Overview
NETCHER is a transnational project, started in January 2019 with a duration of 27 months, aiming at reinforcing the fight against cultural heritage looting and trafficking, by bringing together relevant international actors (security and research communities, public and private institutions, art market specialists, policy makers) and intends to build a sustainable social online Platform. As we come to the end of the project, it is time to present its final results. The Final Forum of NETCHER will take place online, on 1st and 2nd March 2021. The general objective is to present the project’s achievements, discuss them with the involved stakeholders, and to identify new roads for implementation.
The goal of Day 1 is to present the results achieved during the project, with a special focus on recommendations to professional communities. Four keynote sessions will be facilitated by NETCHER experts, according to the main topics of the project, addressing the phases of the illicit trafficking of cultural property: Understand, Prevent, Act and Repair. They will be followed by a short session of questions and answers. A roundtable will then gather a large panel of European policy makers, to discuss future policies taking into consideration the achievements and recommendations of the project. A poster session will finally close the day, allowing NETCHER partners and young researchers to present their on-going projects and the way forward for research in all the fields concerned by the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
Day 2 will start with a roundtable to address the issue of communication and awareness-raising, gathering experts in those fields. After the lunch break, a number of talks, given by renowned major players in the world of cultural heritage crime, will focus on stories of stolen object recovery, restitution, and cultural diplomacy. Audience members will have the opportunity to address speakers with questions. It will be followed by a virtual exhibition created by Science Gallery Venice, in which stories of stolen art and archaeological objects will be narrated and translated into an emotional AR experience, and in which users will be able to virtually touch, rebuild, and interact with cultural heritage item that have been stolen or removed while listening to their stories.
The NETCHER Final Forum gives space for interactions with the audience: researchers, museum curators, law enforcement agencies officers, students, art market specialists… come and contribute! Following the event, a special Report will be published on the NETCHER Website.