art
feb 11
2008

Art Thieves

A theory for you to consider: In a culture in which everything from philanthropy to vaginas are calculated acts of social display, aren't art thieves the greatest heroes of our time? Seriously, if you steal a famous painting, no one can actually know this. In the age of inflated social capital, stealing art is the only act in which one can express a personal, non-financial relationship to art. (Oh, a link: some dudes stole some paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh from a Zurich museum. Also, Slate has some answers for what to do with a stolen painting.)

2 comments

I like this. At first, I thought that you could say something similar about torrent sites like Oink - a friend who participated religiously said that it was the only place he'd ever seen something like communism actually work. But places like Oink etc. remain hidden from view. An 'art heist', on the other hand, might enter the public imagination in potentially disruptive way. The only problem is whether or not 'stealing' is still perceived as being about property, ownership etc.

Oh, unrelated, but unlike some people, I thought the original post was more interesting than Louis' response.

posted by Nav at 8:08 PM on February 11, 2008

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posted by Reza at 7:21 PM on February 12, 2008




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