The conference was visited by 100 participants from various fields of expertise, ranging from students, academics and practitioners. The conference theme ‘Crossing Borders in Arts & Heritage’ explored the challenges that arise when arts and heritage cross geographical borders today or which persist because of past cross-border movements. On the first conference day, two keynote speakers addressed the audience. Keynote speaker Peter van den Brink, Director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen, addressed the topic of “Looted Art and the edges of morality”. The second keynote speaker Andrzej Jakubowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, shed a light on “Global Governance of Cultural Heritage: the Role of the UN Security Council”.

The series of panel discussions started with a panel on Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects and was moderated by Hildegard Schneider. The first conference day rounded off with a joint dinner, during which several dinner speeches took place. The project “Made2Measure - the economic impact of the creative industries in Maastricht” was presented by Rachel Pownall and commented on by Yelena Kharitonova (Founder/Creative Director Caravan Cultura). Joop de Jong presented the results of the Survey Cultural Participation.

On the second conference day, the panel sessions were continued. Panel II focused on Cross-border Collaboration between Heritage Actors and was moderated by Vivian van Saaze. Hildegard Schneider moderated panel III on Restitution of Looted Art and panel IV on Returning Cultural Topics. The final panel discussed the topic of Art & Technology. All panels featured experts from the academic sector and practitioners from different fields, which resulted in lively discussions with the audience.

We thank the various panel speakers for their contributions:

Panel I
Olivier Nieuwenhuijse, LDE Center for Global Heritage and Development (Leiden, Leiden University); Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie (Berlin, Freie Universität)
Marja van Heese, Cultural Heritage Inspectorate
Mahmut Kobal, Maastricht University

Panel II
Kristin Hausler, British Institute of Int. and Comparative Law
Marina Lostal, The Hague University of Applied Sciences
Alessandro Chechi, Université de Genève
Bart Zwegers, Maastricht University

Panel III
Sophie Vigneron, University of Kent
James Ratcliffe, Art Loss Register
Lars van Vliet, Maastricht University

Panel IV
Jos van Beurden, aff. researcher Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vanessa Tünsmeyer, Maastricht University

Panel V
Sally Wyatt, Maastricht University
Rachel Pownall, Maastricht University