Our Mission
Cultural Heritage & Art
The Centre pursues the non-profit purpose of promoting advice, research and teaching on the legal issues involved in the world of art. These legal issues include the protection of cultural property at all levels of the legal structure including the domestic, Indian law and both international as well as transnational legal concerns, the protection of international loans between museums, the restitution of works of art stolen in the colonial era, archaeological finds and cultural assets that were taken out of the country, trade fair and auction law, tax, foundation and insurance law, as well as export and criminal law in connection with the (international) trade of works of art and also copyright, ancillary copyrights, media law.
Conferences & Teaching
In addition to a wide range of lectures, seminars, and symposia, the Centre organizes the Annual Conference on Art and Law once a year in cooperation with other institutions. In response to today's growing need to almost always engage with cross-border issues, there is a need for an international network: collaboration with the German Institute of Art and Law IFKUR and with renowned colleagues all over the world. In addition to the conferences, the Council offers and promotes individual lectures, webinars and meetings on focus issues.
Advisory & Network
Advice and support in art and cultural property law are a major component of our work. This also includes the formation of a network of experts from all fields; from the legal to the museum sector, from the art market and galleries and to various groups and individual artists. In addition to these areas, there is material research, provenance research and close cooperation with experts and foundations.
Art & Law News
South Korea Finally Lifts the Ink Ban: Tattoos Step Into the Light
For more than three decades, tattooing in South Korea lived in the shadows. The practice thrived, with an estimated 350,000 tattoo artists across the country, but the law treated it as criminal unless carried out by a medical professional. The contradiction was absurd: while eyebrow tattoos were quietly common among parliamentarians, a young artist risked jail for inking a client’s wrist. That era has now ended. The National Assembly has passed the Tattooist Act, allowing…
Restoring the Past: Lahori Gate Haveli’s Museum and Delhi’s Heritage Revival
New Delhi will finally unlock more of its past. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has taken a solid step by getting in-principle approval from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts to convert the restored Lahori Gate Haveli, built in 1929, into the Shahjahanabad Interpretation Centre and museum. The site lies in Khari Baoli, in a square where lanes spill out from spice bazaars, bustling markets, and the old Delhi Railway Station. The plan…
When Art Gets Stuck: Cuba, MoMA, and the Risk of Loss in Display
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is preparing “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream,” a major retrospective expected to show works by the seminal Afro-Cuban Surrealist. But several important pieces from Cuba’s National Museum of Fine Arts will not be part of the exhibition. Cuban officials declined to lend those works over fears that U.S. courts might seize them in legal claims brought by exiles over property confiscated after the…