are increasingly being returned…
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Using AI to Enhance Museum Security
Read more: Using AI to Enhance Museum SecurityThere’s no question that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already having an impact on securing art collections, and museums of all sizes must devote time to exploring the technologies already on the market. Today, even medium-sized museums often have well over one hundred cameras in operation. Obviously, it’s impossible to monitor all of them at the…
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When the Storm Takes More Than Just Your Home: The Overlooked Vulnerability of Cultural Collections in Natural Disasters
Read more: When the Storm Takes More Than Just Your Home: The Overlooked Vulnerability of Cultural Collections in Natural DisastersThe sky has turned an eerie shade of green, the kind that signals something ominous on the horizon. The winds are already howling outside your window, bending the palm trees to their breaking point. The local news station repeats its urgent warning—the hurricane has intensified to a Category 5 and is heading straight for your…
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The Weakest Link in Museum Security
Read more: The Weakest Link in Museum SecurityBy Bill Anderson, Art Guard This article first appeared on the Art Guard blog, December 10, 2024 If diminished funding and smaller budgets aren’t enough to challenge the existence of many museums we were reminded of another glaring vulnerability. Smash-and-grab assaults occurred in two smaller French museums in the last several weeks. At the Cognacq-Jay…
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Is Your Collection a Target? The Growing Threat of Vandalism by Activists
Read more: Is Your Collection a Target? The Growing Threat of Vandalism by ActivistsBy now, most of us have seen these images. A pair or small group of environmental activists stage a protest in front of a high-profile painting, artifact, or historic monument. Some splash it with paint, soup, or cake. Many glue their hands to the front of the artwork directly or to the protective glass; others…