By: Gabby Zhou

Stolen Artifacts
Last year, the British Museum claimed that up to 2,000 of the artifacts were gone or missing. An artist decided to test how easy it was to pull off a heist. Last month, Brazilian artist Ile Sartuzi “stole” an artifact from the British Museum. According to a journalist for Art Daily, “the artist, who swapped a forged coin for a real one, aimed to use sleight of hand to point to what he described as the museum’s problematic legacy of colonial-era acquisitions.” (Art Daily, 2024)

Project
Ile Sartuzi filmed the incident for his master’s degree at Goldsmiths, University of London. His project, named “Sleight of Hand”, required over a year of preparation, legal advice, studying architectural plans, and many visits to the museum.

Museum’s Response
The museum has faced multiple accusations of stolen artifacts, with several countries already seeking items the museum has. The “museum’s trustees refuse to hand back Chinese artifacts or those from other nations, such as Greece.” (Global Times, 2023) The latest incident performed at the museum was disapproved of by the museum. Connor Watson, the museum’s spokesperson responded to the heist: “It’s a tired argument. We’re quite open about what is looted and what is a contested object.”

Origin of the Idea
Ile Sartuzi said on March 20th of last year that he was surprised to see a man behind a table in the money section, showing coins to visitors and telling stories about them, which is part of the museum’s “Hands on Desks” program. He thought that the setup looked similar to those of street magicians. With this, he aimed to perform a trick that would challenge the ethics of universal exhibitions. Richard Noble, the head of Goldsmiths’ art department, said he was impressed with the project. He added that the project received very high marks.

Resources Used

The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/world/europe/british-museum-coin-fake.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/world/europe/british-museum-coin-fake.html

Art Daily:
https://artdaily.com/news/172409/Art-student-pulls-off-a–very-brief–coin-heist-at-the-British-Museum

Independent:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brazilian-student-coin-british-museum-protest-b2584141.html

Art and Object:
https://www.artandobject.com/news/performance-artist-steals-and-returns-coin-british-museum

Plaster Magazine:
https://www.artandobject.com/news/performance-artist-steals-and-returns-coin-british-museum

Global Times:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202311/1302722.shtml