The final project for this class was proposing a fictional art crime.
There were two parts to this project.
First, they were required to write a college-level research paper that emphasized whether or not students chose the theft or forgery route, they needed to argue the plausibility and value of their artwork. All students needed to include 10 sources minimum (at least 5 academic books and/or peer reviewed journal articles).
Second, students posted their purported “crime” to this website in order to engage in public scholarship. Students critically engaged with the scholarship surrounding different types of art crime and the case studies covered in class.
This project is entirely THEORETICAL.
No actual crimes were or will take place as a result of these projects. Additionally, students were given certain guidelines to maintain the ethics of this project. In any crime, especially theft scenarios, students did not design situations where people would be injured or harmed. For example, any security guards would not be harmed in a theft.
Students may not propose a theft as conducted by terrorists, terrorist organizations, nor Hitler or the Third Reich (the Nazis). Students, however, may propose a theft as a political act or ideologically motivated. Lastly, all objects and project scenarios were previously approved by the professor.
Fakes and Forgeries
Students proposing a fake or a forgery researched the art market and previous examples of fakes or forgeries. In addition to this, they researched the technical training necessary for creating their work of art and how they would defeat the primary methods of authentication. Their research paper reflected this research in the plan for their fake or forgery.
Thefts
Students proposing a theft had to research why they are proposing to steal a specific item? What is their motive? What is their plan and how will they execute it? What is the end result of the item? They conducted research into the art market, into art theft more broadly, and into previous cases, if any, from the museum, gallery, or collection they proposed to steal from. They also researched the security systems of said museum, gallery, or collection.